with them. At length she sent a powerful fleet to guard the entrance of the Firth of Forth, thus preventing the princes of Lorraine from landing fresh reinforcements; and by the aid of some English troops the protestants were enabled to drive the French from the field, and to besiege them in Leith, their last place of refuge. This timely aid turned the scale in favour of the reformers. The Scottish parliament, chiefly composed of protestants, obtained the direction of affairs; the catholic religion was abolished, and the reformed established by law; while, instead of affording to the enemies of Elizabeth the means of invading her dominions on their most defenceless side, Scotland became, from this period, a new bulwark to her throne*.

Throughout the long administration of Cecil, the concerns of Scotland appear to have occupied that place in his attention which accorded with his view of the importance of maintaining an amicable relation with that country. After he became lord treasurer and baron of Burleigh, the state of affairs in the northern kingdom requiring his personal interference, he went thither, and resolved, on his return, to take the opportunity of paying a visit to Bernard Gilpin, whose character he greatly esteemed, but with

Macdiarmid, p. 200-206; and Russell, p. 373-377.

T

whom he had long ceased to have any inter

course.

Their acquaintance had commenced about the year 1552, when Cecil held the office of secretary of state under Edward the Sixth. Gilpin was a nephew of Cuthbert Tunstal, bishop of Durham, one of the mildest and most liberal of the popish clergy; whose humane endeavours to shield the reformers from the cruelty of Henry the Eighth, we have already had occasion to notice. Though appointed, by the will of that monarch, one of the regents of the kingdom during the minority of his son, Tunstal was, at the time of which we are now speaking, a prisoner in the Tower, on suspicion of being privy to the treasonable designs of the catholic party, by whom he had ever been highly esteemed.

Bernard Gilpin had been educated for the church, and was known to be well-affected to the protestant cause: his friends made interest to procure him some preferment, and he was in consequence appointed to preach before the king at Greenwich. He availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded, to reprove the inordinate desire of gain, which then prevailed in all classes of society, with such zeal and faithfulness, that he obtained the esteem of those who had the interest of true religion at heart; and

it is said, that, through the influence of Cecil, a general license for preaching, then given with great caution, and only to men of approved integrity, was granted to Gilpin, whom the king also presented with a living in the diocess of Durham. From this time, Cecil and his new friend were separated. Gilpin went into the north, to take possession of his living, and occasionally used the king's license in other parts of the country; but after awhile, some scruples of conscience, and an humble sense of his own unfitness for the pastoral office, induced him to resign his preferment and go abroad. He remained there several years, and returned to his native country during the heat of the persecution under queen Mary. His uncle, bishop Tunstal, was then restored to liberty and honour; but, living retired in his diocess, he avoided taking any part in those violent measures which his soul abhorred *.

Under the protection of this venerable prelate, who had ever encouraged him to examine for himself the points in dispute between the papists and protestants, and to decide according to the dictates of his conscience, Bernard Gilpin was for some years sheltered from the malice of his enemies, and quietly established

Gilpin, vol. ii. p. 201-207, 222-224.

in the rectory of Houghton-le-Spring, about seven miles from Durham. The living was valuable, but the duty very laborious: the parish contained fourteen villages, the inhabitants of which were in the lowest state of moral darkness and ignorance. Scarcely any traces of real Christianity were discoverable among them, and popery appeared in its grossest state of corruption. Secluded from the world, the parishioners of Houghton knew so little of public affairs, that, at the time of king Edward's death, they were ignorant that he had ever issued a proclamation for a change in the national worship.

What a discouraging scene must such a parish have presented, to one whose conscience was deeply impressed with the obligations of the office he had undertaken! But though grieved to see his flock sunk in vice and ignorance, Gilpin did not despair. He implored the assistance of Him, who could impart strength and wisdom proportioned to the necessity for exertion, and continued to labour faithfully in this moral wilderness, with a zeal and success, that caused him to be distinguished among his contemporaries, by the title of The Northern Apostle; and indeed the persecutions he underwent for conscience sake, the danger he incurred of martyrdom, his contempt of worldly

honours and pleasures, his unwearied labours for the diffusion of Christian knowledge and piety, and the boldness with which he reproved vice, at whatever hazard to himself, may seem to justify such a comparison with the first promulgators of the Gospel *.

Such was the man with whom lord Burleigh now desired to renew his acquaintance, that he might judge for himself of a character so generally esteemed. The accession of queen Elizabeth had freed Gilpin from the machinations of his enemies, and he had for many years been quietly pursuing his schemes of Christian benevolence at Houghton, revered and beloved by a people whose improved habits bore testimony to his affectionate solicitude for their welfare. He had been strongly importuned to quit this scene of usefulness, and take upon himself the charge of the diocess of Carlisle; but he thought he had good reasons for declining that and other preferments which courted his acceptance †, and he remained contentedly in the wilderness, which, under his care, had become a fruitful garden.

On Gilpin's first arrival at Houghton, the parsonage was in such a dilapidated state that it was considered uninhabitable. Lord Burleigh found him in a house superior in size, con

* Ib. p. 237, &c. 351. + Ib. p. 253,