very moment when in his "History" he denies that communications were
frequent between his party and England, or that any of the Regent's
charges are true. As for opposing authority and being rebellious, the
manifest fundamental idea of the plot is to marry Elizabeth to Arran and
deny "entrance and title" to the rightful Queen. It was an admirable
scheme, and had Arran not become a lunatic, had Elizabeth not been "that
imperial votaress" vowed to eternal maidenhood, their bridal, with the
consequent loss of the Scottish throne by Mary, would have been the most
fortunate of all possible events. The brethren had, in short, a perfect
right to defend their creed in arms; a perfect right to change the
dynasty; a perfect right to intrigue with England, and to resist a French
landing, if they could. But for a reformer of the Church to give a dead
lady the lie in his "History" when the economy of truth lay rather on his
own side, as he knew, is not so well. We shall see that Knox possibly
had the facts in his mind during the first interview with Mary Stuart.
{138}

The Lords, July 2, replied to the proclamation of Mary of Guise, saying
that she accused them of a purpose "to invade her person." {139a} There
is not a word of the kind in the Regent's proclamation as given by Knox
himself. They denied what the Regent in her proclamation had not
asserted, and what she had asserted about their dealings with England
they did not venture to deny; "whereby," says Spottiswoode in his
"History," "it seemed there was some dealing that way for expelling the
Frenchmen, which they would not deny, and thought not convenient as then
openly to profess." {139b} The task of giving the lie to the Regent when
she spoke truth was left to the pen of Knox.

Meanwhile, at Dunbar, Mary of Guise was in evil case. She had sounded
Erskine, the commander of the Castle, who, she hoped, would stand by her.