Works

The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6)

JOHNE KNOX HIS ANSUER AND COUNSALL TO THE CAPTIVES.

Williame Kirkcaldy, then of Grange, youngar, Petir Carmichaell, Robert and Williame Leslyes, who war altogetther in Mont Sanct Michaell,¹ wrait to the said Johnne, asking his counsall, "Yf thei mycht with saif conscience break thare preasone?" Whose answer was, "That yf without the blood of any sched of spilt by thame for thare deliverance, thei mycht sett thame selfis at fredome, that thei mycht saiflye tak it: but to sched any manes bloode for thare fredome, thairto wold he never consent." Adding farther, "That he was assured that God wold deliver thame, and the rest of that cumpany, evin in the eis² of the world; but not by such meanes as we had looked for, that was by the force of freindis, or by thare other labouris." By such meanes he affirmed thei should nott be delivered, but that God wold so wirk in the deliverance of thame, that the praise thairof should redound to his glorie onlye. He willed, tharefoir, everie one to tack the occasioun that God offerred unto thame, providing that thei committed nothing against Goddis expresse commandiment, for deliverance of thame selves. He was the more earnest in geving his counsall, becaus that the old Larde of Grange,³ and otheris, repugned to thare purpoise, fearing least that the eschaping of the otheris should be ane occasioun of thare warse entreatment. Whareunto the said Johnne answered, "That such fear proceided nott from Goddis Spreat, but only from ane blynd luif of the self; and tharefor, that no good purpoise was to be stayed for thingis that war in the handis and power of God." And added, "That in one instant God delivered all that cumpany in the handis of unfaythfull men, but so wald he nott releave thame. But some wald he deliver by one meanes, and at one tyme, and otheris must abyd for a season upon his good pleasur." This counsall in the end embrased, upoun the Kinges Evin,⁴ when French men commonlie use to drynk liberallie, the foirsaid four personis, having the helpe and conducting of a boy of the house, band all those that war in the Castell, putt thame in syndrie houssis, locked the doores upon thame, took the keyis from the Capitane, and departed, without harme done to the persone of any, or without tueching of any thing that apparteaned to the King, the Capitane, or the house.

THE ESCHAPING OF WILLIAME KIRKCALDYE AND HIS FELLOWIS FURTH OF MONT SANCT MICHAELL.

Great search was maid throweh the hole countrey for thame.⁵ But it was Goddis gud pleasur so to conduct thame, that thei eschaped the handis of the faithless, albeit it was with long travaill, and grait pane and povertie susteaned; for the French boy left thame, and took with him the small poise that thei had; and so nether having money, nor knawledge of the countrey, and farther fearing that the boy should discrive thame, (as that in verray dead he did,) thei took purpose⁶ to devid thame selfis, to change thare garmentis, and to go in sindrie partes. The two brethrein, Williame and Robert Leslyes,⁷ (who now ar become, the said Robert especiall, ennemies to Christ Jesus and to all vertew,) came to Rowane. Williame Kirkcaldy and Petir Carmichael, in beggaris garment, came to Conqwet,⁸ and by the space of twelf or threttein weakis, thei travalled as poore marinaris, frome porte to porte, till at lenth thei gat a French schipe, and landed in the Weast, and from thense came to England, whare thei mett befoir thame the said Johne Knox, who that same wynter was delivered, and Alexander Clerk⁹ in his cumpany.

