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 of Mary herself, backed by that of some of her chief nobles. It did not at that time suit the policy of France to break with Scotland, and the poet was set at liberty. Having thus had a sufficient sojourn in Paris, Adamson repaired with his pupil to Bourges, where both entered themselves as students of law, a science which the Scottish ministers of the day frequently added to that of theology. Even here, however, he was not long allowed to remain in safety. The massacre of St. Bartholomew that foul national blot of France, and anomaly of modern history burst out with the suddenness of a tornado across a tranquil sky; and, amidst the ruin that followed, no Protestant, over the whole extent of France, could be assured of his life for a single hour. Adamson had his full share of the danger, and narrowly escaped its worst, by finding shelter in a lowly hostelry; the master of which was afterwards flung from the top of his own house, and killed on the pavement below, for having given shelter to heretics. While immured in this dreary confinement, that continued for seven months, and which he fitly termed his sepulchre, Adamson appears to have consoled himself with Latin poetry upon themes suited to his condition; one attempt of this nature being the tragedy of Herod, and the other a version of the book of Job. We may notice here, that he had not been lost sight of during this protracted residence in France, by his brethren, or the church at home; and that, in the year previous to the massacre, the General Assembly had once and again desired him to return, and resume his ministry. But to this earnest request he, in the first instance, craved leisure for careful deliberation, and after, sent a full answer, evidently in the negative, as he did not see fit to comply. But the perils in which he was afterwards involved, and the long confinement he endured, had probably brought him to a more submissive, or at least a safer mode of thinking; for, as soon as he was able to emerge, one of the first uses which he made of his liberty was to make preparations for returning home, and resuming those ministerial labours which he had good cause to regret he ever had abandoned.

On the return of Patrick Adamson to Scotland, he seems to have been favourably received by his brethren, notwithstanding his previous recusancy. His reception, indeed, could scarcely have been otherwise than cordial, as he had so lately been all but a martyr for Protestantism in the midst of a terrible persecution. His return was at a critical period; for the archbishopric of St Andrews was at that time vacant, and, notwithstanding the Presbyterian doctrine of parity, which had been laid down as a fundamental principle of the Scottish church, the chief prelatic offices were still continued, through the overbearing influence of those nobles who now directed the government of the country. But it was from no love of Episcopacy in the abstract that these magnates continued such charges, obnoxious though they were to the church and the people at large, but that they might derive from them a profitable revenue, as lay proprietors of the livings. In this way the Earl of Morton had acquired a claim to the revenues of the archbishopric of St Andrews, and only needed some ecclesiastic who could wear the title, and discharge its duties, for a small per-centage of the benefice. It was a degrading position for a churchman, and yet there were too many who were willing to occupy it, either from a vain-glorious love of the empty name, or an ambitious hope of converting it into a substantial reality. Among these aspirants for the primacy of Scotland, Patrick Adamson was suspected to be one; and it was thought that he expected to succeed through the influence of his patron, M'Gill of Rankeillor. These