Page:Life of John Knox (3).pdf/22

22 Kircaldy applied to the Duke and his party for a special protection to Knox; but they refused to pledge their word for his safety, because "there were many rascals and others among them who loved him not, that might do him harm without their knowledge." Intimations were often given him of threatenings against his life, and one evening, a musket ball was fired in at his window, and lodged in the roof of the apartment in which he was sitting. It happened that he sat at the time in a different part of the room from that in which he had been accustomed to take his seat, otherwise the ball, from its direction, must have struck him. Alarmed by these circumstances, a deputation of the citizens, accompanied by his colleague, waited upon him, and renewed a request which they had formerly made, that he would remove from Edinburgh, to a place where his life would be in greater safety, until the Queen's party should evacuate the town. But he refused to yield to them, apprehending that his enemies wished to intimidate him into flight, that they might carry on their designs more quietly, and then accuse him of cowardice. Being unable to persuade him by any other means they at last had recourse to an argument which prevailed. They told him that if he was attacked they were determined to risk their lives in his defence, and if blood was shed in the quarrel, which was highly probable, they would leave it on his head. Upon this he consented, " sore against his will," to remove from the city.

In May, 1571, at the desire of his friends, and for greater security, he left that city for St Andrew's where he remained until the August following. The cause that forced him to change his residence having ceased to operate, at the express desire of his congregation he again returned, but could not long