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the queen's Popish attendants say, " He is not
afraid." "Why should the pleasing face of a gentle-
woman frighten me?" replied the stout reformer,
turning round upon them; "I have looked in the
faces of many angry inert, and yet have not been
afraid beyond measure." Knox's ministerial duties
were in the meantime exceedingly laborious. His
charge, as already mentioned, was St. Giles' Church,
where he had fulfilled these duties since the year 1560
He preached twice every Sabbath, and thrice on
other days of the week, besides meeting regularly
with his kirk-session once every week for discipline,
and with others for exercises on the Scriptures. He
also regularly attended all the meetings of the General
Assembly and the provincial synod; and at almost
every meeting of the former a mission to visit and
preach in some distant part of the country was im-
posed upon him. With the view of relieving him
of part of these overwhelming labours, the town-
council, in April, 1562, solicited John Craig, minister
of Canongate, to undertake the half of his charge.
From the difficulty, however, of obtaining an addi-
tional stipend, Knox remained without assistance
till June in the following year. It has been already
said that many interviews took place from time to
time between the queen and Knox; these were still
occasionally occurring; but their only effect was to,
increase her dread and dislike of the reformer; and
although some instances occurred in which there was
something like an approach to a better understand-
ing, yet on the part of the queen it was never sincere;
and there is little doubt that she longed for an op-
portunity of getting rid of so troublesome a subject,
whom neither her threats nor blandishments could
divert from the strict path of his duty. Such an
opportunity as she desired, or at least such a one as
she certainly rejoiced in, seemed now unexpectedly
to present itself. Two persons, Protestants, were
indicted to stand trial for having, with several others,
intruded into the palace during a temporary absence
of the queen, for the purpose of interrupting the
celebration of certain Roman Catholic rites which
was about to take place in the chapel of Holyrood.
The Protestants of Edinburgh, dreading that the
queen would proceed to extremities against these
men, requested Knox to write circular letters to the
principal gentlemen of their persuasion, detailing
the circumstances of the case, and inviting their pre-
sence on the day of trial. One of these letters fall-
ing into the hands of the Bishop of Ross, he im
mediately conveyed it to the queen, who again lost
no time in laying it before her privy-council, by
which it was pronounced treasonable, and the writer
was soon afterwards indicted to stand trial in Edin-
burgh for the crime of high treason.
The queen presided in person at the trial, and with
an ill-judged and ill-timed levity, burst into a fit of
laughter, when, on taking her seat in court, she per-
ceived Knox standing uncovered at the foot of the
table. "That man, she said, pointing to the re-
former, "had made her weep, and shed never a tear
himself: she would now see if she could make him
weep." The trial now proceeded, and after the
charge against him had been read, Knox entered
upon his defence at great length, and with such self-
possession, intrepidity, and ability, that although he
had several enemies amongst his judges, he was, by
a great majority, acquitted of the crime of which he
had been accused. Alluding to the queen's feelings
on this occasion, he says in his history, "That night
(the evening after the trial) was nyther dancing nor
fiddling in the court; for madame was disapoynted
of hir purpose, quhilk was to have had John Knox
in hir will, be vot of hir nobility."
A second attempt on the part of the queen and
her husband Darnley to suppress the stern and un-
compromising truths, both political and religious,
which the reformer continued to proclaim to the
world, was soon after made He had given out a
text which occasioned such offence to the stripling
king, that on the afternoon of the same day he was
taken from his bed and carried before the privy-
council, who suspended him from his office. As the
suspension, however, was limited to the time of their
majesties' residence in the city, it was but of short
duration, as they left Edinburgh before the following
Sabbath, when Knox resumed his ministry, and de-
livered his sentiments with the same boldness as
before. This occurrence was soon after followed by
the murder of Rizzio, the queen's secretary—an event
which gave the queen, now at Dunbar, a pretence
for raising an army, ostensibly to enable her to resent
the indignity which had been shown to her person
by the assassins of Rizzio, and to punish the per-
petrator of that deed, but in reality to overawe the
Protestants. On the approach of the queen and her
forces to Edinburgh, Knox, long since aware of the
dislike which she entertained towards him, deemed
it prudent to leave the city. On this occasion he
retired to Kyle, and soon afterwards went to England
to visit his two sons, who were there living with
some relations of their mother's, who had died in
1560. Knox returned again to Edinburgh after an
absence of about five or six months. During that
interval two events had taken place which entirely
ruined the queen's authority in the kingdom, and
left him nothing to fear from her personal resent-
ment: these were the murder of Darnley and her
marriage with Bothwell. He therefore resumed his
charge without interruption, and proceeded to take
that active part in the national affairs, both political
and religious, which the times required, and for
which he was so eminently fitted; and, soon after,
had the satisfaction of seeing the Protestant reli-
gion securely established by the laws of the land,
and that of the Popish church utterly overthrown by
the same authority. During these commotions our
reformer in 1564 had married his second wife, a
daughter of Lord Ochiltree, who survived him.
In the month of October, 1570, he was struck
with apoplexy, and although it only interrupted his
preaching for a few days, he never recovered from
the debility which it produced.
The irritability of the times and the vindictive
spirit of the Popish faction, still animating its ex-
piring efforts, placed the life of the great reformer
once more in danger, and once more compelled him
to seek safety in flight. His enemies endeavoured
first to destroy his reputation by the most absurd and
unfounded calumnies; and, failing utterly in these,
they made an attempt upon his life. A shot was
fired in at the window at which he usually sat; but,
happening to be seated at a different part of the
table from that which he generally occupied, the
bullet missed him, but struck the candlestick which
was before him, and then lodged in the roof of the
apartment.
Finding that it was no longer safe for him to re-
main in Edinburgh, he retired to St. Andrews, where
he continued till the end of August, 1572, when he
again returned to Edinburgh. His valuable and
active life was now drawing fast to a close. On the
IIth of the November following he was seized with
a cough, which greatly affected his breathing, and
on the 24th of the same month he expired, after an
illness which called forth numerous instances of the
magnanimity of his character, and of the purity and
fervour of that religious zeal by which he had been