did "Plato the philosopher": thus will
do John Knox. "I have communicated my judgment to the world: if the
realm finds no inconvenience from the regiment of a woman, that which
they approve shall I not further disallow than within my own breast; but
shall be as well content to live under your Grace as Paul was to live
under Nero. And my hope is, that so long as ye defile not your hands
with the blood of the saints of God, neither I nor my book shall hurt
either you or your authority." All this is admirable in wisdom and
moderation, and, except that he might have hit upon a comparison less
offensive than that with Paul and Nero, hardly to be bettered. Having
said thus much, he feels he needs say no more; and so, when he is
further pressed, he closes that part of the discussion with an
astonishing sally. If he has been content to let this matter sleep, he
would recommend her Grace to follow his example with thankfulness of
heart; it is grimly to be understood which of them has most to fear if
the question should be reawakened. So the talk wandered to other
subjects. Only, when the Queen was summoned at last to dinner ("for it
was afternoon") Knox made his salutation in this form of words: "I pray
God, Madam, that you may be as much blessed within the Commonwealth of
Scotland, if it be the pleasure of God, as ever Deborah was in the
Commonwealth of Israel."[79] Deborah again.

But he was not yet done with the echoes of his own "First Blast." In
1571, when he was already near his end, the old controversy was taken up
in one of a series of anonymous libels against the Reformer, affixed,
Sunday after Sunday, to the church door. The dilemma was fairly enough
stated. Either his doctrine is false, in which case he is a "false
doctor" and seditious; or, if it be true, why does he "avow and approve
the contrare, I mean that regiment in the Queen of England's person;
which he avoweth and approveth, not only praying for the maintenance of
her estate, but also procuring her aid and support against his own
native country?" Knox answered the libel, as his wont was, next Sunday,
from the pulpit. He justified the "First Blast" with all the old
arrogance; there is no drawing back there. The regiment of women is
repugnant to nature, contumely to God, and a subversion of good order,
as before. When he prays for the maintenance of Elizabeth's estate, he
is only following the example of those prophets of God who warned and
comforted the wick