Chapter XI: Part 11

Ane letter maid, makand mentioun, That yair was ane pretendit sentence of auld gevin aganis Johnne Boirthwikt of Ciueray, kny{t}, declaring him to be ane allegit heretike, as the said sentence beiris, quhilk was gevin aganis him in his absence, without ony defence maid be him, and he yairby allegit to be depriuit of all honour, and dispossessit of all his landes, rowmes, and possessionis; Nochttheles, oure souerane lady, of hir auctorite royal, speciall grace, and fauour, rehabillis the said Johnne, and restoiris him to all his landis, heretages, takkis, stedingis, rowmes, and possessionis, and to all and sindrie his gudis, movable and vnmovable, quhatsumevir, and to his honour, fame, and dignitie; and reponis him agane in the same estait he was in befoir the leding and deduceing of the said pretendit sentence aganis him, sua that he may peceabillie brouk, joys, occupy, labour, and manure his landis, rowmes, takis, stedingis, and possessionis, intromet and vptak the malis, fermes, proffittis, and dewiteis yairof, off all ȝeiris and termes bigane, restand vnpayit sin the geving and deduceing of the said pretendit sentence aganis him, and gif neid be, to convene, call, follow, and persew the detenaris yairof, befoir quhatsumeuir juge or jugeis, spirituale or temporale, vnto the finall end and recovering of the samin vpoun yame, and to stand in jugement, beir witnes, and frelie vse and exerce all maner of offices or vther publict efferis in hir common weill, in jugement, and outwith, and joys and brouk siclike priuilegeis as he did, or my{t} have done, befoir the leding and deduceing of the said pretendit proces aganis him, siclike as the samyn had neuer bene gevin or pronunceit, &c. With inhibitioun in the samyn to all and sindrie our souerane lady’s liegis and subdittis baith spirituall and temporall, of quhatsumeuir auctoritie or dignitie yai be of, that nane of thame tak vpoun hand to molest, truble, or invaid the said Johnne in his person, fame, landis, gudis, or possessionis, for quhatsumevir caus or actioun bigane; or to detract, bakbyte, sclander, or defame him, in ony maner of way, vnder all hieast pane, and charge, and offence. That þai and ilk ane of þame may commit and inryn aganis her maiestie, in þat parte, &c. At Sanctandrois, {369} the last day of Februare, the ȝeir of God I{m}.v{c}.lxij ȝeiris. [Lib. xxxj. f. 79, b.] Per Signaturam.[482]

Ane letter maid makand mention that thair wes ane pretendit sentence gevin and pronunceit againis James Hamiltoun of Kincavill, of lang tyme begane in his absence, for null defence, declaring him to be ane allegeit heretike, as the pretendit sentence gevin thairupoune buir; be the quhilk, he was allegit to be depryvit of all honoure, fame, and dignitie, and dispossessit of all his landis, heretages, rowmes, possessionis, teyndis, and vtheris pertening to him, quhilk pretended decrete and sentence the said James hes gotten retretit and reducit, with all that followith thairupoune: Thairfore oure said souerane ladie, of her auctorite royall speciale grace and favoure, rehabillis the said James, and restoris him to all his landis, &c. [in similar terms with the preceding.] At Edinburgh, the fift day of Merche, the ȝeir of God, I{m}.v{c}.lxiij ȝeris. [Lib. xxxi. f. 35, b.] Per Signaturam.

Note I, Footnote 48.

_Protestant Exiles from Scotland._――I have not reckoned it necessary to insert in this work those particulars respecting Scottish reformers before Patrick Hamilton, which have been repeatedly published in the Life of Andrew Melville. The reader may consult vol. i. p. 8, 418‒421 of the second edition of that work.――In this note, I shall state a few facts respecting those eminent men who were obliged to forsake their native country subsequently to Hamilton’s martyrdom, in consequence of having expressed sentiments favourable to the Reformation.

Gawin Logie, who, in his important station of rector of St Leonard’s College, was so useful in spreading the reformed doctrine, drew upon himself the jealousy of the clergy. More decided in his sentiments, and more avowed in his censure of the prevailing abuses, than the sub‑prior of the abbey, (who maintained his situation until the establishment of the Reformation,) Logie found it necessary to consult his safety by leaving the country in 1533. {370} Cald. MS. i. 82. I have not seen any notice of him after this. Robert Logie, a kinsman of Gawin, was a canon regular of Cambuskenneth, and employed in instructing the novices. Having embraced the reformed sentiments, he, in 1538, fled into England, and became a preacher there. Thomas Cocklaw, parish priest of Tullibody, seems to have accompanied him, and was also employed as a preacher in England. Ibid. p. 97.

Alexander Seaton was confessor to James V. The cause of his flight from Scotland, his letter to the King, and his retiring to England, are recorded in our common histories. Fox (p. 1000) informs us that he was accused of heresy before Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, in 1541, and induced to recant certain articles which he had preached. Spotswood (p. 65) speaks of “the treatises he left behind him,” and, among others, his “Examination by Gardiner and Bonner,” from which it appears that “he never denied any point which formerly he taught.” Fox had not seen this. We learn from another quarter, that, after his trial, he continued to preach the truths for which he had been accused. Bale says that he died in 1542, in the family of Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, who retained him as his chaplain. Script. Brytan. Post. Pars. p. 224.

