where he became intimate with Calvin. By his advice, he accepted an invitation given him by some English Protestants at Frankfort to be their pastor. In this city he lived peaceably for some time, and wrote his Admonition to the People of England. Disputes, however, respecting the ceremonies of religious worship, ere long arose, which were so enflamed by mutual violence, that Knox judged it prudent to return to Geneva. Some of his flock followed him, and together with other English refugees formed a new congregation, for whose use he and Mr. Goodman, the pastors of it, framed the "Book of Common Order," approved afterwards by the General Assembly of the Scotch Kirk.

In the mean time, the new doctrine having made great progress among the Scotch, Knox made his appearance in his native country; and, for about nine months, preached in different parts with such success, that the friars from every quarter of the kingdom urged the bishops to prosecute him. Having been cited to take his trial, he came to Edinburgh with such a number of great and powerful adherents that the bishops were intimidated. And

• Mr. Knox and his friends availed themselves of the timidity of the bishops. On the 15th of May, instead of his having been obliged to attend in the ecclesiastical court, he preached in Edinburgh, to a more numerous audience than he had before done in that town; and it is noticed, that the house in which he preached, was that large house in Edinburgh which belonged to the bishop of Dunkeld. He preached in it ten successive days, both forenoon and afternoon. The Earl of Glencairn and some other noblemen highly relished his doctrine, and advised him to write to the queen-regent, "what might move her to hear the word of

God."

He complied with their desire; and that his letter might be more acceptable, in which he was plainly and affectionately to mention many things which deserved her serious consideration, he endeavoured to use a courtly style.

But such a style of writing was not natural to him, and he did not succeed. Some time after she had received the letter, she delivered it into the hands of James Beaton, archbishop of Glasgow, saying, "Please you, my lord, to read a pasquil," (viz. a lampoon, or satire.) Her words were reported to Mr. Knox; who, when at Geneva, in 1558, thought it proper to cause his letter to be published, with some additions which he had made to it. In his additions he said, "Whether you did read my letter to the end, I am uncertain. One thing I know, that you did deliver it to one of your prelates, saying, My lord, will you read a pasquil.' As charity teaches me to interpret things doubtfully spoken in the best sense, so also my duty to God, who hath commanded me to fatter no prince on the earth, compelleth me to say, that if you esteem the admonitions of God no more than the cardinals do the scoffings of pasquils," (viz. the satires allowed to be affixed to the statue of Pasquin at Rome,)" then will God send you other messengers shortly, with whom you shall not be able in that manner to jest." pp. 123, 124.

He had no sooner returned to Geneva than his enemies, resuming courage, passed a sentence condemning his body to the flames and his soul to damnation; and burnt him in effigy at the cross of Edinburgh. This, exciting considerable alarm in his mind, induced him to write his " Appellation to the Nobility and Estates of Scotland" and his "Letter to his beloved brethren the Commonalty of Scotland."

:

In May, 1557, being requested by the chiefs of the Scotch Protestants to return to their assistance, he came as far as Dieppe but receiving advice of the indifference of some, and the relapses of others, be wrote them a very spirited letter and notwithstanding the Lords repeated their invitation, he went back to Geneva in the beginning of 1558.

About this time, besides "A brief Exhortation to the People of England," he wrote a tract which it may be wished,' says our author, that he had not written,' intitled "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous Regiment of Women." It exposed him to the displeasure of Elizabeth: and when, in the beginning of the following year, having resolved, in consequence of finding matters ripe for a change of the national religion, to return to Scotland and to take England in his way, he applied to the queen for liberty to pass through her dominion, it was not granted. Though he was mortified at the refusal, he made his way as soon as possible to his native land, and arrived there May 2nd., 1559. The mighty aids he contributed, by his counsels and exertions, his public and private discourses, to the triumph of the Reformed doctrine, and the influence he had in giving its republican form to the Scotch Kirk, we will not dwell upon at present, as we shall soon have an opportunity of resuming the subject. Nor can we stop to detail the affairs in which Knox was engaged as a minister of Edinburgh, or as guardian of the Protestant religion; since it would be to give the history of Scotland as long as he lived. For in every affair of moment, both civil or ecclesiastical, his opinion, which he was sure to give whether consulted or not, in most cases determined the minds of the people. In consequence of this, he was involved in many difficulties, from which, however, he always extricated himself, partly by the courage and intrepidity of his nature, and partly by the hold he had on the affections of his party. He died Nov. 24th, 1572, in the 67th year of his age, commending his soul into the hands of his Saviour: and the following memorable words were spoken, by the Earl of Morton, on his grave.- "Here lies a man who never feared the face of man; who hath been often threatened with dag and dagger, but yet hath ended his days in peace and honour."

The character of this extraordinary man, varies its aspect according to the temper and feelings with which it is viewed:

and accordingly, it has by turns appeared that of a saint or a demon. His judgement and penetration admit not of doubt. No man, perhaps, ever adhered more steadily to what he considered as his duty,-or persecuted corruption and wickedness with a more relentness hatred,—or was more disposed to exertion and endurance for the benefit of his fellow-men. His zeal, it must be confessed, was rather harsh and violent; his firmness sometimes had the appearance of obstinacy; his frankness was often rude and indecorous; and, little disposed to indulge himself, he was severe and intolerant to the im. perfections of others. But though his sublime and heroic qualities are a little obscured, his defects were the defects of the times, and his excesses were in general the extremes of virtues, without absolutely degenerating into the contrary vices. He was such a man as visits the earth only once in an age, whose good qualities no one is able to imitate, but whose blemishes every one is adequate to expose.

