s Bowes was not the only 'mirror and glass' in whom Knox allows us to
see his inner self 'painted,' though the woman-hearted warrior is limned
in the letters to her more nearly at full length. Two ladies in
Edinburgh, one the wife of the Lord Clerk Register, and the other of the
City Clerk, were his friends and correspondents, at a later date, but
while he was still in exile. And in a letter 'to his sisters' in that
town, he unbosoms himself as usual as to the principles of his inner
life, but adds--

Alas! as the wounded man, be he never so expert in physic or
surgery, cannot suddenly mitigate his own pain and dolour, no
more can I the fear and grief of my heart, although I am not
altogether ignorant what is to be done.'[54]

The same sentiment is expanded in one of a number of letters sent to a
group of 'merchants' wives in London,' which probably included the
'three honest poor women'[55] of whom we have already heard. Of this
group the most remarkable was Mrs Anna Locke, of the family which
afterwards yielded the famous John Locke. She, like Mrs Bowes, followed
Knox to Geneva amid the stream of exiles from London; and his letters to
her give the impression that she was not only wealthy and energetic, but
possessed of higher character and more accomplishments than the
well-born Elizabeth Bowes. The letters to the latter were written
chiefly in 1553. The following, to Mrs Locke, is sent from Scotland
after Knox's return there, and is dated on last day of 1559:--

'God make yourself participant of the same comfort which you
write unto me. And in very deed, dear sister, I have no less
need of comfort (notwithstanding that I am not altogether
ignorant) than hath the living man to be fed, although in store
he hath great substance. I have read the cares and temptations
of Moses, and sometimes I supposed myself to be well practised
in such dangerous battles. But, alas! I now perceive that all my
practice before was but mere speculation; for one day of
troubles since my last arrival in Scotland, hath more pierced my
heart than all the torments of the galleys did the space of
nineteen months; for that torment, for the most part, did touch
the body, but this pierces the soul and inward affections. Then
I was assuredly persuaded that I should not die till I had
preached Jesus Christ, even where I now am. And yet having now
my hearty desire, I am noth