creased duties. He taught divinity from his uncle's chair, besides continuing
his labours in the department which properly belonged to him. Nor was this
all : the Economus of the college, finding himself in the service of a party from
whom little advantage or promotion could be expected, gave up his office, and
thus did the provision of the daily wants of the institution fall to Melville's lot
In the performance of these duties, so arduous and so varied, he was greatly
supported by the masters of the university who attended his lectures, and gave
him many encouragements. But his greatest comfort was derived from the
society of the afterwards celebrated Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, who, abandoning
his attendance on the courts of law, had, with his father's permission, begun the
study of theology at St Andrews.
Harmless, however, as a person whose attention was thus so completely occupied by his own duties must certainly have been, the government did not long permit James Melville to retain his station. The acts of the parliament 1584, by which the presbyterian form of church government was overthrown, were proclaimed at the market cross of Edinburgh, and protested against by Robert Pont and others, in behalf of the church. We have already alluded to the malpractices of archbishop Adamson. About the beginning of May, 1584, Melville had gone to one of the northern counties to collect the revenues of the college. It had, perhaps, been conjectured by the episcopal party, to their no small gratification, that, finding himself unable to comply conscientiously with the late enactments, he had retired, with some of the other ministers, into England. If so, they must have been grievously disappointed by his return. It was certainly not long till the archbishop abundantly manifested his real dispositions; for, on the Sunday immediately following, Melville was informed that a warrant for his apprehension was already in that prelate's possession, and that he was to proceed immediately to its execution. At the earnest desire of his friends, he was prevailed on to remove to Dundee, where he had no sooner arrived, than he learned that a search had been made for him in every part of the college, and that an indictment had been prepared against him, for holding communication with his uncle, the king's rebel. But his removal to Dundee could serve only a very temporary purpose, for it must very soon have become known, and would then have ceased to be any security for his liberty. After the most anxious consideration, he resolved to accept an offer made him by one of his cousins, to take him by sea to Berwick. This gentleman, hiring a small boat under the pretext of conveying some of his wines to one of the coast towns in the neighbourhood, took in Melville in the disguise of a shipwrecked seaman; and, after a voyage, not less dangerous from the risk of detection, than from a violent storm which overtook them, landed him safely at Berwick, where he met his uncle and the other ministers who had been obliged to flee.
The suddenness with which James Melville had been obliged to leave St Andrews, prevented him taking his wife along with him ; to have done so, would, in fact, have endangered the whole party. But, after arriving at Berwick, he immediately sent back his cousin, Alexander Scrymgeour, with a letter, requesting this lady (a daughter of John Dury, minister of Edinburgh) to join him. This she had very soon an opportunity of doing, by placing herself under the care of a servant of the English ambassador, and she accordingly remained with her husband during the short period of his exile. At Berwick they resided for about a month; and there, as in every other place, James Melville's amiable and affectionate dispositions procured him many friends. Among these was the lady of Sir Harry Widrington, governor of the town, under lord Hunsdon. In the mean time, he was invited by the earls of Angus and Mar, then at Newcastle, to become their pastor. Being totally ignorant of the characters of these