After Knox, the most eminent instrument of the Reformation in Scotland, was John Erskine, Baron of Dun, a descendant of the Earls of Mar. It is, indeed, very advantageous to him to be compared with his friend Knox. For, although very inferior to Knox in the more vigorous and commanding qualities of human nature, and consequently less calculated for a reformer in a rough and intractable age, he was yet much his superior in the virtues agreeable to the moderation and refinement of our times, and therefore the more likely, perhaps, to gain upon our esteem. A man of learning, and good breeding,-prudent, moderate, and courageous,-possessed of an ardent, yet enlightened piety, and famous for the services he rendered to his country, he was the great ornament of the Scotch Reformers; distinguished alike by the respect of his enemies and the confidence of his own party. He was never suspected of improper compliance with the views of court: Yet such was his moderation, that Mary, who had a rooted aversion to the Protestants, when urged to hear their preachers, is reported to have said, "She would gladly hear the Superintendant of Angus, Sir John Erskine, for he was a mild and sweet-natured man, and of true honesty and upright

ness.

This excellent person was born in 1508 or 1509, and received his education, it is probable, at the University of Aberdeen. After his father's death, like other Barons in those times, he assisted in the administration of justice in his own county, and attended the meetings of parliament. It is uncertain at what period he embraced the Reformed doctrine; though it must have been previous to 1534, because he was ' useful in the conversion of David Straiton,' who in that year

suffered martyrdom. He employed his influence in supporting the preachers of the new doctrine, and made the castle of Dun a common refuge for the persecuted Protestants. Among others who were indebted to his assistance, was the famous George Wishart. In the civil war that broke out between the English and the Scots in 1547, he was very active, and defeated a party of English who attempted a landing at Montrose. It was in his lodgings, at Edinburgh, that the Protestants, after the return of Knox, resolved at all hazards to abjure the mass: and he made a principal among those persons, who, in consequence of binding themselves to adhere to the Protestant religion, were styled the Congregation of the Lord, as well as had a chief hand in the negociations carried on between them and the Queen Regent, which unhappily issued in a civil war.

When the Protestants took refuge in his castle in the time of persecution, he had been in the habit of delivering private exhortations: and before the conclusion of the war which, terminated by the death of the Regent, gave the Protestants a decided superiority in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs, he assumed the character of a public teacher. At this time, the number of preachers was very disproportionate to the necessities of the nation. In order the more effectually to supply this deficiency, as well as to extirpate the old religion, five persons, agreeably to the plan laid down in the First Book of Discipline, were appointed under the name of superintendants, partaking a little of the episcopal function. They were chosen for life, but were responsible to the General Assembly;-it being their business to overlook the clergy, to enquire into the order of the churches, to inspect the manners of the people, the provisions for the poor, and the education of youth, and to redress, by their counsel and prudence, whatever could be remedied. Mr. Erskine was invested with the superintendancy of Angus and Merns; and though the office was difficult and somewhat invidious, and complaints were lodged against him before the General Assembly, he continued to exercise it, to the satisfaction of that court and the furtherance of the reformed religion, to the day of his death, which happened March 12, 1591, in the eighty second year of his age.

We intended to extract a few' particulars from the life of Mr. John Row, which, in copiousness of materials and care in putting them together, follows close upon those on which we have already dwelt. But having come to the limits prescribed us, we must hasten the conclusion, by recommending the perusal of the volume itself, to those who wish to be more intimately acquainted with the lives and characters of the Scotch Reformers.

Art. 111. Philosophical Transactions, of the Royal Society of London. For the year 1811. Part 1. 4to. pp. 208. Nicol. 1811.

(Concluded from p. 1012.)

V. On the non existence of Sugar in the Blood of Persons labouring under Diabetes Mellitus. In a Letter to Alexander Marcet, M.D. F.R.S. from William Hyde Wollaston, M.D. F.R.S. Read January 24, 1811.

IT is singular that one of the most curious questions connected with the pathology of this most remarkable disease should have remained so long undecided; and it cannot but afford satisfaction to those who feel an interest in the inquiry, that it should have exercised the ingenuity of so accurate an experimentalist as Dr Wollaston. The method pursued by Dr. W. in his experiments, if not perfectly unexceptionable, is at least much more so than that employed by Roles and Cruikshank; and indeed appears to us as satisfactory as can be desired.

By adding a very little dilute acid to healthy serum it was found, that the albumen was completely coagulated on the application of heat, and that the liquid which exuded from the coagulated mass, yielded chrystals of a determinable shape on evaporation. When small proportions of saccharine matter were added to the serum previous to its coagulation, it was found that the chrystallization of the salts was either impeded or entirely prevented, according to the quantity of sugar present. A degree of blackness appeared, also, after evaporation, (the intensity of which was in proportion to the sugar employed in the experiment,) together with a disposition to deliquesce, which does not exist when there is no sugar present.

These facts being determined, Dr. W. repeated the same experiments with serum, (to which he made corresponding additions of dry sugar,) obtained from diabetic urine. The appearances were in all respects perfectly similar.-Another test of the absence or presence of sugar was found in the nitric acid; which, added to the residuum after the coagulation of pure serum, merely converted the muriatic salts into nitrates; but if sugar had been added, a white foam formed round the margin of the evaporated drop, and the application of heat caused a blackness proportioned to the quantity of sugar present.

After these preliminary experiments had been made with serum in its natural state, and with definite proportions of sugar, Dr W. proceeded to investigate the appearances of diabetic blood subjected to similar experiments. He examined four specimens of blood, drawn from persons afflicted with