When all was ready, two of the deathsmen entered Wishart’s prison. One of them brought and put on him a coat of black cloth, the other tied small bags of powder to various parts of his body. Next they bound his hands firmly behind him, put a rope round his neck and a chain about his waist, and led him forth in the midst of a party of soldiers. When he came to the pile he knelt down and prayed. Then he rose and said to the people—‘Christian brethren and sisters, be not offended in the Word of God for the affliction and torments which ye see already prepared for me; but I exhort you that you love the Word of God, and suffer patiently and with a comfortable heart, for the Word’s sake which is your undoubted salvation and everlasting comfort. My doctrine was no old wives’ fable after the constitutions made by men. But for the true evangely, which was given to me by the grace of God, I suffer this day by men, not sorrowfully, but with a glad heart and mind. For this cause I was sent: that I should suffer this fire, for Christ’s sake. This grim fire I fear not. Some have said of me that I taught that the soul of man should sleep until the last day. But I know surely and my faith is such that my soul shall sup with my Saviour Christ this night (ere it be six hours), for whom I suffer this.’[355] Then he prayed—‘I beseech thee, Father of heaven! to forgive them that have of any ignorance or else have of any evil mind forged any lies upon me: I forgive them with all my heart. I beseech Christ to forgive them that have condemned me to death this day ignorantly.’ The hangman fell on his knees before him and said, ‘I pray you forgive me.’ ‘Come hither to me,’ replied Wishart; and he kissed him, and added, ‘Lo, here is a token that I forgive thee. My heart, do thine office.’ He was then bound with ropes to the stake, and said, ‘Saviour of the world, have mercy on me! Father of heaven, into thy hands I commit my spirit.’ The executioner lighted the fire. The cardinal and his accomplices beheld from the windows the martyr and the fire which was consuming him. The governor of the castle watching the flames exclaimed, ‘Take courage.’ Wishart answered, ‘This fire torments my body, but noways abates my spirit.’ Then catching sight of the cardinal at the window with his courtiers, he added, ‘He who in such state, from that high place, feedeth his eyes with my torments, within few days shall be hanged out at the same window to be seen with as much ignominy as he now leaneth there in pride.’[356] Some authors consider these words, reported by Buchanan, to be an instance of that second sight with which they allege the Scots to be endowed. Wishart, however, did not need an extraordinary revelation to teach him that ‘the wicked goeth away in his wickedness.’ He had hardly uttered those words when the rope was tightened about his neck, so that he lost the power of speaking. The fire reduced his body to ashes; and the bishops, full of steadfast hatred of this servant of God, caused an order to be published that same evening through all the town, that no one should pray for their victim under the severest penalties. They knew what respect was felt for him by many even of the Catholics themselves.

There are people who say that religion is a fable. A life and a death such as those of Wishart show that it is a great reality.

CHAPTER XV.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST BEATOUN.—HIS DEATH.
(March To May 1546.)

FEELING CONCERNING WISHART’S DEATH.

The death of Wishart excited in Scotland feelings of very diverse character. The bishops and their adherents extolled to the skies the cardinal who, without troubling himself about the regent’s authority, and suppressing the insolence of the people, had constituted himself the defender of Rome and of the priesthood. ‘Ah,’ said they, ‘if the Church had formerly had such champions, she would keep all things under her dominion by the very force and weight of her majesty.’

Simple-hearted Christians lamented the martyrdom without a thought of revenge. But one part of the people, and with them several of the most eminent men, condemned aloud at table and everywhere the cardinal’s cruelty, and declared that the blood which had been shed called for vengeance. Even those who, without sharing Wishart’s views, were actuated by just and generous sentiments, asked themselves what hope they could have of preserving their liberties under the most cruel of tyrants; under a prelate who made war alike on men and on God; who pursued with his enmity every one that possessed wealth or was animated by piety, and sacrificed them to his caprice like beasts taken from the stall;[357] who gave his sanction to connections with worthless mistresses, and dissolved lawful marriages at his pleasure; who in his own house wallowed in debauchery with prostitutes, and out of doors, in his wrath, revelled in the slaughter of innocent men and in the blood of heretics.[358] Such is the portrait of Beatoun drawn by Buchanan.

The cardinal, who could not remain ignorant of these speeches, was desirous of strengthening his power by means of new alliances. He therefore gave one of his daughters, Margaret Beatoun—whose mother was Mary, daughter of Sir James Ogilvy—in marriage to David Lindsay, son of the earl of Crawford, with a portion of four thousand marks. The nuptials were celebrated with a magnificence almost royal. That a priest could celebrate with so much parade the nuptials of his daughter showed that he was destitute even of that honorable shame which is excited by the dread of anything that violates decency. He believed himself to be stronger than all Scotland, and by his despotic measures he was constantly adding to the number of his enemies.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST BEATOUN.

Among those who had served him with the utmost devotion was Norman Lesley, brother of the earl of Rothes. On occasion of Lesley’s reminding the cardinal of certain promises which he had made to him, they got to high words and parted bitter foes.[359] Thenceforth Lesley was head of the disaffected, and by setting before his friends the intolerable pride of the cardinal he induced them to join in a conspiracy against his life.[360] His uncle, John Lesley, did not shrink from saying before them all, clapping his right hand at the same time on his sword, ‘This hand shall draw this old sword, and they two shall be the cardinal’s confessors,’ meaning thereby that they should dismiss him into the other world. The saying was reported to Beatoun, but he made light of it, fancying himself perfectly safe in the blockhouse—a kind of fortress—which he had built. ‘I laugh at all that noise,’ said he, ‘and I would not give a button for such bragging. Is not my lord governor mine? Witness his eldest son their pledge at my table. Have I not the queen at my own devotion? Is not France my friend, and am not I friend to France? What danger should I fear?’ Nevertheless Beatoun, for the purpose of cutting off those who troubled him, ordered all his creatures, gentlemen of Fifeshire, to meet him at Falkland on Monday, May 31. The Lesleys and a certain number of their friends were to be taken prisoners and put to death. On the other side, Lesley and his accomplices had no embarrassing scruples at all. The right of the strongest was still frequently appealed to in that half barbarian age. A coup d’état, with deeds of violence, was a quite familiar occurrence. These nobles looked on Wishart’s death, without the concurrence of the civil judges, which the lawful government had refused, as a murder; and they considered that as Beatoun was a murderer he ought to be himself put to death. They did not reflect that they were making themselves guilty of the very crime which Beatoun had committed, that of putting themselves in the place of the regular judges. The right of war between feudal lords, which had not yet ceased to be recognized, sufficed to justify them in their own eyes. It was arranged that Norman Lesley, with his brother and four of his friends, should go to St. Andrews, where the cardinal was residing, and that they should take up their lodging in the hostelry at which they were accustomed to stay, so as not to awaken any suspicion. They entered the town accordingly, and without fear, although the place swarmed with the friends, dependents, and creatures of the mighty primate. Some of the inhabitants who shared their views held themselves in readiness at the first signal to give them assistance. They agreed to seize the castle at early morning, before the household were up.