Volume I Part 38 (1/2)

[8] See ”Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. JOHN MILTON for the Liberty of Unlicens'd Printing,” addressed to the Parliament of England, London, 1644, 4to. In arguing against the abuses committed by licensers of the Press, he says, ”Nay, which is more lamentable, if the work of any deceased Author, though never so famous in his lifetime, and even to this day, come to their hands for license to be printed or reprinted, if there be found in his book one sentence of a venturous edge, uttered in the height of zeal, (and who knows whether it might not be the dictate of a divine Spirit,) yet, not suiting with every low decrepit humour of their own, THOUGH IT WERE KNOX HIMSELF, THE REFORMER OF A KINGDOM, that spake it, they will not pardon him their dash: the sense of that great man shall to all posterity be lost for the fearfulness, or the presumptuous rashnesse of a prefunctory licenser. And to what an Author this violence hath bin lately done, and in what book of greatest consequence to be faithfully publisht, I could now instance, but shall forbear till a more convenient season.”--(page 22.)

[9] In following the MS. of 1566, I have discarded all contractions, and generally avoided the old form of using _u_ and _w_ for _v_, or _v_ for _u_; _i_ for _j_. In order to avoid distracting the attention of an ordinary reader, such words in the MS. as _hie_ for _he_, _on_ for _one_, _cane_ for _can_, _don_ for _done_, are printed in the usual form; but indeed the orthography of the MS. is very irregular, and might have justified much greater innovations.

[10] This Preface is not contained in either of the editions by David Buchanan of the History printed in 1644.

[11] In MS. G, ”cloude.”

[12] In MS. I, ”whairby idolatrie.”

[13] In MS. G, ”eyis.”

[14] Ib.

[15] In the MS. ”trawalled.”

[16] That is, the year 1558.

[17] Mary Queen of Scots arrived from France on the 19th of August 1561.

[18] The author's original intention, as here stated, was, that the History should merely embrace the limited period from 1558 to 1561. That portion was probably revised and enlarged, to form Books Second and Third, when this introductory Book was added in 1566.

[19] This phrase was not uncommon: see page 10. But MS. I. makes it, ”some faythfull brethrene, concerning that which was thought.”

[20] That is, the Civil Policy.

[21] In the MS. ”wane.”

[22] This t.i.tle occurs as a marginal note in the MS.

[23] In the MS. it was originally written ”mentioun of one N.,” the words, ”whais name is not expressed,” being afterwards added on the margin. The letter N., it may be observed, was an abbreviation of _Non nemo_, i.e. _aliquis_, or Somebody, a mode adopted from the Canon Law, when the name of a person was not ascertained.

[24] From the collation of David Buchanan's text, it will be seen that he has here inserted the words ”One whose name was James Resby, an Englishman by birth, schollar to Wickliff: he was accused as a hereticke, by one Laurence Lindores,” &c. Buchanan overlooks the circ.u.mstance that Resby suffered martyrdom at Perth, fifteen years before the person referred to by Knox. See Appendix, No. I., ”Interpolations in Knox's History by David Buchanan.”--In the Appendix, No. II., some notices will be given of Resby and other Lollards in Scotland, during the 15th century.

[25] Bower, the continuator of Fordun, calls him Paul Crawar, and fixes the date of his execution on the 23d of July 1433. (See Appendix No.

II.)

[26] In MSS. G, A, &c., ”a Bohemian.”

[27] In the MS. ”wach.”

[28] Robert Blackader, on the 5th of June 1480, was styled Prebendary of Cardross, in the Cathedral Church of Glasgow, (Registrum Episcopatus Glasguenis, p. 443.) On the 23d of that month, he sat among the Lords of Council, as Bishop elect of Aberdeen, which seems to discredit the statement of Keith and other writers, of his having been consecrated at Rome by Pope Sixtus IV., upon the death of Bishop Spens. (Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, Mr. Innes's Preface, page xlii. note.) Blackader, however, was much employed in public negotiations with England and other countries. He was translated to the See of Glasgow, previously to February 1484; and during his Episcopate, that See was erected into an Archbishopric. As stated in a following page, Blackader died on the 28th of July 1508. See page 12.

[29] The s.h.i.+re of Ayr in former times was locally divided into the three districts of Carrick, Kyle, and Cunningham; and those districts are still retained, but without any political or judicial distinction. Kyle was the central district, between the rivers Doon and Irvine; and was subdivided into two sections, by the river Ayr, King's-Kyle lying on the south, and Kyle-Stewart on the north of the river.--(Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. iii. p. 446.)

[30] In the MS., a blank s.p.a.ce had been left for these names, which were apparently added at a somewhat later period.--The escape of John Campbell of Cesnock at this time is taken notice of by Alexander Alesius in his Letter to James Fifth, see Appendix No. II.

[31] Mure of Polkellie, the t.i.tle of _Lady_ being given by courtesy.--From a detailed genealogical account of the family of Chalmers of Gadgirth in Ayrs.h.i.+re, inserted in the Appendix to Nisbet's Heraldry, vol. i., we find that John Chalmers, in a charter dated 1491, was styled son and heir of Sir John Chalmers of Galdgirth; and that one of his daughters, Margaret, was married to George Campbell of Cesnock; and another, Helen, to Robert Mure of Polkellie. A third daughter is mentioned in the following note.

[32] The baptismal name of Lady Stair is left blank in the MS., and Calderwood, who copied from Knox, inserted the letter N., to indicate this; while David Buchanan supplied the name of Isabella. On the supposition that Knox himself had so written it, Professor Forbes, in noticing the Lord President Stair's descent from one of the Lollards of Kyle, says, ”The Historian hath mistaken the Lady's name; for, by writings in the Earl of Stair's hand, it appears she was called Marion Chalmers, daughter to Mr. John Chalmers of Gadgirth, whose good family was very steady in the matters of religion.”--(Journal of Decisions, &c., p. 29, Edinb. 1714, folio.)--On the other hand, in the pedigree of the Gadgirth family, in Nisbet, William Dalrymple of Stair is said to have married Isabella Chalmers.

[33] This ”Register,” and ”the Scrollis” referred to in the former page, were probably the Court-books of the Official of Glasgow, an office usually held by one of the Canons of the diocese. But no registers of the kind are known to be preserved.

[34] The additions to Articles 4, 8, 9, 19, and 31, included within a parenthesis, are evidently comments by Knox.