Alexander Aless was a canon of the metropolitan church of St Andrews. His conversion to the protestant faith was very singular. Being a young man of quick parts, and well versed in scholastic theology, and having studied the Lutheran controversy, he undertook to reclaim Patrick Hamilton from heresy, and held several conferences with him for this purpose. But, instead of making a convert of Hamilton, he was himself staggered by the reasoning of that gentleman. His doubts were greatly strengthened by the constancy with which he saw the martyr adhere to his sentiments to the last, amidst the scorn, rage, and cruelty of his enemies. Alesii Præfat. Comment. in Joannem: Jacobi Thomasii Orationes, p. 307, 308. Lipsiæ, 1737. Bayle, Dictionnaire, Art. _Ales._ A short time after this, he delivered a Latin oration before an ecclesiastical synod, in which he censured the vices of the clergy, and exhorted them to diligence and a godly life. This was enough to bring him under the suspicion of heresy, and he was thrown into prison, from which, after a year’s confinement, he made his escape, and, getting into a {371} vessel which lay on the coast, eluded his persecutors. He escaped in 1532. Cald. MS. i. 76. On leaving his native country, Aless went to Germany, where he was virulently attacked by Cochlæus, whom the Scots bishops hired to abuse him.[483] On the invitation of lord Cromwell and archbishop Cranmer, he came to England in 1535, and was appointed Professor of Theology in the university of Cambridge. But he had scarcely commenced his lectures, when the patrons of popery excited such opposition to him that he resolved to relinquish his situation. Having, at a former period of his life, applied to medical studies, he went to Dr Nicol, a celebrated physician in London, and, after remaining with him for some years, commenced practice, not without success. In 1537, lord Cromwell having met him one day accidentally on the street, carried him to the convocation, and persuaded him to engage, without preparation, in a dispute with the bishop of London, on the subject of the sacraments; of which Aless has given a particular account in one of his publications. De Authoritate Verbi Dei Liber Alexandri Alesii, contra Episcopum Lundinensem, p. 13‒31. Argentorati, apud Cratonem Mylium, An. M.D.XLII. Archbishop Parker calls him, “virum in theologia perdoctum.” In 1540, he returned to Germany, was made Professor of Divinity at Leipsic, assisted at several public conferences, and wrote many books, which were much esteemed. Strype’s Cranmer, p. 402, 403. Bayle, Dict. ut supra. He died on the 17th of March, 1565, in the 65th year of his age. (Vita Alex. Alesii, in Observ. Select, vol. v. p. 443. Halæ Magd. 1702.) Bishop Bale was personally acquainted with him, and has enumerated his works. Ut supra, p. 176.

John Fife fled from St Andrews, accompanied Aless to Germany, and shared in his honours at Leipsic. “Francofurti ad Viadrum Scotus quidam, Joannis Fidelis, Theologiæ Doctor et Professor fuit; et anno 1551 rectoratum Academiæ gessit, ut in Actis Lipsiensibus Eruditorum anno 1684, p. 386, notatum est. Sed {372} dubitari vix debet, Fidelem illum eundem fuisse qui Fife, sive Fief, dicebatur, cum ea vox _feudum_ significet, ad quod alludit nomen Fidelis.” Seckendorf. Hist. Luth. lib. iii. sec. 25. Fife returned to Scotland, acted as a minister, and died in St Leonard’s College, soon after the establishment of the Reformation. Cald. MS. i. 78. Knox, 20. Strype’s Cranmer, 403.

John Macbee, known on the continent by the name of Dr Maccabæus, fled to England in 1532, and was entertained by bishop Shaxton. He afterwards retired to Denmark, and was of great use to Christian III. in the settlement of the reformed religion in his dominions. He was made a professor in the university of Copenhagen. Gerdesii Historia Evang. Renovat. iii. 417‒425. The Danish monarch held him in great esteem, and, at his request, wrote to queen Mary of England, in behalf of his brother‑in‑law, Miles Coverdale, bishop of Exeter, and the venerable translator of the bible, who was released from prison through his importunity. Bale, ut supra, p. 226. Fox, 1390. Maccabæus was acquainted with the Danish and German languages, and assisted in the translation of the bible into Danish (according to Luther’s first German translation), which was printed in folio at Copenhagen, in 1550, by Ludov. Diest, accompanied with a marginal index, parallel places, and plates. Maittaire, apud Chalmers’s Lindsay, i. 82. Gerdes. Hist. tom. iii. Præfatio, **3. An edition of Lindsay’s “Monarchie” bears on the title‑page, that it was “imprintit at the command and expensis off Dr Machabæus, in Capmanhouin.” But the editor of Lindsay insists, that this is “a deceptious title‑page.” Ut supra, 80, 81. That Maccabæus was alive in 1557, appears from the following passage of a Danish literary work: “In facultate Theologica, Doctores creati sequentes in Academia Hafniæ Aº. 1557, a D. Joh. Maccabeo, M. Nic. Hemmingius Theolog. Professor,” &c. Albert Thura, Idea Histor. Literar. Danorum, p. 333. Hamburgi, 1723. This writer (p. 274) mentions “Annot. in Matthæum” as written by him, but does not say whether it was a MS. or a printed book. Bale mentions another work of his, entitled, “De vera et falsa Religione.” Ut supra, p. 226. Those who have access to the Bibliotheca Dunica, will find some of his writings inserted in that work, {373} Part v. and viii. Gerdes. iii. 417. Among the MSS. bequeathed by archbishop Parker to Corpus Christi Collegi, is “De conjugio sacerdotum, an liceat sacris initiatis contrahere matrimonium affirmatur autore Johanne Macchabeo Scoto.”

We learn from Bale, that Maccabæus was well born (“præclara familia”); and that, having discovered from his infancy a strong propensity to learning, his parents provided him with the best teachers. But I have an additional piece of information to communicate, which cannot fail to be gratifying to some readers: The proper name of this divine was neither Maccabæus nor Macbee, but Macalpine, and he belonged to the noble and celebrated Clan Alpine. In what degree of kindred he stood to the noted Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, and whether he was obliged to change his name on account of the outrage which caused that chieftain and his whole clan to be proclaimed rebels, I cannot determine, as I have met with no northern Scald, or Gaelish bard, who has touched on these circumstances. But the following are my authorities for the statement which I have given: “Ad docendas sacras literas accersivit [Danniæ Rex] Johannem Maccabæum, proprio nomine Macalpinum, Scotum, virum doctrina et pietate gravem, Regique ac bonis omnibus modestia longe carissimum.” Vinding. Descript. Acad. Hafniæ, p. 71‒73. “Reliquerat is, qui ex nobili et antiqua Macalpinorum in Scotia familia ortum trahebat, Religionis erga, Scotiam, et migraverat Witebergam, atque ibi cum Luthero et Melanchthone familiaritatem contraxerat, unde Hafniam vocatus Academiæ præfuit per annos sedecim, mortuus d. 6. Decemb. 1557.” Gerdes. iii. p. 417. See also the verses on Maccabæus in Supplement.