The said Johne¹⁰ was first appointed preachar to Berwik, then to Newcastell; last he was called to London, and to the sowth partes of England, whare he remaned to the death of King Edwart the Sext.¹¹ When he left England, then he passed to Geneva, and thare remaned at his privat study, till that he was called by the Engliss¹² congregatioun, that then was assembled at Franctfoorde, to be preachear to thame: Which vocatioun he obeyed, (albeit unwillinglye,) at the commandiment of that notable servand of God, Johne Calvyne. At Franctfoord he remaned, till that some of the learned, (whose names we suppress,) moir gevin to unprofitable ceremonies,¹³ then to synceritie of religioun, began to qwerrall with the said Johnne; and becaus thei dispared to prevaill befoir the Magistrat thare, for the establissing of thare corruptionis, thei accused him of treasone committed against the Emperour, and against thare Soverane Quein Marie, that in his Admonitioun to England,¹⁴ he called the one lytill inferiour to Nero, and the other more cruell then Jezabell. The Magistrat perceaving thare malice, and fearing that the said Johnne should fall in the handis of his accusatouris, by one meane or by other, gave advertisment secreatlie to him to departe thare citie; for thei could not saif him yf he ware required by the Emperour, or by the Quein of England in the Emperouris name; and so the said Johne returned to Geneva, from thense to Deape, and thairafter to Scotland, as we shall after hear.

The tyme and that wynter that the galayes remaned in Scotland, war delivered Maister James Balfour, his twa brethrein, David and Gilbert, Johne Auchinlek, Johnne Sibbald, Johne Gray, William Gutthery, and Stevin Bell.¹⁵ The gentilmen that remaned in preasonis war, by the procurement of the Quein Dowager, to the Cardinall of Lorane and to the King of France, sett at libertie in the moneth of Julij, Anno 1550; who schorte tharefter war called to Scotland,¹⁶ thare peax proclamed, and thei thame selfis restored to thare landis, in dyspite of thare ennemies. And that was done in hatterent of the Duck, becaus that then France begane to thrist to have the regiment of Scotland in thare awin handis. How soever it was, God maid the heartis of thare ennemyes to sett thame at libertie and fredome. Thare rested a nomber of commoun servandis yitt in the galayes, who war all delivered upoun the contract of peace that was maid betuix France and England, after the tackin of Bullon; and so was the haill cumpany sett at libertie, none perishing,¹⁷ (no nott befoir the world,) except James Melvin, who departed from the miserie of this lyif in the Castell of Byrst in Bartainzea.¹⁸

THE SLAUGHTER OF THAT VILLANE DAVY.

This we wryte to lett the posteriteis to come understand, how potentlye God wrought in preserving and delivering of these that had butt a small knowledge of his trewth, and for the luif of the same hasarded all; that yf that eyther we now in our dayis, having grettar lycht, or our posteriteis that shall follow us, shall see ane fearfull dispersioun of such as oppone thame selfis to impietie, or tack upoun thame to punishe the same, otherwiese then lawis of men will permite: yf, (we say,) we or thei¹⁹ shall see such left of men, yea, as it war, dispyssed and punished of God; yit lett us nott dampne the personis that punish vice, (and that for just caussis;) nor yitt dispare, butt that the same God that dejectes, (for causes unknawin to us,) will raise up agane the personis dejected, to his glorye and thare conforte. And to lett the world understand in plane termes what we meane, that great abusar of this commoun wealth, that pultron and vyle knave Davie, was justlie punished, the nynt of Merch, in the year of God²⁰ J^m. V^c. threscore fyve, for abusing of the commoun wealth, and for his other villany,²¹ which we list nott to express, by the counsall and handis of James Dowglas, Erle of Morton, Patrik Lord Lyndesay, and the Lord Ruthven, with otheris assistaris in thare cumpany, who all, for thare just act, and most worthy of all praise, ar now unworthely left of thare brethrein, and suffer the bitterness of banishement and exyle. But this is our hope in the mercyes of our God, that this same blynd generatioun, whither it will or nott, shalbe compelled to see that he will have respect to thame that ar injustlye persewed; that he will apardoun thare formar offenses; that he will restore thame to the libertie of thare countrey and common wealth agane; and that he will punish, (in dispyte of man,) the head and the taill, that now trubles the just, and manteanes impietie. THE REULARIS OF MARY, ANNO 1566, AND THAIRE PREDICTIOUN The head is knawin: the taill hes two branches; the temporall Lordis that manteane hir abhominationis, and hir flattering counsallouris, blasphemous Balfour, now called Clerk of Register,²² Sinclar Deane of Restalrige and Bischope of Brechin, blynd of ane eie in the body, but of boithe in his saule,²³ upoun whome God schortlie after took vengeance; [John²⁴ ] Leslye, preastis gett,²⁵ Abbot of Londorse and Bischope of Ross, Symon Preastoun of Craigmyllare,²⁶ a right epicureane, whose end wilbe, or it be long, according to thare warkis. Butt now to returne to our Historye.

