CHAP. duct. The pulpits had become mere scenes of railing XXXIX. against the vices of the court; among which were always noted as the principal, feasting, finery, dancing, balls, 1561. and whoredom, their neceffary attendant. Some orna ments, which the ladies at that time wore upon their petticoats, excited mightily the indignation of the preachers; and they affirmed, that fuch vanity would provoke God's vengeance, not only against these foolish women, but against the whole realm P. MARY, whofe age, condition, and education invited her to liberty and chearfulness, was curbed in all amufements, by the abfurd feverity of these reformers; and the found every moment reason to regret her leaving that country, from whofe manners fhe had in her early youth received the first impreffions. Her two uncles, the duke of Aumale, and the grand prior, with the other French nobility, foon took their leave of her: The marquis of Elbeuf remained fome time longer; but after his departure, fhe was left to the fociety of her own fubjects; men unacquainted with the pleasures of converfation, ignorant of arts and civility, and corrupted, beyond their ufual rufticity, by a difmal fanaticifm, which rendered them incapable of all humanity or improvement. Though Mary had made no attempt to restore the antient religion, her popery was a fufficient crime: Though her behaviour was hitherto irreproachable, and her manners fweet and engaging, her gaiety and ease were interpreted as figns of diffolute vanity. And to the harsh and prepofterous ufage, which this princefs met with, may, in part, be afcribed thofe errors of her fubfequent conduct, which feemed fo little of a piece with the general tenor of her character. THERE happened to the marquis of Elbeuf, before his departure, an adventure, which, though frivolous, might enable him to give Mary's friends in France a very melancholy idea of her fituation. This nobleman, with the earl of Bothwel, and fome other young courtiers, had been engaged, after a debauch, to pay a visit to a woman called Alison Craig, who was known to be liberal of her favours; and because they were denied entrance, they broke the windows, thrust open the door, and N Knox, p. 332, 333- 330. o Ibid. p. 322. P Ibid. p. To 1561. and committed fome diforders, in fearching for the dam- CHA P. fel. It happened, that the affembly of the church was XXXIX. fitting at that time, and they immediately took the matter under their cognizance. In conjunction with several of the nobility, they prefented an addrefs to the queen, which was introduced with this awful prelude. "the queen's majesty, and to her fecret and great coun"cil, her grace's faithful and obedient fubjects, the profeffors of Christ Jesus's holy evangil, with the fpirit of righteous judgment." The tenor of the petition was, that the fear of God, the duty which they owed her grace, and the terrible threatnings, denounced by God against every city or country where horrible. crimes were openly committed, compelled them to demand the fevere punishment of fuch as had done what in them lay to kindle the wrath of God against the whole realm: That the iniquity, of which they complained, was fo heinous and fo horrible, that they should esteem themselves accomplices in it, if they had been engaged by worldly fear, or fervile complaifance, to pass it over in filence, or bury it in oblivion: That as they owed her grace obedience in the administration of justice, so were they intitled to require of her, in return, the fharp and condign punishment of this enormity, which, they repeated it, might draw down the vengeance of God on the whole kingdom: And that they maintained it to be her duty to lay afide all private affections towards the actors in fo heinous a crime and fo enormous a villainy, and without delay bring them to a trial, and inflict the feverest penalties upon them. The queen gave a gracious reception to this peremptory addrefs; but because fhe probably thought, that breaking the windows of a brothel merited not fuch fevere reprehenfion, the only replied, that her uncle was a stranger, and that he was attended with a young company: But she would put fuch order to him and to all others, that her fubjects should henceforth have no reafon to complain. Her paffing over this incident fo flightly was the fource of great difcontent, and was regarded as a proof of the most profligate manners R. It is not to be omited, that Alison Craig, the cause of all the uproar, was known to entertain a commerce with the earl of Arran, who, on R Knox, p. 302, 303, 304. Keith. p. 509. account CHA P. account of his great zeal for the reformation, was, with XXXIX. out scruple, indulged in that enormitys. SOME of the populace of Edinburgh broke into the 1561. queen's chapel during her abfence, and committed outrages; for which two of them were indicted, and it was intended to bring them to a trial. Knox wrote circular letters to the most confiderable zealots of the party, and charged them to appear in town, and protect their brethren. The holy facraments, he there faid, are abused by prophane papifts; the mafs has been faid; and in worshipping that idol, the priests have omitted no ceremony, not even the conjuring of their accurfed water, that had ever been practised in the time of the greatest blindness. These violent measures for oppofing juftice were little short of rebellion; and Knox was fummoned before the council to answer for his offence. The courage of this man was equal to his infolence. He fcrupled not to tell the queen, that the peftilent papists, who had inflamed her against thefe holy men, were the fons of the devil; and must therefore obey the directions of their father, who had been a liar and a manflayer from the beginning. The matter ended with the full acquital of Knox