The Works of John Knox Volume I Part 47

Have mercy on me, (O gude Lord,) Efter thy greit mercy.

My sinfull life does me remord, Quhilk sair hes grevit thee: Bot thy greit grace hes mee restord, Throw grace, to libertie: To thy mercy with thee will I go.

_Et secundum mult.i.tudinem._

Gude Lord I knaw my wickednes, Contrair to thy command, Rebelland ay with cruelnes, And led me in ane band To Sathan, quha is merciles; Zit, Lord, heir me cryand: To thy mercy with thee will I go.

Quhat king can tell the mult.i.tude, Lord, of thy greit mercy, Sen sinners hes thy celsitude Resisted cruellie.

Zit na sinner will thou seclude, That this will cry to thee: To thy mercie with thee will I go.

[371] Patrick third Earl of Bothwell succeeded his father in 1513, when an infant. In 1543, he was Lord of Liddesdale, and Keeper of the Royal Castle of Hermitage. Sir Ralph Sadler, on the 5th of May that year, says of him, "As to the Earl of Bothwell, who, as ye know, hath the rule of Liddersdale, I think him the most vain and insolent man in the world, full of pride and folly, and here, I a.s.sure you, nothing at all esteemed."--(Sadler's Papers, vol. i. p. 184.) At the time of Wishart's apprehension, he was High Sheriff of the county of Haddington. In Douglas and Wood's Peerage of Scotland, (vol. i. pp. 227-229,) will be found a detailed account of his subsequent fortunes. He died, probably in exile, in September 1550.

[372] Elphingstone Tower is situated in the parish of Tranent, about two miles from the village of that name.

[373] In MS. G, "over you."

[374] In MS. G, "persuasion."

[375] In MS. G, "promeis."

[376] This name Drundallon, or Dwndallon, is not very distinct in the MS., and no such place is now known.

[377] John c.o.c.kburn of Ormiston.--In the Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 41, it is stated, that "Upoun the xvj day of Januar, the Governour and the Cardinall, to the nomber of 500 men, past to Ormestoun, [some words here omitted?] and the yong laird of Calder; they war all brocht and put in the Castell of Edinburgh; and the laird of Ormestoun, and the yong laird of Calder followand, was tane be the Capitane, callit James Hamiltoun of Stanehous." Wishart's name may have been omitted in this paragraph, but it fixes the date of his apprehension at Ormiston. The following entries occur in the Treasurer's Accounts, on the 10th of March 1545-6,--

"Item, to Jhonne Patersoun, pursevant letters direct furth of Edinburgh to Ormistoun and Haddingtoun, to summond the Laird of Ormistoun to underly the law in Edinburgh the xiij day of Apprile nyxt to c.u.m, _for resetting of Maister George Wischeart, he being at the horne_, etc. And _for breking of the waird within the Castell of Edinburgh_, etc.

Togydder with ane other letter to arreist the saiddis Lairdis gudis, etc., x s."

"Item, (7th of April,) with ane memoriall of the princ.i.p.all Lordis and Baronis namys of Est Louthiane, to summond thame to be in Edinburgh xiij^th Aprilis instant, to pa.s.s upon the a.s.siss of the Laird of Ormistoiin, quho was to thoill law that day for brekking of our Souerane Ladyis waird within the Castell of Edinburgh."

[378] Hailes Castle is situated in a secluded spot on the banks of the Tyne, in the parish of Prestonkirk, East Lothian. It belonged at this time to the Earl of Bothwell. The ruins still shew that it must have been of considerable extent and strength, like most buildings of the kind intended for a place of defence.

[379] In MS. G, "keipit."

[380] The following is an Act of Council, obliging Bothwell to deliver to the Governor the person of George Wishart, on the 19th of January 1545-6,--

"The quhilk day, in presens of my Lord Governour and Lords of Counsel, comperit Patrick Erle Bothuell, and hes bundin and oblist him to deliver Maister George Wischart to my Lord Governour, or ony utheris in his behalf, quham he will depute to ressave him betuix this and the penult day of Januar instant _inclusive_, and sal kepe him surelie, and answer for him in the meyn tyme, under all the hiest pane and charge that he may incur, giff he falzies herintill."--(Regist. Concil. fol. 25; Epist.