Haddingtoun being keapt,²⁷ and much hearschipe done about in the countrey, (for what the Engliss men destroyed nott, that was consumed by the French,) God begynnis to feght for Schotland; for in the toun he send a peast so contagious, that with great difficultie could thei have thare dead buryed. Thei war oft refresched with new men, but all was in vane. Hunger and pest within, and the persuyt of the ennemy with a campe volant lay about thame, and intercepted all victuallis, (except when thei war brought by ane convoy from Berwik,) so constrayned thame that the Counsall of England was compelled in spring tyme to call thare forses from that place; and so spuilzeing and burnyng some parte of the toune, thei left it to be occupyed to such as first should tack possessioun,—and those war the Frenchmen, with a meane nomber of the ancient inhabitantis. And so did God performe the woordis and threatnyng of his servand, Maister George Wisharte, who said, "That for thare contempt of Goddis messinger, thei should be visited with sweard and fyre, with pestilence, strangearis, and famyne;" which all thei fand in such perfectioun, that to this day yitt, that toune hes neyther recovered the formar beautie, nor yit men of such wisdome and habilitie, as then did inhabite it.

Hearafter was Peace contracted betuix France and England and Scotland;²⁸ yea, a severall Peace was contracted betuix Scotland and Flanderis, togetther with all the Easterlingis; so that Scotland had peace with the world.²⁹ Butt yitt wold thare Bischopcs maik warr against God; for how sone that ever thei gat any qwyetness, thei apprehended Adame Wallace,³⁰ alias Fean, a sempill man, without great learnyng, but ane that was zelous in godlynes and of ane uprycht lyeff. He, with his wyif Beatrice Levingstoun, frequented the cumpany of the Lady Ormestoun,³¹ for instructioun of hir childrein, during the truble of hir husband, who then was banissed. This bastard, called Bischope of Sanctandrois, took the said Adame furth of the place of Wyntoun,³² (men supposed that thei thowght to have apprehended the Lard,) and caryed him to Edinburgh; whare, after certane dayis, he was presented to judgement in the Kirk of the Blak thevis alias Freiris,³³ befoir the Duik, the Erle of Huntley, and diverse otheris besydis, the Bischoppes and thare rable. Thei begyn to accuse him, (Maister Johnne Lauder³⁴ was Accusatour,) THE ACCUSATIOUN OF ADAME WALLACE AND HIS ANSWERIS "That he took upoun him to preach." He answered, "That he never judged himself worthy of sa excellent a vocatioun, and tharefoir he never took upoun him to preach; but he wold not deny, butt sometymes at the table, and sometymes in other prevey places, he wald reid, and had red the Scriptures, and had gevin such exhortatioun as God pleaseth to geve to him, to such as pleased to hear him." THE PAPISTICALL MANER OF ACCUSATIOUN "Knave, (quod ane,) what have ye to do to medle with the Scriptures?" "I think, (said he,) it is the dewitie of everie Christiane to seak the will of his God, and the assurance of his salvatioun, whare it is to be found, and that is within his Old and New Testament." "What then, (said ane other,) shall we leave to the Bischoppis and Kirkmen to do, yf everie man shalbe a babler upoun the Byble?" "It becumith³⁵ yow, (said he,) to speak more reverentlie of God, and of his blessed worde: Yf the judge war uncorrupt, he wald punish yow for your blasphemye. But to your questioun, I answer, That albeit ye and I, and other fyve thowsand within this realme, should read the Byble, and speak of it what God should geve us to speak, yitt left we more to the Bischoppes to do, nor eyther thei will or yit can weill do; for we leave to thame publictly to preach the Evangell of Jesus Christ, and to fead the flock, which he hath redeamed by his awin bloode, and hes commanded the same to the cayre of all trew pastouris. And when we leave this unto thame, me think we leave to thame a heavy burdein; and that we do unto thame na wrong, althowght we search our awin salvatioun whare it is to be found, considdering that thei ar but dum doggis, and unsavery salt, that hes altogither lost the seasson." The Bischoppes heirat offended, said, "What pratting is this? Lett his accusatioun be redd."

