But it is confirmed by Sir James Melville, who was of the same
political party with Adamson, and appointed to succeed him a?
LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 311
prohibited, under high pains, from convening in any
assembly, except the ordinary courts, to treat, con-
sult, or determine on any matter of state, civil or
ecclesiastical, without the special commandment and
licence of his Majesty. This act was intended for
tlie suppression not only of the presbyteries, but
also of the General Assembly ; or rather, it put the
whole government of the church into the hands of
the king, without whose express consent no ecclesi-
astical assembly could be held *. Accordingly, it was
ordained, by another act, that commissions should
ambassador. " The said Bishop — was disdained in England,
and dishonoured his country by borrowing gold and pretious
furniture from the Bishop of London and others, which was never
restored nor payed for." (Memolres, p. 150. folio edit.) Adam-
son, in a letter to Whitgift, promises to send his Grace ** a gallo-
way naig," in return for his hospitality j but that the *' opportunit
commodlte" of conveying it ever presented itself, or that the naig
ever occupied a stall at Lambeth, is more than dubious. (Harl.
MSS. num. 7004. 2.)
* " The vther forme of Jugement quhilk lies Majesty hes dis-
charglt, is the generall assemblie of the haili Clergie in the Re-
ahne : under pretence quhairof ane number of Ministeris from
sundry presbyteries did assemble, with sum gentlemen of the
country," &.c. — '* His Maiestie vpoun necessarie occasions —
vpoune humble supplicatioun made vnto his Hienes will not re-
fuse to grant them licence to convene To wit, the Bishoppes,
Commissioners, and sume of the maist verteous, learnit & godly
of their dloceis," &c. (Declaratioun of the Kings Majesties in-
tentioun and meaning toward the lait Acts of Parliament, pp.
17, 19. Edin. 1585.) Even the meetings of kirk-sessions were
discharged by this act. Accordmgly, on the 28th May, 1584, a
special licence was granted by his Majesty, in virtue of his dis-
pensing power, for holding the weekly exercise and meetings of
kirk-session in Edinburgh, ** notwithstanding our late act of par-
312 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.
be o-iven to the bishops, and such others as shall be
constituted king's commissioners in ecclesiastical
causes, to put order to all ecclesiastical matters in
their dioceses. In fine, it was ordained that none
should presume, privately or publicly, in sermons,
declamations, or familiar conferences, to utter any
false, untrue, or slanderous speeches, to the disdain,
reproach, and contempt of his I\Iajesty, his council,
, or proceedings, or to the dishonour, hurt or prejudice
of his highness, his parents, and progenitors, or to
meddle in the affairs of his highness and his estate,
present, bygane, or in time coming, under the pains
contained in the acts of parliament against the
makers and tellers of lesings, which were to be ex-
ecuted with all rigour, even upon those who heard
such speeches and did not reveal them *.
These are the hlack acts (as they were called) of
liament or any pains contained therein, anent the which wee dis-
pense be thir presents.'''' (Cald. Hi. 376.) An intimation of a si-
milur kind was made to the elders of St Andrews by Adamson.
(Record of Kirk Session of St And. June 17. 1584.) But
where the ministers or elders were unconformable to the will of
the court, they were prevented from assembling. The Kirk
Session of Glasgow, which used to meet every week, did not as-
semble from July 18, 3 584, to March 31, 1585. (Wodrow's
Life of Mr David AYeems, p. 33. MSS, vol. 3.)
* Act. Pari. Scot. lii. 293, 296, 303. — As a fit supplement to
the last mentioned act, Buchanan's History and Dialogue De
7f/r^jR.^72r are condemned. Temporanwtantur. Not many years
before, a pension of £ 20 yearly had been assigned, '* for the
guld, (jew, and tiiankfull service done to our so. lord be his louit
Mr Johne Geddy, seruitoui to Mr George Buchquhannan, pre-
ceptour to his hienes and kepar of his prlvie seal, in writing of
the Chronicles of this realme and vtheris lovable werkis of the
LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 313
this servile parliament. Though eversive of all
liberty, civil and natural as well as ecclesiastical, not
a nohleman, baron, or burgess ventiu'ed to open his
mouth against them. Some of the ministers, having
received secret information of ^vhat was intended,
repaired to the parliament-house, witli the design
of protesting for the rights of the church ; but the
doors were shut on them. The magistrates of
Edinburgh received orders to pull out of the pul-
pit any individual who presumed to censure what
the parliament had done. But this did not deter
them from exonerating their conscience ; and when
the acts were proclaimed at the market- cross, Law-
son, Balcanquhall, and Pont, " taking their lives
in their hands, went boldly and made public pro-
testation" against them, with all the ceremonies
usual on such occasions *.
