lville, which was most generously met. His old opponent
visited him, and for months provided for him out of his own purse; and
it was through the good offices of both the Melvilles that he was able
to make his peace with the Church before he died. Perhaps it is this
last act of humbleness, when he had lost all repute with the world,
that gives him his best claim on our respect.

For some months previous to the Assembly in which Adamson's case was
disposed of, the King had been exerting himself so to manage the members
amenable to his influence, that he should not only secure his object in
this particular business, but at the same time prevail with the Assembly
to take a step backward in its general polity. He dared not propose much
more than titular precedence for the bishops--a concession only wrung
from the Assembly; and for a _quid pro quo_ he had to give his consent
to a measure for carrying out the provisions of the Second Book of
Discipline by organising presbyteries and synods throughout the country.
This was of course another compromise, but the Church's concessions were
reduced to a minimum. James could only secure a footing for the bishops,
and bide his time for restoring their supremacy.

In the Parliament of 1587, when Melville was present as a commissioner
from the Assembly, a measure was passed, which, though it originated
with the Court and was not so intended, dealt a serious blow to the
hopes of the promoters of Episcopacy. The King had just attained his
twenty-first year, and there was a law in the statute-book providing
that all heirs of estates which had been forfeited through any cause
should, on reaching their majority, have the opportunity of reclaiming
them. Advantage was taken of this law to revoke grants of Crown lands
made during the King's minority; and all the Church lands were annexed
to the Crown. This measure stripped the bishops of their benefices and
abolished their legal status, and so cancelled the chief ground on which
the Court had contended for the maintenance of their order. By this
measure the King, in his need or greed, or both, played for once into
the hands of the Church.

In the following year, 1588, the prodigious attempt of Philip to invade
England and overthrow the Protestant power in the two kingdoms very
greatly strengthened the Presbyterian cause in Scotland, and made
Episcopacy more than ever repugnant to the people, as having in it so
much of the leaven of the Old C