Macdowal repaired to Holland, and was so much esteemed, that he was raised, though a stranger, to the chief magistracy in one of its boroughs. Knox, 20.

John Mackbray, or Macbrair, a gentleman of Galloway, fled to England about 1538, and at the death of Edward VI. retired to Frankfort, where he preached to the English congregation. Troubles at Frankford, p. 13, 20, 25. Spotswood, 97. He afterwards became pastor of a congregation in Lower Germany, and wrote an account of the formation and progress of that church. Balei Scriptores M. Brytan, p. 229. On the accession of Elizabeth, he returned to {374} England, and officiated as a preacher in that country. He is called “an eminent exile,” in Strype’s Annals, i. 130. Grindal, p. 26. On the 13th of November, 1568, he was inducted to the vicarage of St Nicholas, in Newcastle, and was buried there on November 16, 1584. Dr Jackson complains that “Mackbray, Knox, and Udale, had sown their tares in Newcastle.” Heylin speaks in the same strain. Brand’s Hist. of Newcastle, p. 303. Bale (p. 229) mentions several works of Mackbray, and says that he “wrote elegantly in Latin.” Spotswood also mentions some of his works. Ut supra.

The causes of Buchanan’s imprisonment and escape from Scotland, and his reception and employments on the continent, may be found in other publications which are accessible to the reader. See Irving’s Memoirs of Buchanan, and Chalmers’s Life of Ruddiman. Some facts which have not been fully stated by his biographers, will be found in a subsequent part of this work.

James Harrison was a native of the south of Scotland, and liberally educated, says Bale. He seems to have gone to England at a period somewhat later than the others mentioned in this note. He wrote a treatise, “De regnorum unione,” in which he warmly recommended to his countrymen the advantages of a union with England. It was dedicated to the duke of Somerset, in 1547. Bale (p. 225) gives the first words of it, “Comminiscens, ut soleo per ocium;” and calls it “elegans ac mellitum opus.”

Robert Richardson was a canon of the monastery of Cambuskenneth, and fled to England in 1538. Cald. MS. i. 97. I suppose he is the person who is called “Sir Robert Richardson, priest,” in Sadler’s Letters. He was sent into Scotland in 1543, by Henry VIII., with a recommendation to the regent Arran, who employed him in preaching through the kingdom, along with Guillaume and Rough. When the regent apostatized from the reformed cause, he withdrew his protection from Richardson, who was obliged to flee a second time into England, to escape the cardinal’s persecution. Sadler’s State Papers, i. 210, 217, 344.

Note K, Footnote 50.

_Influence of Poetry in promoting the Reformation._――As the {375} influence which the poets and satirists of the age had upon the Reformation, is a subject curious in itself, and to which little attention has been paid, the following illustrations of what has been generally stated in the text, may not be unacceptable to some readers. Dante, Petrarch, Boccacio, and other Italian writers, by descanting on the ambition, luxury, and scandalous manners of the clergy, had contributed greatly to lessen the veneration in which they had been long held, and to produce in the minds of men a conviction of the necessity of a reformation. “There was,” says John Gerson, chancellor of the university of Paris, “one called Johannes Meldinensis, who wrote a book called the Romaunt of the Rose, which book, if I only had, and that there were no more in the world, I would rather burn it than take five hundred pounds for the same; and if I thought the author thereof did not repent of that book before he died, I would no more pray for him, than I would for Judas that betrayed Christ.” Catal. MSS. in Adv. Lib. The writings of Chaucer, and especially those of Langland, had the same effect in England, When the religious struggle had actually commenced, and become hot, a diversion, by no means inconsiderable, was made in favour of the reformers by the satirists and poets of the age. A pantomime, intended to degrade the court of Rome and the clergy, was acted before Charles V. at the Augsburg assembly. Lud. Fabricius de Ludis Scenicis, p. 231. Gerdesii Historia Evangel. Renovat. tom. ii. Docum. No. vii. p. 48. In 1524, a tragedy was acted at Paris, in the presence of Francis I., in which the success of Luther was represented, and the pope and cardinals were ridiculed, by kindling a fire, which all their efforts could not extinguish. Jacob. Burchard. de Vita Ulrici Hutteni, pars ii. 293, pars iii. p. 296. Gerdes. Hist. iv. 315. As late as 1561, the pope’s ambassador complained to the queen mother of France, that the young king, Charles IX., had assisted at a show, in which he had counterfeited a friar. Letters of the cardinal de St Croix, prefixed to Aymons, Synodes Nationaux de France, tom. i. p. 7‒11. In Switzerland, Nic. Manuel wrote certain comedies of this description in the year 1522, which were published under the title of Fastnachts Spielen, at Berne, in 1525. Gerdes. ii. 451. There were similar compositions in Holland. Brand’s Hist. of the Reformation, i. 127, 128. {376} Lond. 1720. And also in England. Burnet’s Hist. of the Reform. i. 318. Nasmith, Catal. Libr. Manuscr. Colleg. Corporis Christi, p. 93.