Orders were immediately issued to apprehend the
protesters, but they saved themselves by a timely
flight. Upwards of twenty ministers soon after
followed their example, and took refuge in Eng-
land. Arran threatened, Avith his usual brutal
said Mr Georges editioun." May S, 1577. (Reg. of Privy Seal,
vol. 43. f. 81.)
To be consistent the parliament ought also to have condemned
Buchanan's Bapti6tes, or at any rate to have expunged the fol-
lowing sentence in the dedication of it to James; " Voio etiam
hunc libellum apud posteros testeni fore, si qui^d aliquando pravis
consultoribus Impulsus, vel legni licentia rectani educationem
superante, sccus committas, non pracceptoribus, sed tibi, qui eis
j-ecte monentibus non sis obsecutus, id vitio vertendum esse."
* Hume of Godscroft's History, ii. 335—6. Cald. iii. 366,
368. Spots. 333.
^14 LIFE OF AKDllEW MELVILLE.
coarseness, " that he would make Lawson's head to
leap from his halse *, though it was as big as a hay-
stack." He imprisoned David Lindsay, the minis-
ter of Leith, in Blackness, and John Howieson in
Spey Tower. For praying for his distressed brethren,
Nicol Dalgleish, minister of St Cuthbert's Church,
was tried for his life. The jury acquitted him ;
but he was instantly served with a new indictment
for holding correspondence with rebels, merely be-
cause he had read a letter which one of the minis-
ters of Edinburgh had sent to his wife. Being
persuaded to come in the king's will for this fault,
sentence of death was passed on him, and, though
it was not executed, yet by a refinement in cruelty,
the scaffold was erected and kept standing for seve-
weeks before the window of his prison f . All mi-
nisters, and masters of colleges and schpols were
required to subscribe a bond, in which they engaged
to obey the late acts of parliament, and to acknow-
ledge the bishops as their ecclesiastical superiors,
under the pain of being for ever deprived of their
benefices and salaries â– :. The most of the ministers
* neck.
t Nicol Dulglelsh bad been for many years a regent in St
Leonard's College, St Andrews, which he left in the year 1577.
(Papers of the University.) He went to France, and remained
for some time at Bourges. (Cald. ii. 606.) After his return to
Scotland he was nominated by the General Assembly, in 1581,
as a fit person for being made principal of King's College, when
it was proposed to remove Arbuthnot to the ministry of New
Aberdeen. (Bulk of Univ. Kirk, f. 102.>
X Act Pari. Scot, ill, 347.
LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 315
refused subscription. Having convened the prin-
cipal recusants, Arran asked tliem, How they durst
be so bold as to find fault with the late acts of par-
liament. John Craig told him, that they durst find
fault with any thing repugnant to the word of God.
Upon this Arran started to his feet, and threatened
that he would shave their heads, pair their nails,
cut their toes, and make them an example to all
rebels. Craig having admonished him that God
had humbled persons who were raised as high
as he was, he replied, " I will make you of a false
friar a true prophet ;" and falling on his knees, ex-
claimed, " Now I am humbled." Perceiving that
the greater part of the ministers were not to be
terrified into compliance, Adamson artfully divided
them by proposing to introduce into the bond one
of those ambiguous and unmeaning clauses which
serve only to blind the simple, and to salve the con-
sciences of such as are anxious to escape from
trouble *. Craig, after a manful resistance, suffered
himself to be caught in this snare, and drew into it
the greater part of his brethren. Even the honest
and intrepid Dury is said to have become a sub-
scriber, and thus to have lent his hand to build again
the things which he was among the foremost to
destroy. And Erskine of Dun, whose character
* They promised " to obey &o. according to the word of GocV^
James Melville, who wrote a long letter intended to expose the
evil of the bond, characterised this qualifying clause as '"' mani-
festam repugnanttam in adjecto ; as if one should say, he would
obey the pope and his prelatei according to the word of God."
Diary, p. 144.
316 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.
stood SO high, and who had formerly made so ho-
nourable a stand for the liberties of the church, not
only became a conformist himself, but was extremely
active in persuading others to conform. So difficult
is it for good men to preserve a strict and inflexible
integrity in the hour of temptation * ! There is no
end to the impositions of despotical authority, and to
the humiliations of those who have once bowed their
necks to its yoke. Subscription was not reckoned
a sufficient bond of fidelity, and Vv'ritten injunctions
were sent to all the conforming ministers, by which
they were obliged to frame every sentiment and
expression in such a manner as to please the court f.
The privileges of all the universities were violated.
