larity of the protestant leaders; and had been a witness to the intrepid and unconquerable resolution which religious fervour could inspire. What then could be gained by rousing this dangerous spirit, which hitherto all the arts of policy had scarcely been able to restrain? If it once broke loose, the authority of a regent would be little capable to subdue, or even to moderate, its rage. If, in order to quell it, foreign forces were called in, this would give the alarm to the whole nation, irritated already at the excessive power which the French possessed in the kingdom, and suspicious of all their designs. Amidst the shock which this might occasion, far from hoping to exterminate the protestant doctrine, it would be well if the whole fabric of the established church were not shaken, | and perhaps overturned from the foundation. These prudent remonstrances made no impression on her brothers; precipitant, but inflexible in all their resolutions, they insisted on the full and rigorous execution of their plan. Mary, passionately devoted to the interest of France, and ready, on all occasions, to sacrifice her own opinions to the inclinations of her brothers, prepared to execute their commands with implicit submission; and, contrary to her own judgment, and to all the rules of sound policy, she became the instrument of exciting civil commotions in Scotland, the fatal termination of which she foresaw and dreaded.

The regent alters regard to the protestants.

From the time of the queen's com

her conduct with petition for the regency with the duke of Chatelherault, the popish clergy, under the direction of the archbishop of St. Andrew's, had set themselves in opposition to all her measures. Her first step towards the execution of her new scheme, was to regain their favour. Nor was this reconcilement a matter of difficulty. The popish ecclesiastics, separated from the rest of mankind by the law of celibacy, one of the boldest and most successful efforts of human policy; and combined among themselves in the closest and most sacred union, have been accustomed, in every age, to sacrifice all private and particular passions to the dignity and interest of their order. Delighted on this occasion with the prospect of triumphing over a faction, the encroachments of which they had long dreaded, and animated with the hopes of re-establishing their declining grandeur on a firmer basis, they, at once, cancelled the memory of past injuries, and engaged to second the queen in all her attempts to check the progress of the reformation. The queen being secure of their assistance, openly approved of the decrees of the convocation, by which the principles of the reformers were condemned; and, at the same time, she issued a proclamation, enjoining all persons to observe the approaching festival of Easter according to the Romish ritual.

As it was no longer possible to mistake the queen's intentions, the protestants, who saw the g Melv. 48. Mem. de Castelnau, ap. Jebb, vol. ii. 416.

danger approach, in order to avert it, employed the earl of Glencairn, and sir Hugh Campbell of London, to expostulate with her concerning this change towards severity, which their former services had so little merited, and which her reiterated promises gave them no reason to expect. She, without disguise or apology, avowed to them her resolution of extirpating the reformed religion out of the kingdom. And, upon their urging her former engagements with an uncourtly but honest boldness, she so far forgot her usual moderation, as to utter a sentiment, which, however apt those of royal condition may be to entertain it, prudence should teach them to conceal as much as possible. "The promises of princes," says she, "ought not to be too carefully remembered, nor the performance of them exacted, unless it suits their own conveniency."

66

preachers to ap

The indignation which betrayed the Summons their queen into this rash expression, was pear before her. nothing in comparison of that with which she was animated, upon hearing that the public exercise of the reformed religion had been introduced into the town of Perth. At once she threw off the mask, and issued a mandate, summoning all the protestant preachers in the kingdom to a court of justice, which was to be held at Stirling on the tenth of May. The protestants, who, from their union, began, about this time, to be distinguished by the name of the Congregation, were alarmed, but not intimidated, by this danger; and instantly resolved not to abandon the men to whom they were indebted for the most valuable of all blessings, the knowledge of truth. At that time there prevailed in Scotland, with respect to criminal trials, a custom, introduced at first by the institutions of vassalage and clanship, and tolerated afterwards under a feeble government; persons accused of any crime were accompanied to the place of trial by a retinue of their friends and adherents, assembled for that purpose from every quarter of the kingdom. Authorized by this ancient practice, the reformed convened in great numbers to attend their pastors to Stirling. The queen dreaded their approach with a train so numerous, though unarmed; and, in order to prevent them from advancing, she empowered John Erskine of Dun, a person of eminent authority with the party, to promise in her name, that she would put a stop to the intended trial, on condition the preachers and their retinue advanced no nearer to Stirling. Erskine, being convinced himself of the queen's sincerity, served her with the utmost zeal; and the protestants, averse from proceeding to any act of violence, listened with pleasure to so pacific a proposition. The preachers, with a few leaders of the party, remained at Perth: the multitude which had gathered from different parts of the kingdom dispersed, and retired to their

