refused admittance: whereupon those who had entered stabbed the porter, seized the keys of the castle, and threw the body into the trench. They dismissed the workmen in succession quietly from the Castle; and then proceeding to the chambers of the domestics, led them in silence to the gate, threatening instant death if they spoke or made the least resistance. One hundred workmen, and fifty household servants, were in this manner dismissed, and the conspirators remained in possession of the Castle with scarce a creature left in it, save themselves, and its now doomed master. The Cardinal had taken the alarm, and finding the postern gate secured, he proceeded, with the help of his page, to barricade the door of his chamber. but the voice of John Lesly being heard calling for fire, the door was opened from within. Two of the conspirators instantly rushed upon the Cardinal and wounded him; but Melville called them back, crying out, "This ven geance should be executed with more solemnity-repent thee, wicked Cardinal, of all thy cruelty to God's people, and especially of thy murder of that pious servant of God, George Wishart: it is for his blood thou must now atone." So saying, he passed his sword repeatedly through the Cardinal's body, who dropped from his chair and expired. The citizens in a tumultuous mob surrounded the Castle, calling for the Cardinal: the conspirators hung by a sheet from the turrets the mangled and ghastly body of the murdered prelate, crying, "There is your God, now get you home!" upon which the people appear to have dispersed. This event took place on the morning of the 29th of May, 1545; and the conspirators being joined by a few of the more determined enemies of the Cardinal, or his religion, (among whom was John Knox, who afterwards became the.great Apostle of the Reformation), they mustered, to the number of one hundred and fifty, for the defence of the Castle. Its strength defied all the efforts of the Governor to take it; and it was not till the year 1547, when a French fleet arrived to bombard the Castle, that the conspirators surrendered, upon condition that their lives should be spared. The most of them were imprisoned in various dungeons throughout France.

Henry VIII. was succeeded by his son, Edward VI., whose uncle, the Duke of Somerset, was appointed Pro

tector of the kingdon. Somerset, following out the illjudged policy of Henry, attempted, at the point of the sword, to compel the Scots to wed their young Queen to the youthful monarch of England. He invaded Scotland in 1547, with an army of fourteen thousand men ; whilst, at the same time, a fleet under Lord Clinton entered the Frith of Forth to co-operate with the land forces. The Scottish Governor, to muster the array of the kingdom, sent the fiery cross throughout the country, a warlike symbol used in ancient times to summon the gathering of the clans. An array of thirty-six thousand men as sembled, and took up a strong position at Pinkie, near Musselburgh. The Governor was weak enough to allow himself to be lured from this vantage ground, when the English attacked him at a disadvantage; and though the charge of their cavalry was gallantly repulsed by the phalanx of Angus's spearmen, the Scottish army was in the end routed with terrible slaughter. Fourteen thousand men were slain, and the whole country from Musselburgh to Edinburgh, and to Dalkeith, was literally strewed with dead bodies. At the same time, Lord Wharton and the Earl of Lennox, with five thousand men, invaded Scotland by the western marches, by whose success the whole of Annandale was subjected to England.

In the consternation produced by these disasters, the infant Queen was removed, by the Queen-Mother, from Stirling to Inchmahome, in the Lake of Monteith, and afterwards, on the retreat of the English, to Dumbarton Castle. The Scots were in no humour to yield their Queen to a style of wooing such as the English had adopted: they immediately concluded a treaty for her marriage to the eldest son of the French monarch, and sent her to be educated at the French Court. Mary, now in her sixth year, arrived in France on the 13th of August 1548.

In June of the same year, an auxiliary force of six thousand foreign troops had arrived from France; and a further re-inforcement of one thousand foot and three hundred horse was received the following year. These were of considerable service in aiding in retaking the towns and castles that had fallen into the hands of the English; though frequent jealousies broke out between

them and the natives. Peace was concluded with England in 1550.

By artfully working on the fears and hopes of the Governor, Arran, he was at last induced, in 1554, to resign his high office; and the Queen-Mother was installed in the Regency-an honour formerly bestowed upon her, but with whose full powers she was now formally invested. As a reward for his compliance in this respect with the wishes of the Queen-Mother and the French party, Arran received from France a gift of the Dutchy of Cha tellerault.

IV.-Reign of Mary continued.-Reformation.

REGENCY OF MARY OF GUISE-1554-1560.

We now approach one of the most momentous periods of Scottish history, when the Reformation, whose secret progress and open struggles have been already noticed, was destined to triumph over all opposition, overthrowing the Romish hierarchy, with all its abuses and abominations, and establishing in the land the light of Protestant truth, and the simplicity of Protestant ecclesiastical government.

