Andrews, in which he had concealed himself. The Regent, on receiving the wound, dismounted, and returned on foot to his lodgings. Hopes were entertained upon the first examination of his wound, that it was not mortal; but the pain soon increasing, he prepared with unclouded serenity for his dissolution; and after expressing the most noble sentiments, and commending the protection of the king to those who, on this melancholy occasion, were listening to him, he expired. He had received intimation on the preceding day, that there was a design to assassipate him-even the house from which the deed was to be attempted was pointed out to him; but with wonderful disregard of his safety, he neither caused the house to be examined, nor took the other obvious precautions by which the villainous intention might have been defeated."

There can but be one opinion as to the wickedness of the act by which the Earl of Murray lost his life: there is however more than one, in relation to his general character, and to the several decided steps which he took against his unhappy sister. We do not agree with Dr. Cook in the eulogy which he has bestowed on his conduct whether public or private, and we shall state in few words the ground of our dissent.

In the character which our author draws of Murray, that nobleman is said "never, even when he sunk patriotism in faction, to have betrayed the vital interests of Scotland, but anxiously to have cherished and carefully strengthened them." This, however, is inconsistent with the whole tenor of his conduct from the age of seventeen, when he commenced that clandestine correspondence with Elizabeth and her minister, which he continued to the end of his life, and by which he at last reduced Scotland. in reality, though not in name, to the state of a fief of England, then a foreign and almost hostile power. He was impelled to this conduct unquestionably by his own ambition-excited perhaps, and certainly cherished, by his mother, who persisted in calling herself the wife of James V. and her son, of course, the legitimate heir of the monarchy. That Murray had his eye on the crown so early as the year 1559, and that he expected to obtain it through his influence among the protestants in Scotland, supported by the power of Elizabeth, is proved by a letter from Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, the English ambassador, at that time in France, and even by the testimony of Elizabeth herself, in a paper still remaining in the Cottonian Library*. If this

place of his usual residence. It should have been denominated a house, not the house of the Archbishop; for he never occupied it, but when the court was kept at Linlithgow, nor always even then. See the documents produced in Tytler's Inquiry, &c.

be

be admitted, the whole of Murray's conduct, his attempt to prevent the marriage of the queen, his proposal at the same time to have the crown entailed on himself and the house of Stuart, his flying into open rebellion when his views were blasted, his being in close concert with those who assassinated zzio in the presence of his sister and sovereign when in a state of pregnancy far advanced, his listening without resentment or even emotion to the horrid proposal made by Lethington to the queen at the castle of Creigmiller; his tergiversations when the famous letters were produced in different forms on different occasions; and indeed every subsequent action of his public life, may be easily accounted for; but on any other supposition his conduct is wholly unaccountable. That Scotland was indebted to him for valuable civil and religious blessings, may be true; but we can*not bring ourselves to believe, with our author, that the desire of conjoining with a pure faith the inestimable advantages of a steady, yet merciful government, was the motive of his conduct, which appears to us to have sprung from inordinate ambition, and to have been uniformly directed by the most unprincipled policy.

In this opinion we are supported by the testimony of Dr. Stuart, in his History of the Reformation. "The love of liberty," he observes, "was not in him (Murray) the effect of patriotism, but of pride: his zeal for religion was a political virtue; and under the appearance of openness and sincerity, he could conceal more securely his purposes. Power was the idol which he worshipped; and he was ready to acquire it by means the most criminal. He was bold, firm, and penetrating. His various mind fitted him alike for intrigue and for war. He was destined to flourish in the midst of difficulties. His sagacity enabled him to foresee dangers, his prudence to prepare for them, and his fortitude to surmount them. To his talents, his genius, and his resources, Scotland is indebted for the Reformation. But by this memorable achievement he meant nothing more than to advance himself in the road to greatness. To this point all his actions were directed. It gave the limits to his generosity which has been extolled as unbounded. His praise, his caresses, and his services, his dissimulation, his perfidiousness, and his enmities, were all sacrifices to ambition. And miscarriage, which has ravaged so many laurels from great men, did not tarnish his glory."-Even Dr. Robertson himself, no friend to the unfortunate queen and her adherents, draws a picture of Murray not more favourable than this by his great rival and opponent.

Under the regency of Lennox, who succeeded the Earl of Murray, the reformed clergy had still to struggle with poverty

and

and a suspicion, not ill founded, on the part of the nobles, that they would employ the first acquisition of power to possess themselves of the ecclesiastical revenues. The friends of Mary, taking advantage of the turn of affairs which followed the death of the late Regit, became more active in promoting her interest; and the ministers, of course, exerted themselves with greater virulence in attacking her character, and in rousing popular animosity. The archbishop of St. Andrews, who had taken an active part in attempting the restoration of the queen, was brought to the scaffold, where he suffered the punishment allotted to the lowest and most depraved criminal, without having had an opportunity of legally establishing his innocence. This act of injustice and cruelty roused for a moment the adherents of her majesty; they entered the metropolis from which Knox was compelled to flee; and, seizing the castle, constituted themselves into an assembly of the estates of the kingdom. The ministers attempted negociation, and the Queen of England-interfered, with the view of adjusting matters between the contending parties. The factions however could not be reconciled, and the Regent with his adherents retired to Stirling; in which town they were all surprised in a night attack, concerted by the governor of Edinburgh Castle, when Lennox, by some means not well explained, was mortally wounded, and almost instantly died. The situation of Scotland at this time was indeed most deplorable. Torn by party spirit, which existed in its most shocking malignity, there was no confidence and no security. Even in domestic society, the nearest relations dared not to disclose to one another their most secret thoughts; the father and the son were opposed to each other; and a great part of the community were groaning under the evils which, in a nation torn by civil dissentions, blast prosperity and entail upon all the most lamentable wretchedness.

