formation that Willock and Knox upbraided them for their desertion of the brethren, but they warmly defended themselves as having acted in the interests of peace. Through their mediation a cessation of hostilities was agreed upon by both parties, all controversies being reserved till the meeting of parliament. Influenced, however, by a sermon of Knox, who expressed his conviction that the ‘treaty would only be kept till the regent and her Frenchmen became the strongest,’ Argyll, Lord James, and the other lords of the congregation, before separating on the last day of May 1559, subscribed a bond in which they obliged themselves, ‘in case that any trouble be intended,’ to spare ‘neither labour, goods, substance, bodeis, or lives in maintenance of the libertie of the whole congregation and everie member thereof’ (Calderwood, History, i. 458–9). The suspicions of Knox found almost immediate justification, for on the day that the supporters of the Reformation left Edinburgh the queen regent proceeded to restore the popish services and to garrison the city with Scotch soldiers in the pay of France. Argyll and Lord James, having remonstrated with her in vain, secretly left the city with three hundred followers, and went to St. Andrews, whither they summoned the leading reformers to meet them on 4 June ‘to concurre to the work of the Reformation.’ The destruction of the cathedral of St. Andrews and the razing of the monasteries, which again followed the preaching of Knox, were probably not included in their programme, but here as elsewhere it was found vain to endeavour to curb the excited crowd. On the news reaching the queen regent at Falkland, she gave instant orders to advance to St. Andrews, with the view of crushing Argyll and Lord James, still attended by only a slender retinue. Already, however, her purpose had been foreseen and thwarted. They hastened to occupy Cupar with a hundred horsemen, and from Fife and Forfar their supporters flocked in so rapidly that, in the words of Knox, ‘they seemed to rain from the clouds.’ Before noon of Tuesday, 13 June, their forces numbered over 13,000 men, which, under the command of Provost Haliburton of Dundee, occupied such a strong position on Cupar Muir, overlooking the town and commanding with their artillery the whole sweep of the surrounding country, that the queen regent, after opening negotiations, agreed to a truce of eight days, meanwhile engaging to transport the French troops that were with her beyond the bounds of Fife, and to send commissioners to St. Andrews to arrange the differences between her and the congregation (see ‘Tenor of Assurance’ in (Calderwood's History, i. 467). The first part of the agreement was kept, but after waiting in vain for the promised arrival of the commissioners in St. Andrews, Argyll and Lord James addressed to her a joint letter (printed in Calderwood's History, i. 468–9), requesting the withdrawal of the garrison from Perth, ‘that the same may be guided and ruled freely.’ Receiving no reply, they advanced against the town, and the garrison, after some delay in hope of relief, surrendered on 26 June. In revenge for ‘the slaughter of their citizens,’ the inhabitants of Dundee then proceeded to sack the palace and church of Scone, which were saved for one night by the interposition of Argyll and Lord James. On the following night their restraint was withdrawn, as they were called away by the sudden message that the queen regent intended to stop the passage of the Forth at Stirling. Leaving Perth at midnight, they were again successful in defeating her purposes, and, proceeding immediately to Linlithgow, so disconcerted her by their rapid movements, that on hearing of their arrival there she retreated with her French troops to Dunbar; and, though only attended by a small following, Argyll and Lord James, without the necessity of striking a blow, entered Edinburgh on 29 June 1559. From Dunbar the queen regent issued a proclamation against them as rebels, to which they replied by a letter on 2 July 1559, asserting that their only purpose was ‘to maintain and defend the true preachers of God's Word’ (see documents in Calderwood's History, i. 478–82). To their representations she at first answered so pleasantly as to awaken hope that all they stipulated for would be conceded, but in the midst of the negotiations she suddenly appeared in Edinburgh with a strong force, upon which the lords agreed to deliver up the city on condition that matters should remain in statu quo till the meeting of parliament on 10 Jan. Meantime Argyll hastened to the western highlands to counteract the intrigues of the queen regent with James Macdonald of Isla, the most powerful of the western chiefs, and was so successful that in October 1559 Macdonald was on his way to join the lords of the congregation with seven hundred foot soldiers. They did not arrive too soon, for the queen regent had begun to fortify Leith, and at the beginning of the siege by the forces of the congregation a sally of the French, which drove them to the middle of the Canongate and up Leith Wynd, was only stopped by Argyll and his highlanders. So stubborn was the resistance of the French, and so successful were the emissaries of the queen
