I., and the other precious things, the sacred plate of the
Church in a fane which had been the Delphi of Scotland. Lethington
appears to have obtained most of the portable property of St Salvator's
College except that beautiful monument of idolatry, the great silver mace
presented by Kennedy, the Founder, work of a Parisian silversmith, in
1461: this, with maces of rude native work, escaped the spoilers. The
monastery of the Franciscans is now levelled with the earth; of the
Dominicans' chapel a small fragment remains. Of the residential part of
the abbey a house was left: when the lead had been stripped from the roof
of the church it became a quarry.

"All churchmen's goods were spoiled and reft from them . . . for every
man for the most part that could get anything pertaining to any churchmen
thought the same well-won gear," says a contemporary Diary. Arran
himself, when he arrived in Scotland, robbed a priest of all that he had,
for which Chatelherault made compensation.

By the middle of June the Regent was compelled to remove almost all her
French soldiers out of Fife. Perth was evacuated. The abbey of Scone
and the palace were sacked. The Congregation entered Edinburgh: they
seem to have found the monasteries already swept bare, but they seized
Holyrood, and the stamps at the Mint. The Regent proclaimed that this
was flat rebellion, and that the rebels were intriguing with England.

Knox denied it, in the first part of his History (in origin a
contemporary tract written in the autumn), but the charge was true, and
Knox and Kirkcaldy were, since June, the negotiators. Already his party
were offering Arran (the heir of the crown after Mary) as a husband for
Elizabeth, who saw him but rejected his suit. Arran's father,
Chatelherault, later openly deserted the Regent (July 1). The death of
Henri II., wounded in a tournament, did not accelerate the arrival of
French reinforcements for the Regent. The weaker Brethren, however,
waxed weary; money was scarce, and on July 24, the Congregation evacuated
Edinburgh and Leith, after a treaty which they misrepresented, broke, and
accused the Regent of breaking. {111a}

Knox visited England, about August 1, but felt dissatisfied with his
qualification for diplomacy. Nothing, so far, was gained from Elizabeth,
save a secret supply of 3000 pounds. On the other hand, fresh French
forces arrived at Leith: the place was fortified; the Regent was again
accused of per