In Scotland, the same weapons were employed in attacking the church. The first protestant books circulated in Scotland came chiefly from England. Mr Chalmers has mentioned “the very first reforming treatise which was, probably, written in Scotland,” compiled by “Johne Gau,” and printed at Malmoe in Sweden, anno 1533. We would have been still more obliged to the learned author, if he had given us some idea of its contents, instead of dismissing it with the flourish, “Had all been like this!” which, whether he meant to apply to the elegance of the printing, or the orthodoxy of the sentiments, it is difficult to say. Caledonia, ii. 616. Calderwood seems to say that books against popery began to be printed in this country in 1543. MS. ad h. ann. But, previously to that period, the reformed sentiments were diffused by metrical and dramatic writings. The satire of Buchanan against the Franciscan friars, for which he was thrown into prison, was elegant and pungent, but, being written in Latin, it could be felt only by the learned. The same may be said as to his “Baptistes.” But a passion for Scottish poetry had been lately produced in the nation by the compositions of some of our ingenious countrymen, and this now began to be improved by the friends of the Reformation. Kennedy and Kyllor distinguished themselves in this line. See above, p. 354. Kyllor’s Scripture‑drama was exhibited before James V. at Stirling, about the year 1535; and the most simple perceived the resemblance between the Jewish priests and the Scottish clergy, in opposing the truth, and persecuting its friends. Knox, 22. Soon after this, Alexander, Lord Kilmaurs, wrote his Epistle from the Hermit of Lareit to the greyfriars. Ibid. 24, 25. James Stewart, son of Lord Methven, composed poems and ballads in a similar strain, after the death of the vicar of Dollar; and Robert Alexander, advocate, published the earl of Errol’s “Testament,” in Scottish metre, which was printed at Edinburgh, Cald. MS. i. 103. James Wedderburn, son of a merchant in Dundee, converted the history of the beheading of John the Baptist into a dramatic form, and also the history of the tyrant Dionysius, which were acted at {377} Dundee. In both of these, the popish religion was attacked. Cald. MS. ad an. 1540. Dalyell’s Cursory Remarks, p. 31.

But the poet who had the greatest influence in promoting the Reformation was Sir David Lindsay. His “Satyre on the three Estates,” and his “Monarchies,” had this for their principal object. The former was acted at Cupar in Fife, in the year 1535; at Linlithgow, before the king and queen, the court, and country, in 1540; and at Edinburgh, before the queen regent, a great part of the nobility, and a vast number of people, in 1554. Chalmers’s Lindsay, i. 60, 61. Row says, that it was also acted “in the amphitheatre of St Johnstoun.” MS. History of the Kirk, p. 3. It exposed the avarice, luxury, and profligacy, of the religious orders; the temporal power and opulence of the bishops, with their total neglect of preaching; the prohibition of the reading of the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue; the extolling of pardons, relics, &c. In his “Monarchies,” composed by him at a subsequent period, he traced the rise and progress of the papacy, and has discovered a knowledge of history, and of the causes that produced the corruption of Christianity, which would not disgrace any modern author. The poems of Lindsay were read by “every man, woman, and child.” Row has preserved an anecdote, which serves to illustrate their influence, and the manner in which the reformed sentiments were propagated at that period. Some time between 1550 and 1558, a friar was preaching at Perth in the church where the scholars of Andrew Simson attended public worship. In the course of his sermon, after relating some of the miracles wrought at the shrines of the saints, he began to inveigh bitterly against the Lutheran preachers who were going about the country, and endeavouring to withdraw the people from the Catholic faith. When he was in the midst of his invective, a loud hissing arose in that part of the church where the boys, to the number of three hundred, were seated, so that the friar, abashed and affrighted, broke off his discourse, and fled from the pulpit. A complaint having been made to the master, he instituted an enquiry into the cause of the disturbance, and to his astonishment found that it originated with the son of a craftsman in the town, who had a copy of Lindsay’s “Monarchies,” which he had read at intervals to his schoolfellows. {378} When the master was about to administer severe chastisement to him, for the tumult which he had occasioned, and also for retaining in his possession such a heretical book, the boy very spiritedly replied, that the book was not heretical, requested his master to read it, and professed his readiness to submit to punishment, provided any heresy was found in it. This proposal appeared so reasonable to Simson that he perused the work, which he had not formerly seen, and was convinced of the truth of the boy’s statement. He accordingly made the best excuse which he could to the magistrates for the behaviour of his scholars, and advised the friar to abstain in future from extolling miracles, and from abusing the protestant preachers. From that time Simson was friendly to the Reformation. MS. Historie of the Kirk, p. 3, 4.

In every protestant country, a metrical version of the Psalms, in the vernacular language, appeared at a very early period. The French version begun by Clement Marot, and completed by Beza, contributed much to the spread of the Reformation in France. The Psalms were sung by Francis I. and Henry II. and by their courtiers. The catholics flocked for a time to the assemblies of the protestants to listen to their psalmody. Bayle, Dictionnaire, art. Marot, Notes N, O, P. At a later period, cardinal Chastillon proposed to the papal ambassador, as the best method for checking the progress of heresy, that his holiness should authorize some “good and godly” songs to be sung by the French, “cantar alcune cose in lingua Francese, le quali pero fossero parole buono et sante, et prima approvate de sua Beatitudine.” Lettres de St Croix: Aymons, ut supra, tom. i. p. 7, 9, 11. It has been said, that there was a Scottish version of the Psalms at a very early period. Dalyell’s Cursory Remarks, p. 35. It is more certain, that before the year 1546, a number of the Psalms were translated in metre; for George Wishart sung one of them in the house of Ormiston, on the night in which he was apprehended. Knox, Historie, p. 49. The two lines quoted by Knox answer to the beginning of the second stanza of the 51st Psalm, inserted in Scottish Poems of the 16th Century, p. 111. They were commonly sung in the assemblies of the protestants, in the year 1556. Knox, 96. John and Robert Wedderburn, brothers to the poet of that name mentioned above, appear {379} to have been the principal translators of them. Cald. MS. i. 108, 109. The version was not completed; and at the establishment of the Reformation, it was supplanted in the churches, by the version begun by Sternhold and Hopkins, and finished by the English exiles at Geneva.