At Glasgow, the rector, Andrew Hay, was banished
to the north of Scotland ; all the professors were
thrown into jail ; the students dismissed, and com-
manded, by public proclamation, to leave the city ;
and the college shut up. Nor did the remote situa-
tion of the university at Aberdeen save it from
similar treatment +.
As soon as he recovered from the depression of
mind into which he had sunk upon the flight of his
miclc, James Melville returned to St Andrews, and
exerted himself in preserving the college from the
ruin with which it was threatened. His first care
was to secure his uncle's library, which w^as in danger
* Cald. iii. 529, 641—643. Hume of Godscioffs Hist. p.
337. Wodiow's Life of Mr James Melville, p. 161. MSS.
vol. 12.
t Cald. iii. 742 — 3.
t Cotton MSS. Calig. C. viii. 78.
LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 317
of confiscation, after which he endeavoured to supply
his place hy reading lectures on the system of divi-
nity. In addition to his double task as professor
of Divinity and of Hebrew, he found himself oblig-
ed to undertake the management of the revenues
of the college, and the board of the students ; tlie
steward having refused to act as soon as he learned
that the court looked on the establishment with an
evil eye. In these circumstances he was greatly
encouraged by the sympathy of the masters of the
university, who attended his lectm'es as they had
done those of his uncle, and did every thing in
their power to promote the interests of the New
College. On this occasion, too, Thomas Buchanan
testified his regard to his exiled friend, at the
risk of displeasing the court, by coming forward
and taking a share of the burden of theological
instruction, to which he had formerly been appointed
by the General Assembly*. They met with no
interruption until the meeting of parliament, but no
sooner had it passed the laws overthrowing the pres-
byterian discipline, than Adamson came to St An-
drews for the purpose of im.posing them on the uni-
versity. He had procured an order for apprehend-
ing James Melville ; but the latter, being apprized
* October, 1582. " It is lelsnni for a minister for a season
to superseid y* ministrie and vse y* office of a doctor, y'for y*
assemblie hes concludit and ordanit Mr The Buchannan to enter
in y* new Colledge ar.d vse and exercise y^ office of a doctour
y^ for >*â– support ofy* samein, his kirk [Ceiesj being alway^ts pro-
vydit of a sufficient pastour and \^ said Mr Thomas sufficientlie
sati-jfied anent y* promise n)ade for expeditioun of !iis pleyis."
Buik of Universal! Kirk, f. 129, b.
318 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.
of the fact, escaped, not without hazard, by crossing
the sea in an open boat to Berwick. Robertson was
the only professor who remained in the college, and
the bishop soon after suppressed the teaching of
theology *.
A few days before his nephew arrived at Ber-
wick, JVIelville had left it for London, accompanied
by his relation and pupil, Patrick Forbes younger
of Corse. He had obtained liberty from the Eng-
lish court to repair to the capital, and was furnished
with instructions from the exiled nobleman who
still remained at Berwick. Along with James
Carmichael, minister of Haddington, who added to
his learning a talent for public business, he had
several interviews with Walsingham, Bowes, and
Sydney, and found these statesman cordially inclined
to befriend them f . But there were others, particu-
larly among the bishops, who were unfriendly to
their cause, and did every thing in their power to
injure it. Adamson conveyed his representations
through the archbishop of Canterbury :|: ; and the
agents of Arran spared no professions or promises
to induce Elizabeth to diive the exiles from her
* Melville's Diary, pp. I05, 118—123. Cald. iii. 422.
t A great number of letters written by Carmichael, Galloway,
and Hume of Godscroft, and containing minute information of
transactions at this period, are preserved among the WodrowMSS.
in the Advocates Library. A great part of them is transcribed
into the 3d vol. of Calderwood's MS. and Wodrow's Lives of
Carmichael and Hume. — Carmichael was the author of " Gram-
niaticse Latlnse de Etymologia liber secundus. Cantab. 1587."
:|: Letter from Patrick archb. of St Andrews to his Grace of
Canterbury, June 16. 1584. Hail. MSS. num. 7004. 2.
LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 519
dominions, or at least to refuse a hearing to theit
complaints. Melville was at this time employed
in writing a reply to a vindication of the Scottish
court, published under the title of a Declara-
tion of the King's Majesty's intention in the late
acts of Parliament. It was artfully drawn up by
archbisliop Adamson, and contained vile asper-
sions on the banished lords, and on the proceedings
of the church. Melville, of course, came in for a
large share of the abuse. This declaration deserves
particular notice as the original of those misrepre-
sentations of Scots affairs, which prevailed so long
in England, and are not completely removed at this
day. The answers given to it by Melville and
others exposed its falsehoods ; but they shared the
fate of all fugitive pieces, in being soon lost and
forgotten *. The declaration, on the contrary, was
carefully preserved. By means of some of Arran's
agents, it was reprinted at London, with a preface
more odious than itself. Being published in the
name of the king, it was embodied in Hollinshed's
Chronicle as an authentic document, from which it
continued to be quoted and copied and reprinted,
* Melville's reply (whicb is inserted Cald. iii. 714 — 734.) is
entitled, An " Answer to the Declaration of certain Intentions
set out in the King's name &c. 7lh of Feb. 15S5." James Mel-
ville is supposed to be the author of another reply, in the form of
a Dialogue between Zelator, Temporizor, and Palaemon, which
is dated Newcastle, Feb. 10. 1585. (Cald. iii. 672—714.) It
is probable that both were printed, (lb. 423, 428. 153.) The
former passes over what relates to JMelville ; but the latter vindi-
cates him strenuously, and its style is sharper and more acrimo-
nious than that of the other. (See extracts from them in the
printed Calderwood, pp. 174—184.)
320 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.
after James had disowned it, and Adamson had re-
tracted it as an unfounded and slanderous libel •.
In the month of July 1584, the Earls of Angus
and INIar, and the Master of Glammis, wrote to Mel-
ville, requesting him to repair to them immediately
at Newcastle, along with Lawson, " on matters of
greater importance" than they could judge of alone f.
With this request he was prevented from comply-
ing, as he was then absent from London, on a visit
to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge t- He
was received at these ancient seats of literature in a
manner becoming his profession and merits, and ex-
pressed himself much delighted with the magnificence
of the colleges, the gravity of the professors, and the
courteous manners of the students. On this occa-
sion he formed an intimacy, which was afterwards
* This was strange, considering that the Declaration was the
Manifesto of an arbitrary administration, and an abusive attack
on the men who had uniformly shewn themselves the most steady
friends of England. *' Our kirk deserved no such indignity at
the hands of that estate Jts to be so highly prejudged by the pub-
lick records of the reaime j for our kirk Was ever carefull, and
at the san.e time specially, to entertain amitie betwixt the two
countries. But let such a lying libell lay there as a blurr to
blott the Chronicles of England." (Cald. iii. 650.) But this
was not all. In J 646, the Declaration was reprinted, in Scots
and in English, not by the cavaliers at Oxford, (that would not
have been strange) but by the friends of the parliament at Lon-
don, who had so lately loaded the Scots with thanks for their
*' brotherly assistance," and solemnly vowed " the preservation of
the reformed religion in the church of Scotland,— in discipline and
government !" Bailiie's Historical Vindication, Epist. Dedic,
A 4.
t Cald. iii. 432.
% Melville's Diary, p. 159.
LIFE OF AXDIIKW MKI.VILLK. J321
zfiain tallied by letters, with two very promising
young men, George Carleton, wlio became bisiio]) of
Chichester, and Thomas Sa\ile, whose early eriuli-
tion was no less adinired, than his prematm*e death
was deplored, by the learned on the C(mtinent and
in his native country *. Melville afterwards paid
a fine compliment to two of tlic theological ma.sters,
and to the young men whom he found at this time
prosecuting their studies under them :
Non ita aeterni Whittakerus f acer
Luminls vindex, patri
Dixit aut sensit : nefjue ctlsa summi
Penna llenokli |,
Orta sublimes aperire calles,
Sueta ccelestes iterare cursus,
La^ta misceri niveis heataj
Civibus aulaj.
Nee Tami aut Cami accola saniorc
Mente, qui ccElum sapit in frequenti
Hermathenaeo, et celebri Lycaeo
Culta juventus ;
Cujus afFulget genio Jovai lux :
Cui nitens Sol justitiae renidet :
Quern jubar Christi radiantis alto
Speetat olynipo §.
. * See Melville's letter " D. Th. Suville et G. Cailetono," ia
the Ai)peiKll\-. AVoocrs Athenai Oxon. by BlisS, voi. i. eol.
159. vol. ii. 312, 422. Fasti, coll. 212, 227. Thomas Savile
was a yoiinifer hiothei of Sir Henry Savile, pi'ovost of Eton Col-
Je/'C. His letters in Cainhclcni Epiliola- -hew the progress which
he Inul nnule in recondite literature before ^ielville became ac-
tjLiaiiited witli liini.
t ])r William Whitaker, Regius Professor, and Master of
St John's College, Cambridge.
t I)r John luiinolds, Divinity Header, and successively Master
of Queen's College, and President of Corpus C!)rlsti, Oxford.
