Grampian Club > Leaves from my autography

358 LEAVES FROM MY AUTOBIOGEAPHY.
consistency. ApjDointed paymaster of the Reformed
clergy, his conduct was doubtful. He deserted the
Regent Murray, who had honoured him with knight-
hood. He joined Kirkaldy of Grange in the Castle
of Edinburgh, on behalf of the dethroned queen, and
in virtual opposition to the Protestant government.
He rejoiced in contention, and was chargeable with
avarice. Having joined Kirkaldy on behalf of Queen
Mary, in 1573, he was not unlikely to have associated
with the same wavering statesman in plotting the
death of Beaton about thirty years previously.
George Wishart the preacher was John Wishart's
uncle. If the preacher was cognisant that his nephew
joined in the conspiracy, he was, no doubt, personally
identified with it. But there is no evidence that he
knew of it ; he seems to have resided at Pitarrow from
the period of his return to Scotland, in July 1543,
till the spring of 1545, when he commenced preaching
at Montrose. The ''Scottish man called Wyshert"
appears in connection with the conspiracy only in
April 1544. If John Wishart was studying law at
Edinburgh when his relative Learmont of Balcomie
made him known to the cardinal's enemies, he may
have proceeded on his expedition to the English
court without communicating with his relatives at
Pitarrow. On the messenger's return, the j^lot slum-
bered, and it was not revived till the following spring,
when the name of Wishart no longer appears in the
list of conspirators. Is it an unwarrantable hypo-