y accepted as historical evidence, cannot but perceive his
personal hatred of Mary of Guise, whether shown in thinly veiled hints
that Cardinal Beaton was her paramour; or in charges of treacherous
breach of promise, which rest primarily on his word. Again, that "the
Brethren" wrecked the religious houses of Perth is what he reports to a
lady, Mrs Locke; that "the rascal multitude" was guilty is the tale he
tells "to all Europe" in his History. I have done my best to compare
Knox's stories with contemporary documents, including his own letters.
These documents throw a lurid light on his versions of events, as given
in this part of his History, which is merely a partisan pamphlet of
autumn 1559. The evidence is criticised in my 'John Knox and the
Reformation,' pp. 107-157 (1905). Unhappily the letter of Mary of Guise
to Henri II., after the outbreak at Perth, is missing from the archives
of France.

CHAPTER XIX. THE GREAT PILLAGE.

The revolution was now under weigh, and as it had begun so it continued.
There was practically no resistance by the Catholic nobility and gentry:
in the Lowlands, apparently, almost all were of the new persuasion. The
Duc de Chatelherault might hesitate while his son, the Protestant Earl of
Arran, who had been in France as Captain of the Scots Guard, was escaping
into Switzerland, and thence to England; but, on Arran's arrival there,
the Hamiltons saw their chance of succeeding to the crown in place of the
Catholic Mary. The Regent had but a small body of professional French
soldiers. But the other side could not keep their feudal levies in the
field, and they could not coin the supplies of church plate which must
have fallen into their hands, until they had seized the Mint at
Edinburgh, so money was scarce with them. It was plain to Knox and
Kirkcaldy of Grange, and it soon became obvious to Maitland of
Lethington, who, of course, forsook the Regent, that aid from England
must be sought,--aid in money, and if possible in men and ships.

Meanwhile the reformers dealt with the ecclesiastical buildings of St
Andrews as they had done at Perth, Knox urging them on by his sermons. We
may presume that the boys broke the windows and images with a sanctified
joy. A mutilated head of the Redeemer has been found in a _latrine_ of
the monastic buildings. As Commendator, or lay Prior, James Stewart may
have secured the golden sheath of the arm-bone of the Apostle, presented
by Edward