But the most singular measure adopted for circulating the reformed opinions in Scotland was the composition of “Gude and godly ballates, changed out of prophaine sanges, for avoyding of sinne and harlotrie.” John and Robert Wedderburn were the chief authors of this work also. Cald. ut supra. Row’s Hist. of the Kirk, p. 4. The title sufficiently indicates their nature and design. The air, the measure, the initial line, or the chorus of the ballads most commonly sung by the people at that time, were transferred to hymns of devotion. Unnatural, indelicate, and gross as this association appears to us, these spiritual songs edified multitudes in that age. We must not think that this originated in any peculiar depravation of taste in our reforming countrymen. Spiritual songs constructed upon the same principle were common in Italy. Roscoe’s Lorenzo de Medici, i. 309. 4to. At the beginning of the Reformation, the very same practice was adopted in Holland as in Scotland. “The protestants first sung in their families, and private assemblies, the psalms of the noble lord of Nievelte, which he published in 1540, ut homines ab amatoriis, haud raro obscœnis, aliisque vanis canticis, quibus omnia in urbibus et vicis personabant, avocaret. Sed quia modulationes vanarum cantionum (alias enim homines non tenebant) adhibuerat,” &c. Gisberti Voetii Politica Ecclesiastica, tom. i. p. 534. Amstælod. 1663, 4to. Florimond de Remond objected to the psalms of Marot, that the airs of some of them were borrowed from vulgar ballads. A Roman Catholic version of the Psalms in Flemish verse, printed at Antwerp by Simon Cock, in 1540, has the first line of a ballad printed at the head of every psalm. Bayle, Dict. art. Marot. Note N. The spiritual songs of Colletet, although composed a century after our “Godly Ballates,” were constructed on still more exceptionable models. “Et moy, Monsieur,” says Mons. Jurieu, “je vous feray voir, quand il vous plaira, les cantiques spirituels de Colletet imprimés à Paris, chés Antoine de Raflé, avec privilege du Roy, {380} de l’an 1660. Livre curieux, où vous trouverés des Noëls sur le chant de ce vaudeville infame qui commence, _Il faut chanter une histoire de la femme d’un manant_, &c. le reste est un conte scandeleux autant qu’il y en ait dans le Satyricon de Petrone. Vous en trouverés un autre sur l’air de ces paroles libertines d’une chanson de l’opera:

_A quoy bon tant de raison, dans un bel aage._

Un autre sur ce vaudeville impudent:

_Allés vous . . . . .
Un galant tout nouveau, &c._

Dés le temps de Henri II. parce que toute la Cour chantoit les Pseaumes de Marot, le Cardinal de Lorraine jugea que, pour arrester un si grand desordre, il seroit très edifiant de faire tourner des odes d’Horace en rime Françoise, pour nourrir la pieté de cette cour si devote.” Apologie pour les Reformateurs, &c. tom. i. 129, 4to. A Rotterdam, 1683.

Note L, Footnote 60.

_Of George Wishart._――The following graphic description of this interesting martyr is contained in a letter written by a person who had been one of his pupils at Cambridge, and transmitted by him to John Fox, who inserted it in his work, p. 1155. edit. 1596.

“About the yeare of our Lord, a thousand, five hundreth, fortie and three, there was, in the universitie of Cambridge, one Maister George Wischart, commonly called Maister George of Bennet’s Colledge, who was a man of tall stature, polde headed, and on the same a round French cap of the best. Judged of melancholye complexion by his phsiognomie, black haired, long bearded, comely of personage, well spoken after his country of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lovely, glad to teach, desirous to learne, and was well traulled, hauing on him for his habit or clothing, neuer but a mantell frise gowne to the shoes, a blacke Millian fustain dublet, and plaine blacke hosen, course new canuasse for his shirtes, and white falling bandes and cuffes at the hands. All the which apparell, he gaue {381} to the poore, some weekly, some monethly, some quarterly as hee liked, sauing his Frenche cappe, which hee kept the whole yeere of my beeing with him. Hee was a man modest, temperate, fearing God, hating couetousnesse: for his charitie had neuer ende, night, noone, nor daye: hee forbare one meale in three, one day in foure for the most part, except something to comfort nature. [When accused, at his trial, of contemning fasting, he replied, ‘My Lordis, I find that fasting is commendit in the scriptur.――And not so only; bot I have leirnit by experience, that fasting is gude for the healthe and conservation of the body.’ Knox, 60.] Hee lay hard upon a pouffe of straw: course new canuasse sheetes, which, when he changed, he gaue away. Hee had commonly by his bedside, a tubbe of water, in the which (his people being in bed, the candle put out, and all quiet) hee used to bathe himselfe, as I being very yong, being assured offen, heard him, and in one light night discerned him. Hee loved me tenderly, and I him, for my age, as effectually. Hee taught with great modestie and grauitie, so that some of his people thought him seuere, and would haue slain him, but the Lord was his defence. And hee, after due correction for their malice, by good exhortation amended them, and hee went his way. O that the Lord had left him to mee his poore boy, that hee might haue finished that hee had begunne! For in his Religion hee was as you see heere in the rest of his life, when he went into Scotland with diuers of the Nobilitie, that came for a treaty to king Henry the eight. His learning was no less sufficient than his desire, alwayes prest and readie to do good in that hee was able, both in the house priuately, and in the schoole publickely, professing and reading divors authours.

“If I should declare his loue to mee and all men, his charitie to the poore, in giuing, relieuing, caring, helping, prouiding, yea infinitely studying how to do good unto all, and hurt to none, I should sooner want words than just cause to commend him.

“All this I testifie, with my whole heart and trueth, of this godly man. Hee that made all, gouerneth all, and shall iudge all, knoweth I speake the throth, that the simple may be satisfied, the arrogant confounded, the hypocrite disclosed.

τέλος Emery Tylney.”