And than was begun, "False tratour, heretik, thow baptised thy awin barne: Thow said, thare is no Purgatorie: Thow said, that to pray to Sanctes and for the dead is idolatrie and a vane superstitioun, &c. What sayis thow of these thinges?" He answered, "Yf I should be bound to answer, I wold requyre an uprycht and indifferent judge." The Erle of Hunteley³⁶ disdanefullie said, "Foolishe man, wilt thow desyre ane uther judge nor my Lorde Dukis Grace, great Governour of Scotland, and my Lordis the Bischoppes, and the Clargy hear present?" Whairto he answered, "The Bischoppes can be no judges to me; for thei ar oppen ennemyes to me and to the doctrin that I professe. And as for my Lord Duck, I can not tell yf he hes the knowledge that should be in him that should judge and decerne betuix lyes and the trewth, the inventionis of men and the trew wirschipping of God. I desyre Goddis word (and with that he produced the Byble) to be judge betuix the Bischoppes and me, and I am content that ye all hear, and yf by this book, I salbe convict to have tawght, spokin, or done, in materis of religioun, any thing that repugnes to Goddis will, I refuise not to dye; but yf I can nott be convict, (as I am assured by Goddis woord I sall nott,) then I in Goddis name desyre your assistance, that malicious men execut not upoun me injust tyranny." The Erle of Hunteley said, "What a babling foole is this? Thow shalt gett none other judges then those that sitt heir." Wharunto the said Adam ansured, "The good will of God be done. But be ye assured, my Lord, with sic measur as ye mett to otheris, with the same measur it shalbe mett to yow agane. I know that I shall dye, but be ye assured, that my blood shalbe requyred of your handis."