Regum Scotorum, vol. ii. p. 342.)

[381] There seems no reason to question the accuracy of these dates; although Spotiswood marks Wishart's execution as having taken place on the 2d of March 1546; and Mr. Tytler says the 28th, adopting an evident blunder in the "Diurnal of Occurrents," where the 28th of March, instead of the 28th of February, is given as the day when the Council was held for Wishart's trial and condemnation. His execution took place on the following day. I observe that at page 6 of the Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, I have fallen into the same mistake.

[382] This word is omitted in MS. G.

[383] Pitscottie mentions, that the Cardinal having sent to the Governor for a "commissioun and ane Judge criminall to give doom on Maister George, if the Clergie fand him guiltie;" the Governor, upon the remonstrance of Sir David Hamilton, was persuaded to write to the Cardinal "to continue (or postpone) the accusatioun of Maister George Wisehart quhyll he and he spoke togidder; and if he wold not, his awin blood be upon his awin head, for he would not consent that any man sould suffer persecutioun at that tyme."--(Dalyell's edit., p. 454.)

[384] Gawin Dunbar was a younger son of Sir John Dunbar of Mochrun. He pursued his studies at Glasgow. In 1514 he was appointed Dean of Moray.

In the following year obtained the Priory of Whithorn in Galloway; and was intrusted with the education of James the Fifth. In the Treasurer's Accounts, 1517, are the following entries:--

"Item, xvj^to Februarij [1516-17,] gevin to Maister Gawin Dunbar, _the Kingis Maister_, to by necessar thingis for the Kingis chamer, ix lib.

"Item, (the 28th day of August,) to Maister Gawan Dunbar, _the Kingis Maister_, for expensis maid be him in reparaling of the chamer in the quhilk the King leris now, in the Castell, iij lib."

On the translation of James Beaton to the Primacy, Dunbar was promoted to the See of Glasgow; and he continued to enjoy the favour of his royal pupil during the whole of his reign. He held the office of Lord Chancellor from 1528 to 1543; and died on the 30th of April 1547. A detailed account of this Prelate is given in Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, pp. 1-5.

[385] See note 391.

[386] The Castle and Episcopal Palace of Glasgow stood a little to the westward of the Cathedral Church. The building, with its site and garden, having been vested in the Crown, when Episcopacy was abolished, were granted in the year 1791, for the purpose of erecting an Infirmary; and the ancient but ruinous building was then removed.--(Caledonia, vol.

iii. p. 638.)

[387] In MS. G, "knypsed."

[388] In MS. G, "as sum bold men."

[389] In Vautr. edit. "merilie."

[390] In Vautr. edit. "bitter mirth."

[391] This ludicrous but unbecoming contest seems to have taken place on the 4th of June 1545, when Mons. Lorge de Montgomery arrived from France with auxiliary troops: "Upon the same day, the Bischope of Glasgow pleit with the Cardinall about the bering of his croce in his dyocie, and boith thair croccis war brokin, in the Kirk of Glasgow, through thair stryving for the samin."--(Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 39.) Bishop Lesley mentions it as having occurred at an earlier period, when the Patriarch of Venice, who was sent by the Pope, first came to Glasgow, when "the Cardinall and the princ.i.p.all Bischoppes come thair and ressaved him with gret honour. Bot in the meintyme, (he adds,) thair happinned ane suddane discord within the Kirk of Glasgw, betuix the Cardinall and Bischoppe of Glasgw, for thair pre-heminence of the bering of the Cardinallis crosse within that Kirk, quhair boith the Archebischoppes crosses was brokin, and diverse of thair gentill men and servandis wes hurt."--(Hist. p.