{382} A particular account of Wishart’s trial and execution was published in England, apparently soon after the assassination of Beatoun. This very rare little book does not appear to have been seen by any of the writers who have mentioned it. The following account is taken from a copy, belonging to Richard Heber, Esq., who communicated it to me with that liberality for which he is so eminently distinguished. The general title is: “The tragical death of Dauid Beatō Bishoppe of sainct Andrewes in Scotland; Wherunto is ioyned the martyrdom of maister George Wyseharte gentleman, for whose sake the aforesayed bishoppe was not longe after slayne. Wherein thou maist learne what a burnynge charitie they shewed not only towardes him: but vnto al suche as come to their hādes for the blessed Gospels sake.” On the next leaf begins, “Roberte Burrant to the reader,” being a preface extending to 12 leaves, ending on B. iiiii. After this is the following title of the Tragedy or poem: “Here followeth the Tragedy of the late moste reuerende father Dauid, by the mercie of God Cardinall and archbishoppe of sainct Andrews. And of the whole realme of Scotland primate, legate and chaunceler. And administrator of the bishoprich of Merapois in Fraunce. And cōmendator perpetuall of the abbay of Aberbrothoke, compiled by sir Dauid Lindsaye of the mounte Knyghte. Alias, Lione, kyng of armes. Anno M.D. xlvi. Ultimo Maii. The wordes of Dauid Beaton the cardinall aforesaied at his death. Alas alas, slaye me not, I am a priest.” The poem begins on the reverse, and ends on the first page of C. vii. On the back of that leaf is,――“The accusation of maister George Wysehart gentlemā, who suffered martrydome for the faith of Christ Jesu, at S. Andrewes in Scotlād the first day of Marche. In the yere of our Lorde, M.D. xlvi. wyth the articles which he was accused of, and his swete answeres to the same, wherunto are ioyned his godly oratiōs and praiers.――With most tendre affection and unfeyned herte, considere,” &c. The narrative ends on the first page of F. vi, with these words, “complayning of thys innocent lābes slaughter.”――“Imprinted at London, by John Day, and William Seres, dwellynge in Sepulchres parish at the signe of the Resurrection, a little aboue Holbourne conduiet. Cum gracia et priuilegio ad imprimendum solum.” In eights. The tragedy of Beatoun is printed in small, {383} and the account of Wishart’s trial in large black letter. The date of printing is not mentioned. Those who have fixed on the year 1546 have been influenced by the occurring of this date on the title of the tragedy, which evidently refers to the time of Beatoun’s death. It is probable, however, from some expressions in the preface, as well as from other considerations, that it was printed soon after that event. Fox has embodied the whole account of Wishart’s trial in his Acts and Monuments, p. 1154‒1158, “_Ex. Histor. Impressa._” Knox has transcribed it from Fox. Historie, p. 72.

Wishart had travelled on the continent. Knox, 56. Lesly, p. 458. Buchanan calls him _Sophocardius_, supposing his name to be _Wiseheart_, a mistake which has been corrected by an intelligent foreign historian, who says that the original name was _Guiscard_, a name common in France, from which country the _Wischards_ (for so Knox writes it) originally came to Scotland. Gerdesii Hist. Reformat. tom. iv. p. 314. See also Ruddiman’s _Propriorum nominum Interpretatio_, subjoined to Buchanan’s History.

The following extract from the records of the city of Bristol has been obligingly sent me by Theodore Laurance, Esq.

“30 Henry viij. That this yere the 15 May a Scot named George Wysard sett furth his lecture in S{t} Nicholas Church of Bristowe the most blasphemous heresy that ever was herd, openly declarying that Christs mother hath not nor coulde merite for him nor yett for us, wich heresy brought many of the commons of this towne into a greate erro{r} and dyvers of theym were persuaded by that hereticall lecture to heresy. Wherupon the said stiff necked Scot was accused by Mr John Kerne deane of the s{d} diocese and soon aft{r} he was sent to the moost reverend father in God the archebishop of Canterbury bifore whom and others, that is to signifie, the bishops of Bathe Norwhiche and Chichester, with others, as doctors and he bifore theym was examyned convicted and condemned in and upon the detestable heresy above mentioned, whereupon he was injoyned to bere a fagott in S{t} Nicholas church aforsaid and the parishe of the same the 13 July and in Christe church the 20 July abovesaid foll{g}, which was duely executed in the time aforsaid:”

This is extracted from the “Mayor’s Kalendar,” a vellum manuscript {384} book of great antiquity, which is usually produced at the swearing in of the mayor, as it has a drawing of that ceremony, and refers to some old customs observed on the occasion. I have no doubt that the person referred to is George Wishart, the Scottish martyr. The facts related happened on the year after he left Scotland. In the course of that year John Lambert suffered martyrdom for denying transubstantiation, and Henry VIII. was using the severest measures against the protestants. The circumstance of George Wysard having recanted what he had taught respecting the Virgin, is not sufficient to discredit this supposition. Whether his recantation proceeded from fear, or from his being entangled by the sophistry of his judges, any stain which it affixed to his character was completely effaced by the fortitude and constancy with which he afterwards suffered.

The following is the title of a very rare book, which appears to have been written by George Wishart during his travels on the continent, and printed after his death:

“The Confescion of the fayth of the Sweserlādes.

“This Confescion was fyrste wrytten and set out by the ministers of the churche and congregacion of Sweuerland, where all godlyness is receyued, and the word hadde in most reuerence, and from thence was sent vnto the Emperours maiestie, then holdynge a gryat counsell or parliament in the yeare of our Lord God M. V. C. XXXVII. in the moneth of February.

“Translated out of Laten by George Vsher, a Scotchman, who was burned in Scotland, the yeare of oure Lorde M. V. C. XLVI.”

Note M, Footnote 71.