Notes

Mont St. Michel is a Benedictine Abbey, with a village strongly fortified, on a rocky island, surrounded with quicksands, and only accessible at low water. It is sixteen miles S.W. of Avranches, in Normandy. Its situation is highly picturesque; and many chivalrous associations are connected with the place; which, during the fifteenth century, had often been besieged, but unsuccessfully, by the English. From its strong and isolated position, it had probably been chosen for that purpose, and it still continues to be used for a State prison. ↩
In MS. G, "eyes." ↩
See note 202. ↩
The King's Even, is evidently meant for the Eve of Epiphany, and the King of the Bean: see footnote to page 51. David Buchanan, aware of this allusion, from his long residence in France, has this marginal illustration: "Le jour de Roys au soir, quand ils crient 'Le Roy boit.'" The mention of this fête may show, that Kirkaldy and his companions had made their escape on the 5th of January, and in the year 1549-50. ↩
Sir John Masone, Ambassador for England at the French Court, on the 14th June 1550, says, "Touching the Scots at St. Andrews, he (the Constable of France) told me that the Lord Grange and his brother are flown he wist not whither, and two others were already set at liberty; and that the rest, at the King (Edward VI.) my master's contentation, should out of hand be put at large."—(Tytler's Edward VI., &c., vol. i. p. 295.) ↩
In Vautr. edit. "they purposed." ↩
The names of these brethren are very much overlooked by the different Peerage writers of Scotland, in their pedigrees of the Rothes family. The first marriage of George Earl of Rothes with Margaret Crichton, daughter of William Lord Crichton, was declared before 1524 to be uncanonical. But by this lady, "his affidate spouse," he had four sons: the eldest was George, who died unmarried; the others were Norman, William, and Robert. The reader may be referred to the Appendix of Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. ii. p. 141, to explain the grounds upon which the two latter, as heirs-male, were passed over in the succession, at their father's death, in 1558, when Andrew Lesley, the eldest son by subsequent marriage, and who had married a niece of the Governor the Earl of Arran, became Earl of Rothes. Of these two brethren, William is styled in Macfarlane's Genealogical Collections, "Laird of Cairnie, and, (it is added,) as some say, he died without succession." Bishop Lesley, in noticing the death of Norman Lesley in France, in 1554, says, "The King of France, for recompence of his service, received his eldest brodir William in favour, and maid him gentill man of his chalmer."—(History, p. 249.) Knox's words in the text imply that he was alive in 1566. The other brother Robert, is perhaps the same who was admitted an Advocate in the Court of Session, in May 1537. He settled in Morayshire, in the parish of Spynie, and became founder of the Fendrassie family. He married Janet Elphingstone, a daughter of Robert Lord Elphingstone, and left three sons and two daughters. An inscription, in Latin verse, in the Cathedral Church of Elgin, while it commemorates their virtues and attachment, records that he and his wife were interred in the same grave.—(Monteith's Theatre of Mortality, p. 222, Edinb., 1713, 8vo.) ↩
Le Conquet, a small town of Britanny, with a good harbour, opposite the island of Ushant, sixteen miles west of Brest. ↩
He was probably the same person with Alexander Clark of Balbirnie, who became Lord Provost of Edinburgh from 1579 to 1583 inclusive. ↩
In this paragraph Knox sums up briefly his own history between February 1548-9, when he was delivered from the French galley, and his first return to Scotland, in the end of harvest 1555. ↩
Edward died on the 6th July 1553. ↩
The word "English" is omitted in Vautr. edit. ↩
Knox has abstained from entering upon any statement of the disputes which took place in the English congregation at Francfort, in 1554, in consequence of the introduction, by Dr. Coxe and others, of the Book of Common Prayer, and the use of various ceremonies. A short paper by Knox himself, connected with the charge brought against him before the Magistrates of Francfort, has been preserved by Calderwood, (Hist., vol. i. p. 120,) and will naturally fall to be included in Vol. III. of the present work. But a detailed account of the transactions at that time was drawn up and published anonymously, three years after Knox's death, by one of the Nonconformists. It is entitled, "A Brieff Discours off the Troubles begunne at Franckford in Germany, Anno Domini 1554. Abowte the booke off Common Prayer and Ceremonies, and continued by the Englishe men theyre, to thame off Q. Maries Reigne," and was originally published (at Geneva) in 1575, 4to. There is an accurate reprint of it at London, by John Petheram, 1846, 8vo, in which it is suggested, by the Rev. Thomas M?Crie, with great probability, the author may have been Dr. William Whittingham. ↩
