282 THE POETRAITS OF JOHN KNOX. wards Eegent Murray), with scarcely a hundred men about them, — ^found suddenly that the hundred men, by good industry over night, had risen to an army ; and that the Congregation itself, under these two Lords, was here, as if by tryst, at mid-distance ; skilfully posted, and ready for battle either in the way of cannon or of spear. Sudden halt of the triumphant Falklanders in consequence; and after that, a multifarious manoeuvring, circling, and wheeling, now in clear light, now hidden in clouds of mist; Scots standing steadfast on their ground, and answering message-trumpets in an in- flexible manner, till, after many hours, the thing had to end in an * appointment,' truce, or offer of peace, and a retreat to Falkland of the Queen Regent and her Frenchmen, as from an enterprise unexpectedly impossible. All this is, with luminous distinctness and business-like simplicity and brevity, set forth by Knox ; who hardly names himself at all ; and whose personal conduct in the affair far excels in merit all possible merit of description of it; this being pro- bably to Knox the most agitating and perilous of all the days of his life. The day was Monday, 11 June,
