INTRODUCTION.

At the time this tract was written the destinies, immediate and
prospective, of the Protestant faith seemed to lay wholly in the laps of
five women, viz:--

CATHERINE DE MEDICI, Queen of France.

MARIE DE LORRAINE, Queen Regent of Scotland, whose sole heir was her
daughter MARY, afterwards Queen of Scots.

MARY TUDOR, Queen of England, having for her heir apparent the Princess
ELIZABETH.

Of these, the last--also of least account at this moment, being in
confinement--was the only hope of the Reformers. The other four, largely
directing the affairs of three kingdoms, were steadfastly hostile to the
new faith. Truly, the odds were heavy against it. Who could have
anticipated that within three years of the writing of this book both MARY
TUDOR and MARY DE LORRAINE would have passed away; that KNOX himself would
have been in Scotland carrying on the Reformation; and that ELIZABETH
would have commenced her marvellous reign. So vast a change in the
political world was quite beyond all reasonable foresight.

Meanwhile there was only present to the vision and heart of the Reformer
as he gazed seaward, from Dieppe, but the unceasing blaze of, the martyr
fires spreading from Smithfield all over England. Month after month this
horrid work was deliberately carried on and was increasing in intensity.