There were two editions of Knox's Admonition printed in 1554, within a few months of each other, under a fictitious imprint, and both of them abroad, as will be fully described in Vol. III. ↩
In printing these names, Vautr. edit. is very incorrect; instead of John Sibbald, John Gray, William Guthrie, &c., it has "John Sibbard, John Gray, within gathered, and Stevin Bell." Yet this unintelligible nonsense is literally copied in MSS. L 2 and 1. MSS. A, W, and E, have "Sibbard," but give Guthry's name correctly. In the summons of treason against the conspirators, John Sibbald is called "brother of the Laird of Cukiston;" and Auchinleck is styled Sir John Auchinleck, chaplain. For mention of Guthrey, in connexion with an indignity offered to the Cardinal's body, the reader may be referred to Pitscottie. In the Treasurer's Accounts, we find 10s. was paid to a messenger, sent on the 3d of December 1547, with "Letters to serche and seik the gudes of Maister Jhonne Gray, persoun of Sanct Nycholace Kirk, beside Cowper, quhilkis pertenis to our Souerane Lady be resoun of eschete, throu the said Maister Jhonnis being fugitive fra the lawes for art and part of the slauchter of the Cardinall."—Gray's name, however, is not included in the list of persons forfeited by the Parliament on the 14th August 1546. ↩
From the above paragraph in Knox, it appears that the prisoners were liberated at different periods between the Winter of 1548-9, and July 1550. ↩
This statement of Knox, written in 1566, or twenty years after the event, is certainly very much opposed to assertions which are easier made than proved, that all the persons concerned in Cardinal Beaton's assassination came to a violent death. There is no doubt that Bishop Lesley says, "Cædis ujus auctores violenta morte Deo vindice mulctantur;" (De Rebus Gestis, &c., p. 482;) but he passes this over in silence, in his English History. Dempster also asserts "Nam nullus nefariorum percussorum non violenta morte extinctus est."—(Hist. Eccles. p. 89.) "So, 'tis observed by the Protestants, that there was not one of his (Beaton's) murderers but afterwards died a violent, and, for the most part, an ignominious death."—(Preface to Beaugué's History, p. 50.) It is not necessary to quote similar assertions reiterated by writers of the present day. James Melville died, it is true, during his imprisonment, in 1548 or 1549, but certainly not a violent death. Norman Lesley died of his wounds, but in no inglorious manner, in 1554; and nineteen years later, in August 1573, Sir William Kirkaldy of Grange, after his gallant defence of the Castle of Edinburgh, suffered an ignominious death. Any other instance of a violent death remains to be proven. ↩
James Melvin or Melville. See note 449. Spotiswood says he was "one of the house of Carnbee." In this way, we may conjecture he was brother of John Mailvile of Carnbee, who had charters of the lands of Granton, 21st February 1508-9, and to his wife Margaret Leirmonth, 26th May 1513. Their son, John Mailvile of Carnbee junior, and his wife Janet Inglis, had a charter of half of these lands, 26th June 1509. The person who acted such a prominent part in Cardinal Beaton's murder, was called Senior, probably to distinguish him from James, "naturali et legitimo filio" of John Mailvile of Carnbee, who had a charter of half the lands of Carnbee, 15th November 1528.—Brist in Bartanzea, is the same as Brest, the well known sea-port of France, one of the best harbours in Europe, on the west coast of Britanny. ↩
MS. G, "Gif we, I say, or they." ↩
In Vautr. edit. "yeare of our Lord." ↩
In Vautr. edit. the word villain was mistaken for the name of a person, and thus we have "his other William;" and in the marginal note, "The slaughter of that Williame Davie."—The date of this event, so memorable in Scotish history, from its relation to Queen Mary, was the 9th of March 1565-6. ↩
Balfour, as stated at page 202, was Official of Lothian, and he still retained his ecclesiastical denomination, Parson of Flisk, when raised to the bench, 12th November 1561. Immediately after Rizzio's murder, in March 1566, he was knighted, and appointed Lord Clerk-Register, in place of Mr. James Macgill, one of the conspirators. And on the 6th December 1567, Balfour became Lord President, by the title of Pettendreich. ↩
