the Queen of Scots was next heir by blood, they persuaded her and her husband to assume the title and arms of England.

Elizabeth complained of this insult; but she could obtain only an evasive reply. She thenceforth conceived a violent jealousy against the Queen of Scots, and determined at the same time to oppose the design of the French court. The sudden death of Henry of France, who was killed at a tournament, appeased not her indignation; for, being informed that his son and successor, Francis the Second, continued to assume, without reserve, the title of King of England, she ever after considered him and his Queen as her mortal enemies, and resolved not only to provide for her own safety, but to seize every opportunity of revenging the injury.

No sooner were the Princes of Lorrain in full possession of the administration under Francis, than they determined to support with vigour the claim of the Queen of Scots. Convinced that England could be attacked with the greatest advantage from Scotland, the Guises sent orders to their sister the Regent, to take the most effective measures for humbling the partisans of England, and suppressing the Protestant opinions in Scotland. They hoped that the English Catholics, who were formidable by their number, and exasperated against Elizabeth for the change she had made in the national religion, would rise in support of the claim of her Scottish rival.

The situation of affairs in Scotland afforded Elizabeth an opportunity of retaliating upon her enemies: The Reformation was rapidly advancing in that kingdom; and the Queen Regent, desirous to secure the favour of the Protestant leaders, by whose means she had been elevated to her high station, connived at the progress of doctrines which she had not the power to suppress. Too cautious, however, to trust to this precarious security, the Earls of Argyll, Morton, Glencairn, Lord Lorne, Erskine of Dun, with other Protestant gentlemen, subscribed privately a bond of association for their mutual protection, and the propagation of their religious tenets; and called themselves the Congregation of the Lord, in contradistinction to the Popish church, which they named the Congregation of Satan.

Before the league was publicly known, the clergy, alarmed by the progress of the new opinions, attempted to recover their lost authority, by a violent exercise of power in enforcingthe tyrannical laws against heresy. Hamilton the Primate seized Walter Mills, a priest of an irreproachable life, who

had embraced the Reformed doctrines; and, having tried him at St Andrew's, condemned him to the flames. But so general was the aversion to this act of barbarity, that it was some time before the bishops could prevail on any one to act as a civil judge, and pronounce sentence upon Mills. Even after the time of his execution was fixed, no person would sell a rope to tie him to the stake; and the Primate himself was obliged to furnish that implement.

Mills endured his fate with the fortitude which zeal for truth inspires. The spectators, to express their abhorrence of the cruelty of the priests, raised à monument of stones upon the place of his execution. The clergy, enraged, gave orders to remove it; but it was as suddenly raised again by the indignant multitude. This was the last act of barbarity that the Catholics had the power of executing under the sanction of the laws.

The people, some time after, discovered their sentiments in such a manner as was sufficient to prognosticate to the priests the fate which was awaiting them. A provincial council, held at Edinburgh, permitted some convicted heretics to redeem their lives by making a public recantation on the 1st of September, the festival of St Giles, the tutelary saint of Edinburgh. It was usual on that festival to carry in procession the image of St Giles; but the Reformers, in order to prevent the ceremony, found means to purloin the statue from the church. The clergy hastily formed a new image, which in derision was called by the people young St Giles. The saint was carried through the streets, attended by all the ecclesiastics in the town and neighbourhood. Of this ceremony, the Queen Regent was witness; but, the moment she retired, the multitude threw the idol in the mire, broke it in pieces, and rescued the convicts. The flight and terror of the priests and friars was the subject of universal mockery/ and laughter.

Encouraged by these appearances, the Congregation now openly solicited subscriptions to the league. Not satisfied with a new and more solemn promise of protection, they presented a petition to the Regent, craving a reformation of the church: They framed a petition, which they intended to present to the Parliament, soliciting some legal protection against the oppression and exorbitant jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts: They presented to the Convocation, then sitting, a petition which they called the preliminary articles of the Reformation,-desiring, first, "That public prayers be conceived and the sacrament administered in the vulgar

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tongue; second, that, in time coming, bishops be admitted with the assent of the barons of the diocese, and parish priests with the assent of the parishioners; third, that they who are unfit for the pastoral charge, be removed from their benefices, and such others placed in their room as are able and willing to instruct the people by constant preaching; fourth, that in future, immoral and ignorant persons be excluded from the administration of the sacraments, and the other ecclesiastical functions."

Instead of soothing the Protestants by prudent concessions, the Convocation evaded or rejected their demands; and the Queen Regent, who had hitherto temporized between the parties, now proceeded with rigour against the Reformers, in obedience to commands she had recently received from her brothers. She publicly expressed her approbation of the decrees by which their principles were condemned; and summoned the most eminent Protestant preachers to appear before her council at Stirling.

the

The members of the Congregation, alarmed but not overawed by this menace, assembled in great numbers, according to the custom of Scotland at that time, to attend their pastors to the place of trial, to countenance and protect them. Dreading the approach of so formidable a party, the Regent deputed Erskine of Dun, a person of great authority among Reformers, to assure them that she would put a stop to the present proceedings, if they would advance no farther. They listened with pleasure to a proposition so pacific: But the Regent forfeited her word, and proceeded to the trial of the persons formerly cited; against whom sentence of outlawry was passed, on account of their not appearing.

