e of faithful Protestant preachers. They will
establish "the blessed Word of God and His Congregation," and henceforth
the Protestant party was commonly styled "The Congregation."

Parliament (November 29, 1557) had accepted the French marriage, all the
ancient liberties of Scotland being secured, and the right to the throne,
if Mary died without issue, being confirmed to the House of Hamilton, not
to the Dauphin. The marriage-contract (April 19, 1558) did ratify these
just demands; but, on April 4, Mary had been induced to sign them all
away to France, leaving Scotland and her own claims to the English crown
to the French king.

The marriage was celebrated on April 24, 1558. In that week the last
Protestant martyr, Walter Milne, an aged priest and a married man, was
burned for heresy at St Andrews. This only increased the zeal of the
Congregation.

Among the Protestant preachers then in Scotland, of whom Willock, an
Englishman, seems to have been the most reasonable, a certain Paul
Methuen, a baker, was prominent. He had been summoned (July 28) to stand
his trial for heresy, but his backing of friends was considerable, and
they came before Mary of Guise in armour and with a bullying demeanour.
She tried to temporise, and on September 3 a great riot broke out in
Edinburgh, the image of St Giles was broken, and the mob violently
assaulted a procession of priests. The country was seething with
discontent, and the death of Mary Tudor (November 17, 1558), with the
accession of the Protestant Elizabeth, encouraged the Congregation. Mary
of Guise made large concessions: only she desired that there should be no
public meetings in the capital. On January 1, 1559, church doors were
placarded with "The Beggars' Warning." The Beggars (really the Brethren
in their name) claimed the wealth of the religious orders. Threats were
pronounced, revolution was menaced at a given date, Whitsunday, and the
threats were fulfilled.

All this was the result of a plan, not of accident. Mary of Guise was
intending to visit France, not longing to burn heretics. But she fell
into the worst of health, and her recovery was doubted, in April 1559.
Willock and Methuen had been summoned to trial (February 2, 1559), for
their preachings were always apt to lead to violence on the part of their
hearers. The summons was again postponed in deference to renewed
menaces: a Convention had met at Edinburgh to seek for some remedy, and
the last P