ng was wise.
Lastly, she asked him to reconcile the Earl and Countess of Argyll--"do
this much for my sake"; and she promised to summon the offending priests
who had done their duty. {228a}

Knox, with his usual tact, wrote to Argyll thus: "Your behaviour toward
your wife is very offensive unto many godly." He added that, if all that
was said of Argyll was true, and if he did not look out, he would be
damned.

"This bill was not well accepted of the said Earl," but, like the rest of
them, he went on truckling to Knox, "most familiar with the said John."
{228b}

Nearly fifty priests were tried, but no one was hanged. They were put in
ward; "the like of this was never heard within the realm," said pleased
Protestants, not "smelling the craft." Neither the Queen nor her Council
had the slightest desire to put priests to death. Six other priests "as
wicked as" the Archbishop were imprisoned, and the Abbot of Crossraguel
was put to the horn in his absence, just as the preachers had been. The
Catholic clergy "know not where to hide their heads," says Randolph. Many
fled to the more tender mercies of England; "it will be the common refuge
of papists that cannot live here . . ." {228c} The tassels on the trains
of the ladies, it was declared by the preachers, "would provoke God's
vengeance . . . against the whole realm . . " {229a}

The state of things led to a breach between Knox and Moray, which lasted
till the Earl found him likely to be useful, some eighteen months later.

The Reformer relieved his mind in the pulpit at the end of May or early
in June, rebuking backsliders, and denouncing the Queen's rumoured
marriage with any infidel, "and all Papists are infidels." Papists and
Protestants were both offended. There was a scene with Mary, in which
she wept profusely, an infirmity of hers; we constantly hear of her
weeping in public. She wished the Lords of the Articles to see whether
Knox's "manner of speaking" was not punishable, but nothing could be
done. Elizabeth would have found out a way. {229b}

The fact that while Knox was conducting himself thus, nobody ventured to
put a dirk or a bullet into him--despite the obvious strength of the
temptation in many quarters--proves that he was by far the most potent
human being in Scotland. Darnley, Moray, Lennox were all assassinated,
when their day came, though the feeblest of the three, Darnley, had a
powerful clan to take up his feud. We cannot suppose tha