T. Randolf, the English ambaffador in Scotland at this time, had reafon to write to Cecil, fpeaking of the Scottish nation: "I think marvelously of the wifdom of God, that gave this unruly, "inconftant, and cumbersome people no more power "nor fubftance: For they would otherwife run wild "." WE have related these incidents at greater length, than the neceffity of our fubject may feem to require: But even trivial circumftances, which fhew the manners of the age, are often more inftructive, as well as entertaining, than the great transactions of wars and negociations, which are nearly fimilar in all periods and in all countries of the world, THE reformed clergy in Scotland had, at that time, a very natural reafon for their ill-humour, namely, the proverty or rather beggary, to which they were reduced. The nobility and gentry had at first laid their hands on all the property of the regular clergy, without making any provifion for the friars and nuns, whom they turned out of their poffeffions. The fecular clergy of the catholic s Knox, p. 302, 303 304. T Ibid, p. 336, 342 1561. tholic communion, though they loft all ecclefiaftical jurif- CHA P. diction, still held fome of the temporalities of their be- XXXIX. nefices; and either became laymen themselves, and converted them into private property, or made conveyance of them at low prices to the nobility, who thus enriched themselves by the plunder of the church. The new teachers had hitherto subsisted chiefly by the voluntary oblations of the faithful; and in a poor country, divided in religious fentiments, this establishment was regarded as very fcanty and very precarious. Repeated applications were made for a legal fettlement to the preachers; and though almost every thing in the kingdom was governed by their zeal and caprice, it was with difficulty that their request was at laft complied with. The fanatical spirit which they indulged, and their industry in decrying the principles and practices of the Romish communion, which placed fuch merit in enriching the clergy, proved now a very sensible obstacle to their acquifitions. The boundaries of the royal power were, during that age, more uncertain in Scotland than even in England; and the privy council alone thought themselves entitled, without a parliament, to regulate this important matter. They paffed a vote X, by which they divided all the ecclefiaftical benefices into twenty-one parts: They affigned fourteen to the antient poffeffors: Of the remaining feven, they granted three to the crown; and if that was found to answer the public expences, they bestowed the overplus on the reformed ministers. The queen was empowered to levy all the feven; and it was ordained, that the fhould afterwards pay to the clergy what fhould be judged to fuffice for their maintenance. The neceffities of the crown, the rapacity of the courtiers, and the fmall affection which Mary bore to the proteftant ecclefiaftics, rendered their revenues contemptible as well as uncertain; and the preachers, finding that they could' not rival the gentry, or even the middling rank of men, in opulence and plenty, were neceffitated to betake themfelves to other expedients for fupporting their authority. They affected a furious zeal for religion, morofe manners, a vulgar and familiar, and yet myfterious, cant; and though the liberality of fubfequent princes put them afterwards on a better footing with regard to revenue, and x Knox, p. 296. Keith, p. 210. thereby CHA P. thereby corrected in some degree those bad habits; it must XXXIX. be confessed, that, while many other advantages attend prefbyterian government, these inconveniencies are not 1561.eafily separated from the genius of that ecclefiaftical po litv. THE queen of Scots, deftitute of all force, poffeffing a narrow revenue, furrounded with a factious turbulent nobility, a bigotted people, and infolent ecclefiaftics, foon found, that her only expedient for maintaining tranquillity was to preferve a good correfpondence with Elizabeth Y, 4, who, by former connexions and fervices, had acquired fuch authority over all these ranks of men. Soon after her arrival in Scotland, fecretary Lidington was fent to London, in order to pay her compliments to the queen, and express her desire of friendship and a good correspondence ; and he received a commiffion from her, as well as from the nobility of Scotland, to demand, as a means of cementing this friendship, that Mary fhould, by act of parliament or by proclamation (for the difference between thefe fecurities was not then deemed very confiderable) be declared fucceffor to the crown. No request could be more unreasonable, nor made at a more improper juncture. The queen replied, that Mary had once difcovered her intention not to wait for the fucceffion, but had openly, without ceremony or reserve, affumed the title of queen of England, and had pretended a fuperior right to her throne and kingdom: That though her ambassadors, and thofe of her husband, the French king, had figned a treaty, in which they renounced that claim, and promised fatisfaction for fo great an indignity, fhe was fo intoxicated with this imaginary right, that she had rejected the most earnest folicitations, and even, as fome endeavoured to persuade her, had incurred fome danger in croffing the feas, rather than ratify that equitable treaty: That her partizans every where had still the affurance to infift on her title, and had prefumed to talk of her own birth as fpurious and illegitimate: That while affairs were on this footing; while a claim thus openly made, fo far from being openly renounced, was only fufpended till a more favourable opportunity, it would in her be the most egregious imprudence to fortify the hands of a pretender to her crown, by declaring Y Jebb, vol. ii. p. 456. her |