ancient shrines of Scone were treated in the usual way, despite the
remonstrances of Knox, Lord James, and Argyll. They had threatened
Hepburn, Bishop of Moray, that if he did not join them "they neither
could spare nor save his place." This was on June 20, on the same day he
promised to aid them and vote with them in Parliament. {133d} Knox did
his best, but the Dundee people began the work of wrecking; and the
Bishop, in anger, demanded and received the return of his written promise
of joining the Reformers. On the following day, irritated by some show
of resistance, the people of Dundee and Perth burned the palace of Scone
and the abbey, "whereat no small number of us was offended." An old
woman said that "filthy beasts" dwelt "in that den," to her private
knowledge, "at whose words many were pacified." The old woman is an
excellent authority. {134}

The pretext of perfect loyalty was still maintained by the Reformers;
their honesty we can appreciate. They did not wish, they said, to
overthrow "authority"; merely to be allowed to worship in their own way
(and to prevent other people from worshipping in theirs, which was the
order appointed by the State). That any set of men may rebel and take
their chances is now recognised, but the Reformers wanted to combine the
advantages of rebellion with the reputation of loyal subjects. Persons
who not only band against the sovereign, but invoke foreign aid and seek
a foreign alliance, are, however noble their motives, rebels. There is
no other word for them. But that they were _not_ rebels Knox urged in a
sermon at Edinburgh, which the Reformers, after devastating Stirling,
reached by June 28-29 (?), and the Second Book of his "History" labours
mainly to prove this point; no change of "authority" is intended.

What Knox wanted is very obvious. He wanted to prevent Mary Stuart from
enjoying her hereditary crown. She was a woman, as such under the curse