_Of Knox’s Language respecting the Assassination of Cardinal Beatoun._――Mr Hume has, not very philosophically, inferred the savageness of Knox’s temper from the evident satisfaction with which he wrote of Cardinal Beatoun’s assassination; and in this judgment he has been followed by several writers. If to express satisfaction at cutting off one who was regarded as a public enemy be viewed as an infallible mark of cruelty, we must pronounce this verdict upon many who were never before suspected of such a {385} disposition. The manner in which the Christian fathers expressed themselves, respecting the death of the persecutors of the church, is not unknown. See Julian the apostate, chap. vii. viii. in Works of the Rev. Samuel Johnston, p. 22‒24. Bayle, Critique General de l’Histoire du Calvinisme, p. 295. Even the mild and philosophic Erasmus could not refrain from declaring his joy at the violent death of two of the most learned and eminent reformers. “Bene habet (says he) quod duo Coriphæi perierunt, Zuinglius in acie, Oecolampadius paulo post febri et apostemate. Quod si illis favisset Ενυαλιος, actum est de nobis.” Epist. 1205: Jortin’s Life of Erasmus, ii. 28. Sir Walter Scott, in his Cadyow Castle, (See Lyrical Pieces,) has lately exerted all his poetic powers to invest Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh with the character of a hero, in assassinating the regent Murray, a person who is no more to be compared to cardinal Beatoun, than “Hyperion to a Satyr.” I know the apology that will be made for the poet (although I think he might have found, in this, and in some other instances, a subject more worthy of his muse); but what shall we say of the historian who narrates the action of Bothwellhaugh “approvingly,” celebrates the “happy pencil of the poet” in describing it, and insults over the fall of Murray, by quoting a sarcastic line from the poem, in the very act of relating his death! Chalmers’s Caledonia, ii. 571. Yet this same writer is highly displeased that Sir David Lindsay, in his Tragedy of Beatoun, has “no burst of indignation” at the cardinal’s murder; and twice in the same work he has related with triumph, that, on the margin of one edition of Knox’s history, the part which James Melvin acted in that scene is called a “godly fact.” And he pronounces the assassination of Beatoun to be “the _foulest_ crime which ever stained a country, except perhaps the similar murder of archbishop Sharpe, within the same shire, in the subsequent century, by similar miscreants.” Chalmers’s Works of Lyndsay, vol. i. 34, 35, ii. 231. How marvellously does prejudice distort the judgment even of learned men! And how surprising to find the assassination of two sanguinary persecutors represented as more criminal than the murder of the generous Henry IV., the patriotic Prince of Orange, and the brave and pious Coligni! There are not a few persons who can read in cold blood of thousands of {386} innocent persons being murdered under the consecrated cloak of authority, but who “burst into indignation” at the mention of the rare fact (ocurring once in a century) of a person, who, goaded by oppression and reduced to despair, has been driven to the extremity of taking vengeance on the proud and tyrannical author of his own and his country’s wrongs.――I mention these things to show the need which certain writers have to look at home, and to judge of characters and actions with a little more impartiality, or at least consistency.

Honest Keith, whose personal feelings do not appear to have been violent, has expressed with much simplicity the feelings of his party, in the reflections which be makes on the cardinal’s assassination. “What might have proved (says he) to be the issue of such procedure [Beatoun’s severe measures against the reformers], had he enjoyed his life for any considerable time, I shall not pretend to judge: Only this seems to be certain, that by his death the reins of the government were much loosened; and some persons came to be considerable soon after, who probably, if he had lived, had never got the opportunity to perpetrate such villanies, under the cloak of religion, as ’tis certain they did; he being at least no less a statesman than a clergyman.” History, p. 45. This language needs no commentary; and the callousness to the interests of (I say not the Reformation, for that is entirely out of the question, but) humanity, implied in the prospect that Keith takes of the cruelties which the protestants must have suffered from the cardinal, if his life had been spared, is far more reprehensible than any satisfaction which Knox expressed at his death.

“It is very horrid,” says Hume, “but at the same time somewhat amusing, to consider the joy, alacrity, and pleasure which that historian [Knox] discovers in his narrative of this assassination.” History of England, vol. vi. chap. iv. Mr Hume makes a partial apology for Knox by the description which he gives of his own feelings; while he allows that what, in the main, excites horror, may produce some amusement. It is well known that there are writers who can treat the most sacred subjects with a levity bordering upon profaneness. Must we at once pronounce them profane? And is nothing to be set down to the score of natural temper inclining {387} them to wit and humour? The Reformer rejoiced at the death of Beatoun; and even those who could not approve of the act of the conspirators, were happy that he was taken away:

“As for the Cardinal, we grant,
He was a man we weell might want,
And we’ll forget him sone:
And yet I think, the sooth to say,
Although the lown is weell away,
The deed was foully done.”

The pleasantry which Knox has mingled with the narrative of his death and burial is unseasonable and unbecoming. But it is to be imputed, not to any pleasure which he took in describing a bloody scene, but to the strong propensity which he felt to indulge his vein of humour. Those who have read his history with attention, must have perceived that he is not able to check this, even on very serious occasions. I shall at present refer to one instance only. None will doubt that his mind was deeply affected in relating the trial and execution of his esteemed friend, and revered instructor, George Wishart. Yet, even in the midst of his narrative of this event, he could not abstain from inserting the truly ludicrous description of a quarrel which arose on that occasion between the archbishops of St Andrew’s and Glasgow; for which he apologizes thus:――“Gif we interlace merrines with ernest matters, pardone us, gude reidare, for the fact is sa notable that it deserves lang memorie.” Historie, p. 51.

Note N, Footnote 97.

_Knox in the French Galleys._――The following curious notice as to this event in our Reformer’s life, will form an appropriate introduction to the extracts referred to in the text. It has been preserved by the learned Dr Fulke, and is given as an answer to a popish writer, who had said, in the way of detraction, “Knokes was a galley slave three yeares.”――“The more wicked,” replies Fulke, “those papistes which betrayed him into the galley. The master {388} whereof was glad to be rid of him, because he never had good successe, so long as he kept that holy man in slaverie, whome also in danger of tempest, though an errant papiste, he would desire to commend him and his galley to God in his praiers.” T. Stapleton and Martiall (two popish heretics) confuted. By D. Fulke, master of Pembroke‑hall, in Cambridge, p. 116. Lond. 1580.

