tenance at the disposal of the regent, did what they could to counteract the effects of the unfortunate mistake. They de termined at their meeting, March, 1574:-That ministers, who were appointed to more churches than one, should each take the oversight of that one only where he resided, at the same time affording such assistance to the others as he could, without interfering with the duty he owed to his own particular charge. The three venerable superintendents, Erskine, Winram and Spotswood, who had laboured long and successfully in the cause of the reformed, disgusted with the indifference shown by the regent, solicited this assembly to accept their resignation, as the office was now considered unnecessary. This was, however, unanimously refused, and it was further determined by them, to mark their disapprobation of Morton's proceedings, that the bishops should not exercise any ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the bounds over which the superintendents presided, without their express consent and approbation.

Early next summer, a trifling circumstance had nearly interrupted the harmony which subsisted between the two kingdoms. At one of the usual meetings to adjust the differences which might have arisen on the borders, Sir John Carmichael, the Scottish warden, demanded, from Sir John Forrester, the warden of the opposite march, that an Englishman, who had been convicted of theft, and was a notorious offender, should be delivered up according to the law of the marches. With this demand, Forrester hesitated to comply, and appeared rather desirous of evading it. Carmichael, however, continu-ing to urge, some passionate language ensued, and the haughty demeanour of the English warden, appearing to his followers to be the signal for attack, they sent off a flight of arrows that killed one Scottishman, and wounded several others. The Scots, inferior in numbers, and unexpectedly surprised, were thrown into confusion, and driven from the field; but being met in their flight by some Jedburgh men, who were coming to attend the warden, they rallied, and joining with them, forced their pursuers in their turn to flee. In this rencounter, Sir George Heron, keeper of Tindale and Ridsdale, and about twenty-four common men, were slain

Sir John Forrester, Francis Russel, son to the earl of Bedde ford, with several others of higher rank, were taken prisoners, and sent to the earl of Morton, at Dalkeith. The regent, who regretted the unfortunate affray, detained them for a few days, till the irritation occasioned by this unlucky occurrence should subside, entertained them with great hospitality, and, after receiving their promise to appear in Scotland if called upon, dismissed them with the highest professions of regard.

Elizabeth, on being informed of what had taken place, ordered Killigrew, her ambassador in Scotland, to demand immediate satisfaction, and also to inform Morton, that she had directed the earl of Huntingdon, president of the council at York, and lieutenant of the northern counties, to repair to the borders and investigate the matter, and that she expected he would in person meet with him. Morton dared not disobey, and the two earls met at Fouldean, near the Berwick boundary, where, after a conference of some days, it was agreed that Carmichael should be sent as a prisoner to England, where he was detained for a few weeks. Elizabeth, pleased at the submissive conduct of the regent, and finding, on further inquiry, that her own warden was the original offender, ordered him to be honourably dismissed, and gratified with a present.

To

This disturbance was scarcely allayed, when more perplexing difficulties arose from another source-the church. understand the nature of the dispute, and place it in a clear point of view, it is necessary to recur to some previous events. The leading feature in the government of the church of Scotland, established at the Reformation, was equality among her ministers, whose office it was to preach the gospel, and administer the sacraments; the other office-bearers in the church were, the doctor or teacher, who interpreted the Scriptures, under which denomination was included such as taught theology in schools and universities, the ruling elder, who assisted the minister in his clerical duties, and the deacon, who managed the temporalities of the church, and attended especially to the state of the poor. Besides these office-bearers, who were permanent, the necessity of the case demanded some more temporary expedients to supply the want of regular

teachers. In parishes, therefore, where tnere was no resident minister, pious persons, who had received a common education, were appointed to read the Scriptures and common prayers, and were called readers: if capable, they were encouraged to add a few plain exhortations to their reading, and they were then denominated exhorters. The same scarcity of regularly educated ministers gave rise to another temporary office in the church, that of superintendent, whose duty it was regularly to itinerate, for the purpose of preaching, planting churches, and inspecting the conduct of the ministers, exhorters and readers, and to each a separate district was assigned. “These men,” according to the church polity presented to the convention at Edinburgh, January, 1560, "were not to be suffered to live idle, as the bishops have done heretofore, nor were they to remain, where gladly they would, but they must be preachers themselves;' and after enumerating the rest of their duties, enjoins, "that they must preach thrice a-week at least."* In the appointment of these office-bearers, the name of bishop was carefully avoided; and instead of the enormous revenues which they had possessed, it was only required that moderate stipends should be appointed to the ministers, with an additional allowance to the superintendents, to defray their travelling expenses. Connected with this establishment, it was likewise proposed, in the book of polity, or first book of discipline, to erect three national universities, and form a system of parochial instruction.

