he party of the queen,[254] and whose soul, notwithstanding, he said,
was dear to him--as being one of his congregation in the castle of St
Andrews, and a sharer in his hard lot in France--so that he would not
have it perish if by any means he could save it. "Go and tell him," he
said, "that neither the craggy rock in which he miserably trusts, nor
the carnal prudence of that man whom he regards as a demigod, nor the
assistance of foreigners, as he falsely flatters himself, shall deliver
them, but he shall be disgracefully dragged from his nest to punishment
and hung on a gallows in the face of the sun, unless he speedily amend
his life and betake himself to the mercy of God."

[Sidenote: His Consolation.]

On the 23rd the difficulty of his breathing had greatly increased, and
he seems to have thought that his end was near at hand. To one of his
most intimate friends who asked him if he felt great pain, he replied
that that was not reckoned as pain by him which would be the end of many
miseries and the beginning of perpetual joy. And soon after, apparently
supposing his end was come, he repeated the Lord's Prayer and the
Apostles' Creed, adding certain paraphrases of his own on each petition
of the prayer and article of the creed to the great comfort of those who
stood by; and then lifting up his hands to heaven he once more said,
"Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." During the succeeding night
he caused the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians to be read and re-read to
him, and repeatedly said to himself, "O! how sweet and salutary
consolation does the Lord provide for me in this chapter." The following
day, about noon, he once more sat up in bed, but owing to his extreme
weakness was not able to remain long in that posture. About three in the
afternoon one of his eyes failed, and his tongue performed its office
less readily than before. About six in the evening he again said to his
wife, "Go, read where I cast my first anchor," referring to the
instructions he had given on the 13th.[255]

When this had been done, he continued for some hours in troubled
slumber. It is in this occurrence alone that there can be got the
slightest foundation for the slanders which his traducers have
circulated. And it is only necessary to quote the account given of it by
those who witnessed it to show that it was as honourable to the dying
confessor as the gross misrepresentation of it was dishonourable to his
opponents. During these