§ Anti-tami-cami-categoria, Authore A Melvlno. liiO-i.
VOL. T. X
322 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE^,
On his return to Lo;idon, Melville had to per-
fomi the painful duty of attending the death-bed
of his early friend, and highly esteemed brother,
James Lawson. The air of England disagreed
with his constitution, and induced a disorder which
was aggravated by distress of mind on account of
the unhappy state of his native country, and the
undutiful behaviour of his flock. He had joined
with his colleague in addressing a letter to the in-
habitants of Edinburgh, in which they stated the
reasons of their flight. Adamson drew up a reply
in the name of the congregation, couched in the
harshest and most contumelious language, denomi-
nating their ministers, fugitives, rebels, and wolves,
and renouncing all connection with them. This the
King sent to the town council, accompanied with
an injunction, that it should be subscribed by them,
and the principal inhabitants ; and by the threats
and importunities of the court, a number of persons
were induced to set their names to this disgraceful
paper *. Their conduct made a deeper impression
on the delicate spirits of Lawson than it ought to
have done, considering all the circumstances of
* Cald. ill. 377—383, 436. Hume of Godscroft's Hut. ii.
361. — Oa the 11th June 1584, a commisbioner from his Majestj
]»resente(l to the town council an answer to a letter of their minis-
ters, with a charge to subscribe it. Because it appeared to be
*' consavit in scharp and ruch tearmes," the council appointed an-
other form to be drawn up. On the afternoon of the same day,
they appointed some of their number to go to Falkland to intreat his
Majesty, that they should " nocht be burthenit w* any thing hurt-
full to yair consciences, and to labour that his Maitie may be content
with the secund form y'of pennit be the town." ^Records of
LIFE OF AXDllEW MELVILLE. 323
the case. He died piously and comfortably, bear-
ing an honourable testiinoiiy to the cause in which
he liad spent his life, and exhorting his brotlireu
who surrounded his bed, and had alleviated his
sufferings by their sympathizing attentions, to per-
severe in their attachment to it whate\'er it might
cost them. Such was the respect in which he was
held, that, though a stranger, his body was accompa-
nied to the grave by above five hundred persons of
respectability. Lawson had been selected from all his
brethren by Knox, to whom " he owed even his
own self besides," as the individual best qualified
for succeeding him in the charge of the church of
Edinburgh ; and his conduct in that important sta-
tion, and during the most difficult times, proved
that the choice had been made with our Reformer's
usual sagacity. He was pious, learned, eloquent, mo-
dest, zealous, prudent *. He had been originally in
a humble situation, and displayed the ornament
of a humble spirit after he rose to distinction. His
capacity and avidity for learning had attracted the
attention of Andrew Sim son, the celebrated master
of the school of Perth, w^ho took him into his own
house, bestov/ed upon him a gratuitous education, and
Town Coi:ncil of Edinburgli, vol. vli. 91, b. 92, a.) Tliis
request was peremptoiily refused. See liic Letter from A^llliam
Davison to Secretaiy Walslngham, June 15. 15S4 j in tlie Ap-
pendix.
* David Buchanan De Script. Scotis Illustr. num. 53. MS.
Adv. Lib. W. 6. 34. The works which this author ascribes to
Lawson appear to have been all in manuscript.
X 2
324 I-IFK OF ANDllEW AfELVILLK.
recommended him first to the university of St An-
drews, and afterwards to the Countess of Crawfurd,
whose son he accompanied as tutor to the conti-
nent *. After his return to his native country he
testified his gi'atitude by the zeal with which he uni-
formly promoted public education ; and his exertions
in restoring the High School, and erecting the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh, entitle his name to a place
among the distinguished benefactors of literature f .
Balcanquhall and Davidson preached once or
twice in Loudon, but received an order from the
* Wodrow^s Life of James Lawsou, pp. 1, 2, 30. CaUl. lil.
t Crawfurd's Hist, of University, pp. 19, 26. Feb. 3. 1568,
lie was piesented to '* the secund place w*in the new collage ci'
pedagog w'in the universitie of Sanctandrois," or, if it was al-
ready j)rovided, to *' the third place in the said new college.'*
(Reg. of Present, vol. i. f. 23.) January 8. 1569, he was pre-
sented to the place of sub-principal in the university of Aberdeen,
(lb. vol. i. f. 26. b ) He died on the 12th of October 1584, and
was buried " in the new church yaird at Bedlem." His testa-
ment was subscribed by him "at London in Honielane of Cheap-
side, in Mr Antony Martinets hou^e upon Wednesday the 7 of
October 1584." On hearing of his death, archbishop Adanison