confounded discourtesy with sincerity, but still the letter concludes with a simple dignity altogether to the credit of the Reformer. He sinks himself in his cause, and to the best of his ability makes himself a humble servant of Jesus Christ. It is his third request to visit England, and he gives good reasons for his importunity. "Lett none," he writes, "be affrayed that I requyre to frequent the Courte, other yet of any continuance to remaine in England; but onlye thristis in passing furthe to my owin native countrie, to communicat with you and sum uther, suche thingis as willinglie I list not to committ to paper, neither yet to the knowledge and creddit of many; and then in the northe pairtes, to offer Goddis favouris to suche as I suppoise, do murne for thair defectioun. And this I trust salbe no less profitable to Her Grace, and to all godlie within England, then it sould be pleiseing to me in the flesche." It is

Silence of Cecil

a manly though an injudicious letter, thoroughly characteristic of Knox. Cecil vouchsafed no answer, and so he sailed to Scotland and landed at Leith May 2,

1559.

CHAPTER V

KNOX IN SCOTLAND

It

THE Queen Regent had changed her policy and was engaged in a final struggle with her Protestant subjects. She was well supported by the armies of France, and the people were generally indifferent. was not the most favourable opportunity for a timid Protestant to visit Scotland, but it was chosen by Knox. He was soon appointed Minister of Edinburgh, but owing to the troubles of the country did not for a year reside in the city. came, as he puts it, "evin in the brunt of the battle," and took at once a foremost place in it. The greatness of Knox was exhibited not only in his courage but in

He

Knox and Elizabeth

his self-abnegation. He was willing to humble himself for the success of the cause, and so in spite of Cecil ignoring his first letter he wrote, July 1559, another, with one enclosed to Elizabeth. They are interesting and characteristic productions. He does not resile from his position, but is quite complimentary to the Queen. "Gif the most pairt of women be wicked," he writes, "and suche as willinglie we wold nott reigne over us : and gif the most godlie, and suche as have rare graces be yett mortall, we aucht to tak heid, least in establissing one judged godlie and profitable to hir countrey, we mak ane entres and tytill to mony: off quhome not only sall the treuth be impugned, bot also sall the countray be brocht in bondage." He asks liberty to visit the north of England as "an unfeaned friend" of the Queen, and in his letter addresses her as "the verteous and godlie Elizabeth." Knox must on this occasion have made a

She

special effort to play the courtier, but he does it awkwardly. Elizabeth did not really deserve his unctuous compliments, but it was hardly discreet in seeking a favour to insist on his abstract proposition against the government of women. might be regarded as an exception if she would only exercise her prerogative with modesty, and humble herself before God. "Ungrate," he writes, "Ye sall be provein in presence of his throne (howsoever that flattereris justifie your factioun) gif ye transferr the glorye of that honor, in quhilk ye now stand, to any uther thing, then to the dispensatioun of his mercie, which only maketh that lauchfall to your Grace, quhilk nature and law denyeth to all women." It is of no account to appeal in such a matter to the institutions of men, seeing it is contrary to the Word of God. "Quhatsoever he condempneth salbe condempned, thocht all men in Earth wold hasard the justificatioun of the same. . . . Forgett