I shall give Knox’s own account of his feelings on that occasion, from the MS. copy of his Treatise on Prayer in my possession, preserving the original language, which is altered in the printed edition. Those who have access to the latter can compare the two.

“I mene not,” says he, “that any man, in extreamitie of trubill, can be without a present dolour, and without a greater feir of trubill to follow. Trubill and feir are the very spurris to prayer. For when man, compassit about with vehement calamities, and vexit with continewall solicitude, having by help of man no hope of deliverance, with soir oppressit and punissit hart, feiring also greater punisment to follow, from the deip pit of tribulation, doith call to God for comfort and support, such prayer ascendeth into Godis presence, and returneth not in vane.” Having illustrated this from the exercise of David, as described in the viith psalm, he proceeds, “This is not written for David onlie, but for all such as sall suffer tribulatioun to the end of the world. For I, the wryter hereof, (lat this be said to the laude and prais of God allone) in angusche of mynd, and vehement tribulatioun and afflictioun, called to the Lord, when not only the ungodlie, but evin my faithfull brether, ye and my awn self (that is, all natural understanding) judgeit my cause to be irremedeable; and yit in my greatest calamitie, and when my panis wer most cruell, wold his eternall wisdome that my handis suld wryt far contrarie to the judgement of carnall reasone, whilk his mercie hath pruved trew. _Blessit be his halie name._[484] And therefore dar I be bold in the veritie of Godis word, to promeis that, notwithstanding the vehemencie of trubill, the long continewance thairof, the desperatioun of all men, the feirfulness, danger, dolour, and angusche of oure awn hartis, yit, yf we call constantlie to God, that, beyound expectatioun of all men, hie sall {389} delyver.” p. 52‒54. After showing that prayers for temporal deliverance ought always to be offered up with submission to the divine will, that God often delays the deliverance of the body while he mitigates the distress of the spirit, and sometimes permits his saints “to drink, before the maturity of age, the bitter cupe of corporall death, that thairby thay may receave medicine, and cure from all infirmitie,” he adds: “Albeit we sie thairfoir no appeirand help to our selves, nor yit to otheris afflictit, lat ws not ceis to call, (thinking our prayeris to be vane;) for whatsoever cum of our bodeis, God sall gif unspeakabill comfort to the spreit, and sall turne all to our comodities beyound our awn expectatioun. The caus that I am so lang and tedious in this matter is, for that I knaw how hard the batell is between the spreit and the flesche, under the heavie cros of afflictioun, whair no warldlie defence, but present death dois appeir. I knaw the grudging and murmuring complaints of the flesche; I knaw the anger, wrath, and indignatioun, whilk it consaveth aganis God, calling all his promissis in dout, and being readie everie hour utterlie to fall from God: aganis whilk restis onlie faith provoking us to call ernistlie, and pray for assistance of Godis spreit, whairin if we continew, our maist disperat calamiteis sall hie turn to gladnes, and to a prosperous end.[485] To thee, O Lord, allone be prais; for with experience I wryt this, and speak.” MS. Letters, p. 65, 66.

The edition was printed most probably in England, (_Rome_ is on the title‑page,) during the persecution, from a MS. sent by Knox from Dieppe, and so incorrectly, that it is often impossible to make sense of it. The following are specimens: “Diffysed,” fol. 2, “difficil,” MS.――“A pure word of God,” fol. 2, “a puritie allowit of God,” MS.――“Consent,” fol. 3, “conceat,” MS.――“May any other Jesas Christ, except I, in these wordes, make intercession for sinners?” fol. 11. “May any other (Jesus Christ except) in these wordes mak intercession for sinneris?” MS.; the transcriber having mistaken the concluding mark of parenthesis for the pronoun.――“Carkese slepe,” fol. 16, “carleslie slepeth,” MS. In quoting {390} Isa. lxiv. 5, the printed edition has employed a word which I have not seen in any old version of the Bible. “Thou art _crabbid_, O Lord, because we have sinned,” fol. 4; and again in verse 9, “Be not _crabbid_, O Lord, remember not our iniquities for ever.” In the MS. it is _angrie_, in both instances. In fol. xvi. is a greater variation: “For with such as do aleage that God may not chaunge his sentence, and our prayers therefore to be vayne, can I no wyse agree.” Instead of this the MS. has, “whilk thing if we do unfeanedlie, he will revoke his wrath, and in the middis of his furie think upon mercie.”――There are similar variations between the MS. and the printed copies of most of his other tracts. They show that the MS. which I possess has not been transcribed from these copies, according to a custom very common in that age.

Note O, Footnote 106.

_Extracts from Balnaves’s Confession of Faith, or Treatise on Justification._――In reading the writings of the first reformers there are two things which must strike our minds. The first, is the exact conformity between the doctrine maintained by them respecting the justification of sinners, and that of the apostles. The second, is the surprising harmony which subsisted among them on this important doctrine. On some questions respecting the sacraments, and the external government and worship of the church, they differed; but upon the article of free justification, Luther and Zuinglius, Melanchthon and Calvin, Cranmer and Knox, spoke the very same language. This was not owing to their having read each other’s writings, but because they copied from the same divine original. The clearness with which they understood and explained this great truth is also very observable. More learned and able defences of it have since appeared; but I question if it has ever been stated in more scriptural, unequivocal, and decided language, than in the writings of the early reformers. Some of their successors, by giving way to speculation, gradually lost sight of this distinguishing badge of the Reformation, and landed at last in Arminianism, which is nothing else but the popish doctrine in a protestant dress. Knox has informed us, that his design, in preparing for the press the treatise {391} written by Sir Henry Balnaves, was to give, along with the author, his “confession of the article of justification therein contained.” I cannot, therefore, lay before the reader a more correct view of our Reformer’s sentiments upon this fundamental article of faith, than by quoting from a book which was revised and approved by him.