John Sinclair, Bishop of Brechin, died in April 1560: see subsequent note. ↩
The person here referred to, and whose baptismal name is left blank in the MS., and in all the later copies, was John Lesley, Bishop of Ross. This eminent and learned Prelate, whom Knox calls "a priest's gett," or illegitimate child, was the natural son of Gawin Lesley, parson of Kingussie, as Keith, in his Catalogue of Bishops, has shown from original documents. Lesley's several preferments will afterwards be noticed. He survived till the year 1596. ↩
In Vautr. edit. "gate;" MS. G, "geitt." ↩
Sir Symon Preston of Craigmillar: see note 322. ↩
In the MS. "keape." ↩
A treaty of peace between England and France, comprising Scotland, was concluded at Boulogne, on the 24th March, and proclaimed at Edinburgh in April 1550. ↩
There was concluded a commercial treaty between France and the Low Countries, 26th April 1550; and a treaty of peace between the Emperor Charles the Fifth and Mary Queen of Scots, 15th December 1550. ↩
From Foxe's account, of Wallace's trial, we learn that he was a native of Fail, in Ayrshire; and there was a family of Wallace of Feale. Fail, or Failford, in the parish of Torbolton, was the site of a Monastery founded in 1252, which belonged to the Red Friars. (See the notices in New Stat. Account, Ayrshire, p. 748, &c.) The manner in which Knox speaks of Wallace as "a simple man without learning," may mean, without much pretension to learning, or not having enjoyed a learned education. Yet we find two persons of the same name, Adam Wallace, incorporated at Glasgow in 1536 and 1539.—His trial and execution took place in 1550; yet in the Latin verses by John Johnston of St. Andrews, on the Scotish Martyrs, the date given is 17th July 1549. ("Constantissime demum pro testimonio Christi mortuus, Edinburgi xvii Julij 1549.") ↩
The wife of John Cockburn of Ormiston, called in those days Lady Ormiston, was Alison Sandilands, daughter of Sir James Sandilands of Calder. Her son Alexander, was Knox's pupil: see note [472. She was still alive in 1584, when Vautrollier dedicated "To the Honourable and vertuous Ladie Alison Sandilands, Lady of Hormiston," the treatise called "The Confession of Faith," by Henry Balnaves, (see note [575,) the MS. of which had been fortunately discovered at Ormiston, by Richard Bannatyne, Knox's Secretary. ↩
Winton Castle, in the parish of Pencaitland, East Lothian, about five miles west from Haddington, appears to have been a place of great splendour, according to the glowing description of it by Sir Richard Maitland, in his "Historie and Cronicle of the House of Seyton," p. 35. Winton House or Castle, "biggit, with the yard and garding thereof," by George second Lord Seaton, we are informed, was burned, and the policy destroyed, "by the English of old;" but the house was re-edified by George tenth Lord Seaton, and third Earl of Winton, in 1620. ↩
The monastery of the Dominican or Black Friars was one of the largest establishments in Edinburgh, with extensive gardens, occupying the site of the building which formerly was the High School, on the rising ground to the south of the Cowgate. The close, or "le Venelle," still known as the Blackfriars Wynd, formed a connexion between the Monastery and the High Street, and had been granted to the Friars by Alexander the Second. The Convent was burned to the ground by a sudden fire, on the 25th April 1528, and had only been partially rebuilt at the time of the Reformation. ↩
To the notices at page 152, respecting John Lauder, it may be added, that being one of the Auditors of the Chamberlain's Accounts for the Archbishoprick of St. Andrews, from 1540 to 1549, he is styled Archdeacon of Teviotdale.—(MS. Rental Book, Advocates Library.) In Foxe's account of the trial of Adam Wallace, 1550, Lauder is called Parson of Morebattle. In February 1551, he is styled Archidene of Teviotdale, and Notary Public of St. Andrews.—(Acta Parl. Scot., vol. ii. p. 489.) In the same year, Lauder signs a deed as "Secretarius" of Archbishop Hamilton, (MS. Rental Book, at St. Andrews;) as the deed referred to was cancelled, and reconfirmed in 1556, without any notice of Lauder's name, it may be conjectured that he had died during that interval. ↩
In MS. G, "bindeth." ↩
George Gordon, fourth Earl of Huntley, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1524. In 1546, after Cardinal Beaton's death, he became Lord High Chancellor. His subsequent history is well known; and he was killed fighting against the Earl of Murray, at Corrichie, about twelve miles from Aberdeen, 28th October 1562.—(Douglas and Wood's Peerage, vol. i. p. 648; Senators of the College of Justice, p. 83-87.) ↩