An artifice so mean and contemptible, excited the indignation of the whole body of the Protestants. Erskine himself, enraged at the Queen's deceitful conduct, instantly repaired to Perth, whither the leaders of the Protestants had retired, and where they boldly prepared for their defence. At that crisis, John Knox arrived from the Continent. That indefatigable preacher lost no time in confirming the resolution of the wavering, and stimulating their indignation against Popery. After Erskine had communicated to the Congregation the news of the impending danger, Knox mounted the pulpit, and declaimed with great vehemence against the idolatry of the mass and image worship. The Congregation then quietly dismissed, except a few idle persons, who loitered in the church.

A priest was so imprudent as to uncover a rich altar-piece

decorated with images, for the purpose of saying mass. boy having uttered some reproachful epithets, was struck by the priest. The juvenile aggressor retaliated by throwing a stone; which broke one of the images. This served as a signal for a general assault. In the course of a few minutes, the images, the altar, and the ornaments of the church, were demolished, and trampled under foot.

With augmented rage and additional numbers, the assailants proceeded to the monasteries of the Gray and the Black Friars; which they instantly pillaged and laid in ruins. The costly edifice of the Carthusians underwent the same fate, notwithstanding the remonstrances of the Protestant leaders and the authority of the Magistrates, who interposed without effect. The inhabitants of Cupar in Fife soon after imitated this fury of devastation. Provoked at these outrages, the Queen Regent assembled an army, composed chiefly of French troops, and advanced towards Perth, to chastise the insurgents. The latter vigorously prepared to defend themselves; and, being joined by the Earl of Glencairn, with many of the nobility and gentry, they appeared formidable from their numbers and zeal.

They would gladly have soothed the Queen by the most dutiful addresses. Indeed, neither party seemed inclined to unsheath the sword. A treaty was concluded through the mediation of the young Earl of Argyll and the Prior of St Andrew's; in which it was stipulated, that an indemnity should be granted to all persons concerned in the late disturbances, and that the Parliament should be immediately convoked to compose religious differences. Both these stipulations were violated by the Regent. She removed the Magistrates of Perth from their office; some of the inhabitants of that town were fined; others were banished; and she left a garrison in the place, with orders not to allow the exercise of any religion except the Roman Catholic,

CHAPTER IV.

Mary of Guise superseded. Military operations, Queen Elizabeth aids the Congregation. Death of the Queen dowager-her character. Peace. Ecclesiastical affairs. Death of Francis. Queen Mary returns to Scot

land.

THESE

HESE unexpected infractions of the treaty disappointed and perplexed the Reformers: But a sense of their imminent danger stimulated them to activity. They renewed the league, and collected their followers for defensive operations.

The Regent marched against them with her army; but finding their forces greatly augmented, she was induced to conclude a truce for a few days, and to pass over with her troops to the Lothians. The gates of Perth and Stirling were immediately opened to the Congregation; who were soon afterwards gladly received in Edinburgh.

The Queen took shelter in Dunbar; which she fortified, in expectation of a reinforcement from France. The dispute between the Regent and the Congregation had hitherto been purely religious: It now assumed a more complex character. Being joined by the Earl of Argyll and the Prior of St Andrew's, the Reformers aimed at the redress of civil as well as religious grievances; and required, as a preliminary towards settling the peace of the kingdom, the immediate dismissal of the French forces from Scotland. The Queen amused them for a time with pretended negotiations and fair pro-mises; which were finally terminated by the arrival of one thousand men from France. A numerous reinforcement was soon after disembarked, under the command of Monsieur La Brosse; who was accompanied by the Bishop of Amiens and three doctors of the Sorbonne. These zealous ecclesiastics were supplied with stores of syllogisms, authorities, citations, and scholastic arguments, which they intended to oppose to the Scottish preachers, and which they presumed would acquire force and produce conviction by the influence of the French arms and artillery.

Assured by the court of France that she might expect the speedy arrival of so powerful an army that the Reformers could not dare to encounter it, the Queen Regent immediately broke off all negotiations with her opponents. "She was not answerable to them," she said, "for any part of her conduct. She would retain in her service the number of troops she judged necessary; and commanded the Reformers, as they valued her favour and the repose of the kingdom, to disband their forces."

This haughty and imperious conduct determined the associated lords to adopt a violent and décisive measure. They assembled all the peers, barons, and representatives of barons that adhered to them; and that convocation, after discussing the most delicate and important question that can fall under the consideration of subjects, boldly and unanimously gave their suffrages for depriving Mary of Guise of the office and authority of Regent.

The Queen had already retired into Leith; which she had fortified and garrisoned with French troops. That town was