was indeed a cadet, but not the linial heir of the family.
While he was detained priſoner in Edinburgh caſtle, his wife uſed for the moſt part to ſtay in his company, but upon a time fell into a longing to ſee her family in Ayr, to which with ſome difficulty he yielded; but when ſhe was to take her journey, he ſtrictly charged her not to take the ordinary way to her own houſe, when ſhe came to Ayr, nor to paſs by the bridge thro' the town, but to paſs the river above the bridge, and ſo get the way to his own houſe, and not to comer into the town, for, ſaid he, before you come thither, you ſhall find the plague broken out in Ayr, which accordingly came to paſs.
The plague was at that time very terrible, and he being neceſſariley ſeperate from his people, it was to him the more grievous; but when the people of Ayr came to him to bemoan themſelves, his anſwer was, that Hugh Kennedy, a godly gentleman in their town, ſhould pray for them, and God ſhould hear him. This counſel they accepted, and the gentleman conveening a number of honeſt citizens, prayed fervently for the town, as he was a mighty wreſtler with God, and accordingly after that the plague decreaſed.
Now the time is come he muſt leave Scotland, and never to ſee it again, ſo upon the ſeventh of November 1606 in the morning, he with his neighbours took ſhip at Leith, and though it was but two o'clock tn the morning, many were waiting on with their afflicted families, to bid them farewell. After prayer, they ſung the xxiii pſalm, and ſo with the great grief of the ſpectators, ſet ſail for the ſouth of France, and landed in the river of Bourdeaux. Within fourteen weeks of his arrival, ſuch was the Lord's bleſſing upon his diligence, he was able to preach in French, and accordingly was ſpeedily called to the miniſtry, firſt in one village then in another; one of them was Nerae, and thereafter ſettled in ſaint Jean d'Angely, a conſiderable walled town, and there he continued the reſt of the time he ſojourned in France, which was about ſixteen years. When he began to preach, it