178.) Cornelius Le Brun, a Dutch traveller, describes a similar contest which took place, whilst he was at Rome during the Jubilee of 1675, between two processions meeting first in a narrow street, near Monte Cavallo, and afterwards in the Church of St. John, in Laterano, in which several persons were killed, to the great scandal of religion. But the Italians, he says, "qui sont plaisans de leur naturel et encline a la raillerie se mocquoient furieus.e.m.e.nt de cette avanture."--(Voyage en Levant, p. 6. Delft, 1700, folio.)

[392] This, according to tradition, was the Eastern tower or corner, and the place of Wishart's execution was nearly opposite, at the foot of what is called Castle Wynd. Spotiswood says, "A scaffold in the meantime erecting on the east part of the Castle towards the Abbey, with a great tree in the middest, in manner of a gibbet, into which the prisoner was to be tied.... The fore tower was hanged with tapestry, and rich cus.h.i.+ons laid for case of the Cardinal and Prelates, who were to behold that spectacle."--(History, p. 81.)

[393] As stated in note 45, "The Actes and Monumentes of Martyrs," by John Foxe, was originally printed at London, by John Daye, in 1564, in a large volume in folio. It was "newly recognized and enlarged by the Author," in 1570, when he incorporated a number of pa.s.sages relating to Martyrs in Scotland, which he gives on this authority, "_Ex Scripto Testimonio Scotorum_." In many places of these additions, the details are more minute than the corresponding pa.s.sages in Knox's History; yet there is such a coincidence in the information, that Foxe may possibly have been indebted for some of them to the Scotish Reformer. The account of Wishart, however, is copied from a printed book: see notes 397, 434.

[394] The t.i.tle of the Accusation and the introductory paragraph, are not contained in Knox's MS., but are supplied from Foxe, edit. 1576.

[395] Dean John Wynrame was born in 1492, and educated at St. Andrews.

In 1515, his name occurs among the Determinants in St. Salvator's College. The date of his appointment as Sub-Prior of the Monastery of St. Andrews has not been ascertained. But on the 10th of Nov. 1537, he is styled in the "Regist. Fac. Art.," Dominus Joh. Wynrame, Sup^r.

Sancti Andree Coen.o.bii. His name often occurs in Knox, in connexion with transactions of a later date. See M'Crie's Life of Knox, vol. i. p. 424; Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. i. p. 241.

[396] In MS. G, "as sayis the Apostle Paull."

[397] It will be observed that all these opprobrious terms applied to Lauder are copied from Foxe, or rather from the black-letter tract, printed by John Daye, of which Dr. M'Crie has given a description in his Life of Knox, vol. i. p. 382.

[398] In MS. G, the words "writtin," &c., to "cursingis," are omitted.

[399] Mr. John Lauder, who acted as public accuser or prosecutor on other occasions, as well as this of Wishart, was educated at St.

Andrews. His name occurs among the Licentiates "in Pedagogio," in the year 1508. In a Decree Arbitral, dated at St. Andrews, 16th October 1518, he thus designates himself: "Ego JOHANNES LAUDER, artium magister, clericus Sancti Andreae diocesis, publicus sacris Apostolica et Imperiali auctoritatibus notarius, ac in officio Scriptoris archivii Romane Curie matriculatus ac descriptus."--(Rental Book of St. Andrews, 1550.) From the Treasurer's Accounts we find that he was frequently employed in Ecclesiastical negotiations. Thus in 1533,--

"Item, to Maister Johne Lauder, to pa.s.s to Rome in the Kingis erandis, maid in fynance v^c [500] frankis, price of ilk frank x s. vi d., Scottis money, 262, 10s.

"Item, gevin to him at his departing, to by him horse and other necessaris, 40.

"Item, to Robene Bertoun, for the fraucht of ane litill schip, in the quhilk the said Maister Johne past in Flanderes, 25.

"Item, dresses to his twa servandis," &c. Again, in 1534,--

"Item, to Maister Johne Lauder, to performeis certaine the Kingis Grace's erandis in Rome, J^m [1000] frankis, Summa, 525."