dy tool to his hand in
another minister of the Church, Patrick Adamson of Paisley. He was a man
of some learning and eloquence and of great personal ambition, bent on
climbing to a high place in the Church, and unscrupulous in his choice
of means. At first he was a pronounced opponent of the new Church
scheme, and often denounced it from the pulpit. His clever satire on the
Tulchan bishops has never been forgotten--'There are three sorts of
bishops: my Lord Bishop--he is in the Roman Church; my Lord's Bishop
(the Tulchan), who while my Lord gets the benefice, serves for nothing
but to make his title good; and the Lord's Bishop, who is the true
minister of the Gospel.'

For some time Adamson cultivated an intimacy with Melville, who,
however, never trusted him. Melville, ever shrewd in discerning
character--'he had a wounderfull sagacitie in smelling out of men's
naturalls and dispositions'--early saw that Adamson would prove a better
servant of the Court than of the Church.

When the Assembly met in the autumn of 1576 it was reported that Adamson
had been presented by Morton to the See of St. Andrews, and the question
was put to him in open court whether he meant to accept it, when he
declared he was in the hands of his brethren, and would act in the
matter as they desired. The Assembly vetoed the appointment. Adamson,
however, in violation alike of the Assembly's Act and of his own
promise, entered on the See. The contempt his conduct awakened was
universal, and was freely expressed even within the Regent's Court. One
of the officers of the household, who had frequently heard Adamson come
over the phrase, 'The prophet would mean this,' in his expositions of
Scripture, remarked, on hearing that he had assumed the bishopric, 'For
als aft as it was repeated by Mr. Patrick, "the prophet would mean
this," I understood never what the profit means until now.' But to
Adamson, who 'had his reward,' the titular primacy of Scotland was of
more consequence than the respect of his countrymen: he retained his
place in defiance of the Church, and was for many a day a troubler of
its peace.

At the Assembly held in April 1578 a second blow was struck at the
bishops: it was enacted that they should cease to be styled by lordly
names, and that no more bishops should be elected. Two years later, at
the Dundee Assembly of 1580, the Church took the final step against the
Tulchan system by abolishing the Episcopate and requiring all bish