Blair Collection > Book of Common Order, commonly called John Knox's Liturgy

xiv Notices of Bishop Carswell.
twenty-one years of age when so enrolled, which was by
no means improbable at the period, the date of his birth
would seem to have been as stated. 1
The first notice of Carswell in public life is in
connexion with what is called the rebellion of the
Earl of Lennox, the father of Darnley. Lennox having
been deceived by Cardinal Beaton, who found the Earl
of Arran a more flexible man, and being deserted by the
French King, made overtures of service to Henry the
Eighth of England. Endeavouring to raise a rebellion
against the Government, he was defeated near Glasgow,
and obliged to fly to England. In this rebellion he
was joined by the Islesmen, and among others by John
Carswell, who followed him in his flight. 2 At what
time or in what circumstances he returned we know
not, but the event shows that from the beginning he
was opposed to the policy of Cardinal Beaton.
We next find him Rector of his native parish of
Kilmartin, and chaplain to the family of Argyll. 3 The
holding of such offices would seem to indicate that he
was in favour with the Argyll family, and further, that
he must have been a man of more than ordinary acquire-
1 Wodrow, quoting the records of St. Andrews University, says
that in 1540 Carswell was incorporated in St. Salvator's College;
that in the following year he took his degree of B.A. ; and in 1544
that of M.A., on which occasion he is entered as 'Jho es .
Carswell, Pauper? This last term must, however, be understood
as merely meaning that in the division of the students, usual at
the time, into ' divites ' and 'pauperes,' he was classed among
the latter, or those who paid a less fee than the others, or were
able to live less expensively, such being usually of the middle
classes of society at tlie time.
2 Wodrow Collections, p 472. ' Keith's Bishops, p. 307.