The Earl of Lennox was succeeded in the regency by the Earl of Marr. The ministers renewed their petitions for a share of the Church property, which they saw rapaciously seized by the Protestant lords; but still without success. They remonstrated very freely with the regent, and told him that anxious as they were to adhere to the king, they could not in conscience unite with the professed enemies of the Gospel; by which appellation they did not mean those who violently prevented its being preached, but such as directly and indirectly undermined the influence of its ministers. Nor did Knox neglect to stir up his brethren in this good work. On the brink of the grave he wrote to them to "gainsay with uprightness and strength in God, the merciless devourers of the patrimony of the Church," and he concludes by praying that the Lord would give them "wisdom

and

and stout courage in so just a cause," and himself a happy end. These claims, however equitable, were all disregarded, and an act of parliament was passed to legalize the acquisition of Church property, which had been forcibly made by the reforming nobles during the period of distraction which followed the demise of the fifth James. Their quiet behaviour under the insult and neglect which were now pointed against them, is almost the only instance of Christian and patriotic conduct which the ministers ever displayed in the prosecution of their views. There seemed, however, but one way to get possession of the Church revenues, -the restoration of episcopacy-and to this change matters. were now fast hastening.

The regent, who seriously favoured the pretensions of the ministers, although he had been unable to gratify their wishes, and who was, at the same time, desirous to maintain the clerical estate in parliament, in order to prevent the possibility of challenging, at a future period, the validity of his public acts as the representative of a minor, prevailed upon the Scottish Church to revise its form of government, and to restore the order of bishops. To this measure a ready concurrence was given by those nobles who had enriched themselves by plundering the Church; imagining, not without reason, that men would be found to accept of the sees with only a portion of the original patrimony, and who would consent to convey, by formal statute, the remainder to the lay impropriator, by whom it had been seized. The ministers urged at once by a hopeless poverty, and by the idea that they had departed too far from the primitive constitution of the Church, readily yielded to the propriety of taking into consideration how far they could conscientiously meet the views of the regent and nobility, and accordingly agreed to name commissioners or representatives with full powers. In pursuance of this plan the convention met at Leith, 12th January 1572, and consisted of several noblemen, statesmen, superintendents, barons, commissioners of provinces, and ministers; and after several meetings and long deliberation the following regulations were approved.

"It is thought good, in consideration of the present state, 1st, That the names and titles of the archbishops and bishops be not altered, or the bounds of the dioceses confounded, but that they continue in time as they did before the reformation of religion, at least till the kings majesty's majority, or consent of parliament. 2d, That the archbishoprics and bishoprics vacant should be conferred on men endowed, as far as may be, with the qualities specified in the examples of Paul to Timothy and Titus. 3d, That to all archbishoprics and bishoprics that should become vacant, qualified persons should be presented

within a year and a day after the vacancy took place, and those nominated to be thirty years of age at the least. 4th, That the spiritual jurisdiction should be exercised by the bishops in their dioceses. 5th, That abbots, priors, and inferior prelates, presented to benefices should be tried as to their qualification and their aptness to give voice in parliament, by the bishop or su perintendent of the bounds, and upon their collation should be admitted to the benefice, but not otherwise. 6th, That the election of persons presented to bishoprics should be made by the chapters of the cathedral churches; and because the chapters of divers churches were possessed by men before his majesty's coronation, who bore no office in the Church, that a particular nomination of ministers should be made in every diocese, to supply their rooms until the benefices should fall void. 7th, That all benefices with cure, under prelacies, should be conferred on actual ministers, and on no others. 8th, That ministers should receive ordination from the bishop of the diocese, and, where no bishop was as yet placed, from the superintendent of the bounds. 9th, That the bishops and superintendents, at the ordination of ministers, should exact of them an oath for acknowledging his majesty's authority, and for obedience to their ordinary in all things.'

"

A number of less important regulations were agreed upon with the view of defining the powers of the several orders of prelates; and it was expressly stated that the spiritual functions of the archbishops and bishops were not to exceed those formerly exereised by the superintendents; that they were to be subject to the Church; and that they were to consult some of the most learned of the chapter, not fewer than six, with regard to the admission of such as were to have function in the Church. This arrangement gave satisfaction even to Knox, who exhorted the clergy to petition the regent to have all vacant bishoprics filled with qualified persons within a year and a day after the vacancy may have taken place, according, he adds, "to the order taken at Leith." We may remark, however, in the words of our author, that the zealous Presbyterians of after times looked back with regret to this part of the ecclesiastical history of their country, and endeavoured very unnecessarily, and in express opposition to the language and proceedings of the Church, to represent the resolutions framed at Leith, as having been rashly made, as Having been forced upon the ministers, and as having never received the explicit sanction of the General Assembly,—an effect of party zeal not uncommon, but which weakens the cause it nas designed to support.

This year (1572) in the month of October died, while he was labouring to compose the animosities of his countrymen,

the