years as a
regent in the college, he was drafted as a novice into the priory, and
ultimately became one of its canons. When John Major came to St Andrews
in 1523 as principal of the Paedagogium, he, like Hamilton and some
others who ultimately shared the same opinions, studied theology under
him, and made great progress, especially in the study of the schoolmen
and the fathers of the Christian church. He was, like most of the young
scholastics of his time, fond of disputation; and if he listened to
those lectures on the gospels which Major gave to the press some years
after, he probably imbibed from his teacher that combative attitude
towards the new opinions which at this period of his life he showed.
D'Aubigne says: "His keenest desire was to break a lance with Luther....
As he could not measure himself personally with the man whom he named
_arch-heretic_, Alesius had refuted his doctrine in a public discussion
held at the university. The theologians of St Andrews had covered him
with applause.[286] ... Alesius, alive to these praises and a sincere
catholic, thought that it would be an easy task for him to convince
young Hamilton of his errors.... Armed cap-a-pie, crammed with
scholastic learning, and with all the formulae 'quo modo sit, quo modo
nonsit,'" he had various discussions with him. "Hamilton had before him
nothing but the Gospel, and he replied to all the reasonings of his
antagonist with the clear, living, and profound word of the
Scriptures.... Alesius, struck and embarrassed, was silenced, and felt
as if 'the morning star were rising in his heart. It was not merely his
understanding that was convinced, the breath of a new life penetrated
his soul."[287] He continued from time to time to visit the reformer
while he lived, and to cherish his memory after he had been so cruelly
put to death.

When the opinions and martyrdom of Hamilton were the subject of
conversation among the canons, several of the younger of whom were
attached to him, Alesius refused to condemn him. He was not yet by any
means, as Dr Lorimer would have it, a Lutheran; he was not yet prepared
to separate himself from the old church; but he saw and mourned over her
corruptions, and longed, and in a quiet way laboured, for the removal of
them, and also yearned for the revival of a more earnest Christian
spirit, and more correct moral conduct among those over whom his
influence extended. From that day no one could induce him to express
appr