Scotland/Scots > Life of John Knox ; and, The life of Alexander Henderson

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LIFE OF JOHN KNOX.
the beginning of February 1566, a message arrived from
the cardinal of Lorrain, with a copy of the league for
the general extirpation of the Protestants, and instruc¬
tions to obtain her subscription to it, and her consent to
proceed to extremities against the exiled nobility. Mary
scrupled not to set her hand to this league. The exiled
noblemen were summoned to appear before the parlia¬
ment on the 12th of March. The lords of the Articles
were chosen according to the queen’s pleasure; the
Popish ecclesiastics were restored to their place in par¬
liament ; the altars to be erected in St. Giles’s church
for the Roman Catholic worship were prepared.
But these measures, when ripe for execution, were
blasted, in consequence of a secret engagement which
the king had entered into with some of the Protestant
nobles. The first effect produced by this engagement
was the well known assassination of Rizio, an unworthy
favourite of the queen, who was the principal instigator
of the measures against the Protestant religion and the
banished lords, and had incurred the jealousy of the
king, the contempt of the nobility, and the hatred of the
people. The removal of this minion from her majesty’s
counsels and presence would have been a meritorious
act; but the manner in which it was accomplished was
marked with the barbarous manners of the age.
A complete change in the state of the court followed
upon this: the Popish counsellors fled from the palace ;
the banished lords returned out of England; and the
parliament was prorogued, without accomplishing any
of the objects for which it had been assembled. But
the queen soon persuaded the weak and uxorious king
to desert the noblemen, retire with her to Dunbar, and
emit a proclamation, disowning his consent to the late
attempt, by which he exposed himself to the contempt
of the nation, without regaining her affection. Having
collected an army, she returned to Edinburgh, threaten¬
ing to inflict the most exemplary vengeance on all who
had been accessory to the murder of her secretary, and