For these purposes funds were necessary, and as the property of the church should have devolved to the public, by the abolition of the Romish hierarchy, and there were not any individual or class of men who could legally claim a title to the rents of the vacant benefices, it was considered but fair that they should be applied to the most important purposes of public instruction. A considerable number, however, of the protestant nobility and gentry had either already seized, or expected to share in the spoil, and these proposals never received the sanction of the estates.

The ministers continued to obtain a precarious support from

*Spotswood, p. 159.

te their hearers, and to complain of their indigent circumstances in vain, till towards the end of the first year after the arrival of queen Mary, when the barons required that provision should be made for their ministers, else they would allow nothing to be uplifted on account of such bishops, as still retained the temporalities of their bishoprics, although they had ceased to exercise any of their ecclesiastical functions, and who, on the arrival of the young queen, began to be looked upon with a more favourable eye. The privy council in consequence, and in order to seem not to desert the protestant clergy, and yet, at the same time, desirous to please the queen, ordered an exact account of the ecclesiastical revenues throughout the country to be taken, and divided into three parts, two of which were allowed to go to the ejected Popish clergy during life, and the other to be divided between the queen and the protestant ministers, the privy council appointing a commission, who were termed modificators, to ascertain the proportion of each, and to fix the amount of the ministers' stipends. But this arrangement proved almost nugatory, the stipends were fixed low, and seldom fully paid.

In this state, the ministers were forced to remain, till the regency of the earl of Moray. In the parliament held immediately after his election, 1567, it was enacted:-That the thirds of the benefices should be paid to collectors appointed by the church, who should first settle the stipends of the ministers, and then account to the exchequer, an important alteration in favour of the church, which, as we have already seen, Morton, among the first acts of his regency, procured to be abrogated. But besides this, another plan, which commenced during the regency of the earl of Lennox, had been adopted during the regency of the earl of Marr, for preventing the church from receiving any accession of funds from the benefices which fell vacant; and in order to acconiplish this, an innovation was introduced into the form of her government, which was afterward productive of the most mischievous consequences.

As laymen could not hold church livings, and their secularization was deemed rather too bold a step to adopt, a middle course was pursued. The hated titles were revived, and

bishoprics and other benefices were presented to such ministers as could be induced to accept them, on condition that, previous to their admission, they should make over the greater part of the revenues to the nobleman who had obtained the patronage of them from court.

The earl of Morton, who was all along the chief supporter of this plan, had obtained from the regent a grant of the temporalities of the see of St. Andrews, and having procured John Douglas, rector of the university, to be elected archbishop, he, in consequence of a private agreement, retained the greater part of the revenues in his own hands, allowing Douglas but a very slender stipend. At the meeting of the parliament in Stirling, 1571, Douglas was admitted to a seat, although the commissioners of the general assembly protested against this transaction, and the superintendent of Fife prohibited him to vote as one of the kirk, till admitted by the kirk, under pain of excommunication; † but the interest of Morton prevailed even over that of the regent, who was inclined to favour the representations of the church, and he or dered Davidson to vote as archbishop of St. Andrews, under pain of treason. A number of the nobility, who expected to derive similar advantages from the scheme, supported Morton; and in spite of the opposition of the ministers of the church, and the strong remonstrances and memorials of the barons, who were still sincerely attached to the principles of the reformation, and who refused even to countenance by their presence, proceedings of which they so decidedly disapproved, the measure was carried, and bishoprics and other benefices were speedily shared among the nobility, and even conferred in some instances upon minors.

It was during this parliament that the earl of Lennox was slain, and the earl of Marr succeeded as regent.

The consequences of the innovating system soon became apparent. Letters were issued by the new regent, prohibiting the collectors appointed by the church from gathering the thirds; on which, Erskine of Dun, the venerable superintend

*These bishops were called Tulchan bishops. A Tulchan is a calf's skin stuffed with straw, set up to make the cow give her milk freely.

+ Calderwood, p. 48. Bannatyne, pp. 246, 250, 255, 257, 260, 285.