Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 1.djvu/208

 religion with that of national feeling, had still been rapidly increasing. Carrying his puppet Arran along with him, as also the Earl of Argyle, Lord Justice-General, Lord Borthwick, the Bishops of Orkney and Dunblane, &c. he came to Perth, or, as it was then more commonly called, St Johnston, where several persons were summoned before him for disputing upon the sense of the Scriptures which, among all true catholics, was a crime to be punished by the judge. Four unhappy men, accused of having eaten a goose upon a Friday, were condemned to be hanged, which rigorous sentence was put into execution. A woman, Helen Stark, for having refused to call upon the Virgin for assistance in her labour, was drowned, although again pregnant A number of the burgesses of the city, convicted or suspected (for in those days they were the same thing) of smaller peccadilloes, were banished from the city. He also deposed the Lord Ruthven from the provostry of the city, for being somewhat attached to the new opinions, and bestowed the office upon the Laird of Kinfauns, a relation to the Lord Gray, who was neither supposed to be averse to the new religion, nor friendly to the Cardinal; but he hoped by this arrangement to lay a foundation for a quarrel between these noblemen, by which at least one of them would be cut off. This act of tyranny, by which the citizens were deprived of their privilege of choosing their own governor, was highly resented by them, as well as by the Lord Ruthven, whose family had held the place so long that they almost considered it to be hereditary in their family. The new provost Kinfauns was urged by the Cardinal and his advisers to seize upon the government of the city by force, but the Lord Ruthven, with the assistance of the citizens, put him to the route, and slew sixty of his followers. That Ruthven was victorious must have been a little mollifying to the Cardinal; but as the victims were enemies of the church, the defeat was the less to be lamented.

From St Johnston the Cardinal proceeded to Dundee, in order to bring to punishment the readers of the New Testament, which about this time began to be taught to them in the original Greek, of which the Scottish priesthood knew so little that they held it forth as a new book written in a new language, invented by Martin Luther, and of such pernicious qualities that, whoever had the misfortune to look into it became infallibly tainted with deadly heresy. Here, however, their proceedings were interrupted by the approach of Lord Patrick Gray and the Earl of Rothes. These noblemen being both friendly to the Reformation, the Cardinal durst not admit them with their followers into a town that was notorious for attachment to that cause above all the cities of the kingdom; he therefore sent the Regent back to Perth, whither he himself also accompanied him. Even in Perth, however, he durst not meet them openly, and the Regent requiring them to enter separately, they complied, and were both committed to prison. Rothes was soon dismissed, but Gray, whom the Cardinal was chiefly afraid of, remained in confinement a considerable time. The Cardinal having gone over as much of Angus as he found convenient at the time, returned to St Andrews, carrying along with him a black friar named John Rogers, who had been preaching the reformed doctrine in Angus. This individual he committed to the sea-tower of St Andrews, where, it is alleged, he caused him to be privately murdered and thrown over the wall, giving out that he had attempted to escape over it, and in the attempt fell and broke his neck. He also brought along with him the Regent Arran, of whom, though he held his son as a hostage, he was not without doubts, especially when he reflected upon the inconstancy of his character, the native fierceness of the nobility, and the number of them that were still unfriendly to his own measures. He therefore entertained him, for twenty days together, with all manner of shows and splendid entertainments, made him many presents, and, promising him many more, set out with him to Edinburgh,