presence. It seemed that a visit to Scotland was perfectly safe; Knox
left Geneva in January, he arrived in Dieppe in February, where he
learned that Elizabeth would not allow him to travel through England. He
had much that was private to say to Cecil, and was already desirous of
procuring English aid to Scottish reformers. The tidings of the Queen's
refusal to admit him to England came through Cecil, and Knox told him
that he was "worthy of Hell" (for conformity with Mary Tudor); and that
Turks actually granted such safe conducts as were now refused to him.
{108a} Perhaps he exaggerated the amenity of the Turks. His "First
Blast," if acted on, disturbed the succession in England, and might beget
new wars, a matter which did not trouble the prophet. He also asked
leave to visit his flock at Berwick. This too was refused.

Doubtless Knox, with his unparalleled activity, employed the period of
delay in preaching the Word at Dieppe. After his arrival in Scotland, he
wrote to his Dieppe congregation, upbraiding them for their Laodicean
laxity in permitting idolatry to co-exist with true religion in their
town. Why did they not drive out the idolatrous worship? These epistles
were intercepted by the Governor of Dieppe, and their contents appear to
have escaped the notice of the Reformer's biographers. A revolt followed
in Dieppe. {108b} Meanwhile Knox's doings at Dieppe had greatly
exasperated Francois Morel, the chief pastor of the Genevan congregation
in Paris, and president of the first Protestant Synod held in that town.
The affairs of the French Protestants were in a most precarious
condition; persecution broke into fury early in June 1559. A week
earlier, Morel wrote to Calvin, "Knox was for some time in Dieppe,
waiting on a wind for Scotland." "He dared publicly to profess the worst
and most infamous of doctrines: 'Women are unworthy to reign; Christians
may protect themselves by arms against tyrants!'" The latter excellent
doctrine was not then accepted by the Genevan learned. "I fear that Knox