accompanied the protestant religion throughout all its progress; and wherever it was embraced, it roused an independent spirit, which rendered men attentive to their privileges as subjects, and jealous of the encroachments of their sovereigns. Knox, and the other preachers of the reformation, infused generous sentiments concerning government into the minds of their hearers; and the Scottish barons, naturally free and bold, were prompted to assert their rights with more freedom and boldness than ever. Instead of obeying the queen regent, who had enjoined them to lay down their arms, they demanded not only the redress of their religious grievances, but, as a preliminary toward settling the nation, and securing its liberties, required the immediate expulsion of the French troops out of Scotland. It was not in the queen's power to make so important a concession without the concurrence of the French monarch; and as some time was requisite in order to obtain that, she hoped, during this interval, to receive such reinforcements from France, as would insure the accomplishment of | June 13. that design which she had twice attempted with an equal strength. Meanwhile, she agreed to a concession of arms for eight days, and before the expiration of these, engaged to transport the French troops to the south side of the Forth; and to send commissioners to St. Andrew's, who should labour to bring all differences to an accommodation. As she hoped, by means of the French troops, to overawe the protestants in the southern counties, the former article in the treaty was punctually executed; the latter, having been inserted merely to amuse the Congregation, was no longer remembered.

A second treaty By these reiterated and wanton inviolated. stances of perfidy, the queen lost all credit with her adversaries; and no safety appearing in any other cause, they again took arms with more inflamed resentment, and with bolder and more extensive views. The removing of the French forces had laid open to them all the country situated between Forth and Tay. The inhabitants of Perth alone remaining subjected to the insolence and exactions of the garrison which the queen had left there, implored the assistance of the Congregation for their relief. Thither they marched, and having without effect required the queen to evacuate the town in terms of the former treaty, they prepared to besiege it in form. The queen employed the earl of Huntley and lord Erskine to divert them from this enterprise. But her wonted artifices were now of no avail; repeated so often, they could deceive no longer; and, without listening to her offers, the protestants continued the siege, and soon obliged the garrison to capitulate.

After the loss of Perth, the queen endeavoured to seize Stirling, a place of some strength, and, from its command of the only bridge over the Forth, of great importance. But the leaders of the congregation, having intelligence of her design, prevented the execution of it, by a hasty march thither with

Rapid march and

testants.

part of their forces. The inhabitants, heartily attached to the cause, set open success of the proto them the gates of their town. Thence they advanced, with the same rapidity, towards Edinburgh, which the queen, on their approach, abandoned with precipitation and retired to Dunbar.

The protestant army, wherever it came, kindled or spread the ardour of reformation, and the utmost excesses of violence were committed upon churches and monasteries. The former were spoiled of every decoration, which was then esteemed sacred; the latter were laid in ruins. We are apt, at this distance of time, to condemn the furious zeal of the reformers, and to regret the overthrow of so many stately fabrics, the monuments of our ancestors' magnificence, and among the noblest ornaments of the kingdom. But amidst the violence of a reformation, carried on in opposition to legal authority, some irregularities were unavoidable; and perhaps no one could have been permitted more proper to allure and interest the multitude, or more fatal to the grandeur of the established church. How absurd soever, and ill-founded, the speculative errors of popery may be, some inquiry and attention are requisite towards discovering them. The abuses and corruptions which had crept into the public worship of that church, lay more open to observation, and by striking the senses, excited more universal disgust. Under the long reign of heathenism, superstition seemed to have exhausted its talent of invention, so that when a superstitious spirit seized christians, they were obliged to imitate the heathen, in the pomp and magnificence of their ceremonies, and to borrow from them the ornaments and decorations of their temples. To the pure and simple worship of the primitive christians, there succeeded a species of splendid idolatry, nearly resembling those pagan originals whence it had been copied. The contrariety of such observances to the spirit of christianity, was almost the first thing, in the Romish system, which awakened the indignation of the reformers, who, applying to these the denunciations in the Old Testament against idolatry, imagined that they could not endeavour at suppressing them with too much zeal. No task could be more acceptable to the multitude, than to overturn those seats of superstition; they ran with emulation to perform it, and happy was the man whose hand was most adventurous and successful in executing a work deemed so pious. Nor did their leaders labour to restrain this impetuous spirit of reformation. Irregular and violent as its sallies were, they tended directly to that end which they had in view; for, by demolishing the monasteries throughout the kingdom, and setting at liberty their wretched inhabitants, they hoped to render it impossible ever to rebuild the one, or to re-assemble the other.

