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their natural effect. In February 1561 she sent commissioners to
assure the lords of her forgiveness for what they had done, and to
empower the Duke of Châtelherault and others to convoke a Parliament
in her name. At a meeting of the nobles held in January 1561 her
natural brother, Lord James Stuart, was deputed by the lords to offer
Mary their allegiance, while the Catholic party including the Earls of
Huntly, Atholl, Crawford, Sutherland, and some bishops, dispatched a
messenger to warn her against the Congregation, and to place at her
disposal a strong force in case she decided to land in the north. But
Mary, distrusting the motives of Huntly and his friends, treated their
offers of assistance with neglect, and welcomed as her saviour and
friend the man who even then was not unwilling to act as a spy on his
sister and his queen at the bidding of Elizabeth. Mary's selection of
him as her trusted adviser boded ill for the future of her reign.

At last with a heavy heart Mary determined to leave the country of her
adoption. As she was unwilling to confirm the treaty with England in
its entirety and to renounce her claims to the English throne,
Elizabeth refused to grant passports through England, but under the
shelter of a thick mist Mary succeeded in eluding all danger of
capture and landed safely at Leith (Aug. 1561). From the people
generally she received an enthusiastic welcome, but, when on the
following Sunday she insisted that Mass should be celebrated in the
private chapel of Holyrood, it required all the efforts of her brother
to prevent a riot. Knox and his brethren denounced such idolatrous
conduct as intolerable, and bewailed the misfortunes that God must
inevitably pour out upon the country in punishment for so grievous a
crime. A few days later Mary issued a proclamation announcing that no
change would be made in the religious settlement without the consent
of Parliament, but that in the meantime no attempt should be made to
interfere with her household. A new privy council was appointed, in
which the two principal members were Lord James Stuart and Maitland,
Lord of Lethington, both equally untrustworthy. None of the Catholic
bishops was offered a seat at the council board, and the Catholic
lords were represented only by the Earls of Huntly and Argyll. A
general assembly of the Reformers was held at Edinburgh (1561), which
succeeded in securing a share of the ecclesiastical endowments, and
another in 1562, which appointed John Craig as the assistant of Knox
in Edinburgh. For so far Mary could do little for her co-religionists
in Scotland, nor indeed does it appear that any serious effort was
made in that direction. Still her own example was not without its
effect. Several of the waverers especially in Edinburgh seem to have
returned to the Church. Pius IV., who was anxious to learn the true
state of affairs, commissioned the Jesuit Nicholas de Gouda (Goudanus)
to visit Scotland for the purpose of encouraging the queen and of
inviting the bishops to assist at the Council of Trent. He arrived in
Scotland (June 1561). After waiting six weeks in the house of a
Catholic nobleman he secured a secret interview with the queen at
Holyrood. With most of the bishops he was not even so successful.
Though he reported that they were for the greater part Catholics and
men of good intentions, some of them like Sinclair of Ross refused to
see him, from others he got no reply to his letters, and it was only
with the greatest difficulty he contrived to have a short conversation
with Bishop Crichton at Dunkeld.[23] There is no doubt that the
bishops were surrounded by powerful and watchful enemies, but it seems
strange that they should have effaced themselves so completely, at a
time when Knox and his opponents by means of general assemblies and
other such bodies were impressing the country with their strength and
activity. Even though the bishops were silent the old religion was not
without some able and energetic defenders in the person of Leslie,
soon to be the Bishop of Ross, Quintin Kennedy whose services have
been referred to already, and Ninian Winzet, who caused Knox
considerable embarrassment by his tracts, letters, and public
disputations.

In his report Father de Gouda alluded to the imminent peril in which
the queen stood owing to her complete reliance on her unworthy
ministers. Her brother Lord James Stuart, and Maitland, both hostile
to the Catholic religion, were her principal advisers. Although the
Earl of Huntly had not played a very noble part in the disputes
between the regent and the Congregation, he was the recognised head of
the Catholic party. He had offered his services to the queen while she