his wife. Coming to practical politics, he reminded his audience that
after the accession of the Hamiltons to their party, "there was nothing
heard but This lord will bring these many hundred spears . . . if this
Earl be ours, no man in such a district will trouble us." The Duke ought
to be ashamed of himself. Before Knox came to Scotland we know he had
warned the brethren against alliance with the Hamiltons. The Duke had
been on the Regent's side, "yet without his assistance they could not
have compelled us to appoint with the Queen upon such unequal conditions"
in the treaty of July. So the terms _were_ in favour of the Regent,
after all is said and done! {160b}

God had let the brethren fall, Knox said, into their present condition
because they put their trust in man--in the Duke--a noble whose
repentance was very dubious.

Then Knox rose to the height of the occasion. "Yea, whatsoever becomes
of us and our mortal carcases, I doubt not but that this Cause (in
despite of Satan) shall prevail in the realm of Scotland. For as it is
the eternal truth of the eternal God, so shall it once prevail . . ."
Here we have the actual genius of Knox, his tenacity, his courage in an
uphill game, his faith which might move mountains. He adjured all to
amendment of life, prayer, and charity. "The minds of men began to be
wonderfully erected." In Arran and Lord James too, manifestly not
jealous rivals, Randolph found "more honour, stoutness, and courage than
in all the rest" (November 3).

Already, before the flight, Lethington was preparing to visit England.
The conduct of diplomacy with England was thus in capable hands, and
Lethington was a persona grata to the English Queen. Meanwhile the
victorious Regent behaved with her wonted moderation. "She pursueth no