At this time Riccio—­a valet de chambre of the Queen in 1561-62—­“began to grow great in Court,” becoming French Secretary at the end of the year.  By June 3, 1565, Randolph is found styling Riccio “only governor” to Darnley.  His career might have rivalled that of the equally low-born Cardinal Alberoni, but for the daggers of Moray’s party.

In the General Assembly of June 1564, Moray, Morton, Glencairn, Pitarro, Lethington, and other Lords of the Congregation held aloof from the brethren, but met the Superintendents and others to discuss the recent conduct of our Reformer, who was present.  He was invited, by Lethington, to “moderate himself” in his references to the Queen, as others might imitate him, “albeit not with the same modesty and foresight,” for Lethington could not help bantering Knox.  Knox, of course, rushed to his doctrine of “idolatry” as provocative of the wrath of God—­we have heard of the bad harvest, and the frost in January.  It is not worth while to pursue in detail the discourses, in which Knox said that the Queen rebelled against God “in all the actions of her life.”  Ahab and Jezebel were again brought on the scene.  It profited not Lethington to say that all these old biblical “vengeances” were “singular motions of the Spirit of God, and appertain nothing to our age.”  If Knox could have understood that, he would not have been Knox.  The point was intelligible; Lethington perceived it, but Knox never chose to do so.  He went on with his isolated texts, Lethington vainly replying “the cases are nothing alike.”  Knox came to his old stand, “the idolater must die the death,” and the executioners must be “the people of God.”  Lethington quoted many opinions against Knox’s, to no purpose, opinions of Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, Musculus, and Calvin, but our Reformer brought out the case of “Amasiath, King of Judah,” and “The Apology of Magdeburg.”  As to the opinion of Calvin and the rest he drew a distinction.  They had only spoken of the godly who were suffering under oppression, not of the godly triumphant in a commonwealth.  He forgot, or did not choose to remember, a previous decision of his own, as we shall see.

When the rest of the party were discussing the question, Makgill, Clerk Register, reminded them of their previous debate in November 1561, when {240} Knox, after secretly writing to Calvin, had proposed to write to him for his opinion about the Queen’s Mass, and Lethington had promised to do so himself.  But Lethington now said that, on later reflection, as Secretary of the Queen, he had scrupled, without her consent, to ask a foreigner whether her subjects might prevent her from enjoying the rites of her own religion—­for that was what the “controversies” between her Highness and her subjects really and confessedly meant. {241a}