But amidst these irregular proceedings, a circumstance which does honour to the conduct and humanity of the leaders of the Congregation deserves notice. They so far restrained the rage of their

followers, and were able so to temper their heat and zeal, that few of the Roman catholics were exposed to any personal insult, and not a single man suffered death."

At the same time we discover, by the facility with which these great revolutions were effected, how violently the current of national favour ran toward the reformation. No more than three hundred men marched out of Perth, under the earl of Argyll and prior of St. Andrews,P with this inconsiderable force they advanced. But wherever they came the people joined them in a body; their army was seldom less numerous than five thousand men; the gates of every town were thrown open to receive them; and, without striking a single blow, they took possession of the capital of the

June 29.

kingdom.

This rapid and astonishing success seems to have encouraged the reformers to extend their views, and to rise in their demands. Not satisfied with their first claim of toleration for their religion, they now openly aimed at establishing the protestant doctrine on the ruins of popery. For this reason they determined to fix their residence at Edinburgh; and, by their appointment, Knox, and some other preachers, taking possession of the pulpits, which had been abandoned by the affrighted clergy, declaimed against the errors of popery with such fervent zeal as could not fail of gaining many proselytes.

In the mean time, the queen, who had prudently given way to a torrent which she could not resist, observed with pleasure that it now began to subside. The leaders of the Congregation had been above two months in arms, and by the expenses of a campaign protracted so long beyond the usual time of service in that age, had exhausted all the money which a country where riches did not abound had been able to supply. The multitude, dazzled with their success, and concluding the work to be already done, retired to their own habitations. A few only of the more zealous or wealthy barons remained with their preachers at Edinburgh. As intelligence is procured in civil wars with little difficulty, whatever was transacted at Edinburgh was soon known at Dunbar. The queen, regulating her own conduct by the situation of her adversaries, artfully amused them with the prospect of an immediate accommodation; while, at the same time, she by studied delays spun out the negociations for that purpose to such a length, that, in the end, the party dwindled to an inconsiderable number; and, as if peace had been already re-established, became careless of military discipline. The queen, who watched for such an opportunity, advanced unexpectedly, by a sudden march in the night, with all her forces, and appearing before Edinburgh, filled that city with the utmost consternation. The protestants, weakened by the imprudent dispersion of their followers, durst not encounter the French troops in the open o Lesley, ap. Jebb, vol. i. 231.

p Keith, 94.

field; and were even unable to defend an ill-fortified town against their assaults. Unwilling, however, to abandon the citizens to the queen's mercy, they endeavoured, by facing the enemy's army, to gain time for collecting their own associates. But the queen, in spite of all their resistance, would have easily forced her way into the town, if the seasonable conclusion of a truce had not procured her admission without the effusion of blood.

Their dangerous situation easily in- A third treaty. duced the leaders of the congregation to listen to any overtures of peace; and as the queen was looking daily for the arrival of a strong reinforcement from France, and expected great advantages from a cessation of arms, she also agreed to it upon no unequal conditions. Together with a suspension of hostilities, from the twenty-fourth of July to the tenth of January, it was stipulated in this treaty, that, on the one hand, the protestants should open the gates of Edinburgh next morning to the queen regent; remain in dutiful subjection to her government; abstain from all future violation of religious houses; and give no interruption to the established clergy, either in the discharge of their functions, or in the enjoyment of their benefices. On the other hand, the queen agreed to give no molestation to the preachers or professors of the protestant religion; to allow the citizens of Edinburgh, during the cessation of hostilities, to enjoy the exercise of religious worship according to the form most agreeable to the conscience of each individual; and to permit the free and public profession of the protestant faith, in every part of the kingdom. The queen, by these liberal concessions in behalf of their religion, hoped to soothe the protestants, and expected, from indulging their favourite passion, to render them more compliant with respect to other articles, particularly the expulsion of the French troops out of Scotland. The anxiety which the queen expressed for retaining this body of men, rendered them more and more the objects of national jealousy and aversion. The immediate expulsion of them was therefore demanded anew, and with greater warmth; but the queen, taking advantage of the distress of the adverse party, eluded the request, and would consent to nothing more, than that a French garrison should not be introduced into Edinburgh.

The desperate state of their affairs imposed on the Congregation the necessity of agreeing to this article, which, however, was very far from giving them satisfaction. Whatever apprehensions the Scots had conceived, from retaining the French forces in the kingdom, were abundantly justified during the late commotions. A small body, of those troops, maintained in constant pay, and rendered formidable by regular discipline, had checked the progress of a martial people, though animated with zeal both for religion and liberty. The smallest addition to their number, and a considerable one was daily q Keith, 98. Maitland, Hist, of Edin. 15, 17.