John Knox, a pupil of Wishart, had joined the conspirators in St Andrew's Castle, after the murder of the Cardinal; and on the surrender of that fortress in 1547, was among the prisoners carried off by the French fleet. He was kept in captivity for three years, on board a galliot, and on recovering his liberty in 1550, he repaired to England, where he remained till the death of Edward VI. On the accession of Mary, whose brief reign was signalised by persecutions against the Reformers, he fled to the continent, and, already distinguished for his zeal, piety, and eloquence, he was called to be Pastor of the English Refugees at Frankfort. Knox's attachment to the simple forms of Calvin, produced a difference betwixt him and his congregation, who preferred the prayer-book of Edward VI.; in consequence of which he parted from them, and having had an interview with Calvin at Geneva, he returned to his native country in 1555. The Reformed cause had made considerable progress during his absence. The Queen-Mother, anxious to gain the Reformers to her

interest, had tolerated their preachers; and Harlow and Willock had been successful in converting many to the new faith. The images were destroyed or stolen, in many parts of the country; and in the capital, the great idol of St Giles was thrown into the North Loch, and when, on the Saint's day, the usual procession was attempted in the High Street, with another image procured from the Grey Friars, the populace broke it to pieces, and dispersed the monks.

The Reformers had hitherto so far conformed to the national religion, as to attend mass, but Knox having denounced this as sinful, and argued the matter with Maitland the Secretary, before a private meeting, it was resolved to discontinue the practice, and the congregation at Edinburgh made a formal separation from the Popish Church in 1555. Lord James Stewart, afterwards Regent, the Earl of Glencairn, Earl Marshall, Lord Lorn, Lord St John, Erskine of Dun, Sir James Sandilands, and other persons of distinction, usually attended the sermons of Knox at this period. The Clergy soon took the alarm, and he was summoned to appear before an ecclesiastical convention in Edinburgh; but when he came prepared to defend his doctrines, he found the diet deserted. On his retiring, however, to Geneva, to take charge of the Reformed Congregation there, he was tried in his absence, condemned, and burnt in effigy, at the Cross of Edinburgh, in 1556.

On the third of December 1557, that famous bond or Covenant was drawn up and subscribed, by which the Reformers bound themselves to maintain their cause to the death. Amongst the persons who signed it, were Glencairn, Morton, Argyle, Lorn, Erskine of Dun, and many others of distinction. They also passed a resolution, that the Curates, or other qualified persons, should on Sundays read the Book of Common Prayer and the Scriptures in every parish; and the subscribers took steps to cause this to be observed on their own estates. These proceedings gave high offence to the bishops. They complained of them as an assumption of legislative functions, by a private association; but the Queen Regent, who had her own purposes to serve in endeavouring to please all parties, was averse to extreme measures.

To the converts from their own order, the Clergy had uniformly shewn no mercy, and they once more seized the opportunity of gratifying their rancorous hatred on the person of an aged parish priest, Walter Milne of Lunan, in Angus, who, for preaching the Reformed Doctrines, was condemned and burnt at St Andrews, in the eighty-second year of his age, April 1558. His death excited a strong feeling of horror and indignation throughout the country; and Walter Milne was the last who suffered at the stake for the Reformed cause in Scotland. The Lords of the Congregation, as they were now called, made a firm remonstrance to the Queen Regent, complaining of these cruelties, and even prepared to bring the case before Parliament, insisting that the laws authorizing ecclesiastics to take trial of heretics should be suspended, until the religious controversy at present dividing the nation, should be brought to a conclusion. The Regent craftily temporised, and their efforts failed for the present.

The Reformers had hitherto been satisfied with the moderation of the Regent, but a change now came over her councils. Mary and Popery had been succeeded in England by Elizabeth and the Reformation. A league had been formed between the Pope, the Emperor of Germany, and the kings of France and Spain, for the extirpation of Protestantism throughout Europe: and Mary was solicited by her brothers, the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Duke of Guise, to accede to this league, and to use her utmost efforts to suppress the Reformation in Scotland. Mary's better judgment repudiated this policy, but family attachments, and partiality for her own faith, unfortunately prevailed. She knew enough of the temper of her subjects to make her averse to enter on the task; but she did not know enough of human nature to make her aware, that to attempt to supply the want of power by the arts of dissimulation, only strengthens, while it irritates an opponent. She issued a proclamation for conformity in religion, and commanding attendance on mass; and she summoned the Reformed preachers to appear for trial before a Parliament, to be held at Stirling on the 10th of May 1559. Learning, however, that the Reformers had mustered in strong force at Perth to defend their ministers, she promised to Erskine of Dun, who had been