OBSERVATIONS
ON
CHURCH AND STATE
The name of Argyll is intimately associated with the rise and progress of the Reformation in Scotland. The fourth earl of that house was the first Scottish nobleman who embraced the principles of the Reformers, and several of his successors played a still more important part in the struggle against Popery and Prelacy. His son Archibald, the fifth earl, was one of the Lords of the "Congregation" who, on Cupar Muir in 1558, convinced the queen-regent, by a demonstration of their numbers, that it was no longer safe to trifle with their desires; and that they were prepared to carry forward their system, and free themselves from the oppression of the church of Rome, even by the extremity of a civil war. Yet violent measures were not in unison with this nobleman's disposition—were not his usual resource. His policy was of a vacillating, though not of an ignoble character. He was drawn in diverse directions by his loyalty to Queen Mary, and by his attachment to the doctrines which she vehemently opposed. Hence the present duke, the author of the interesting work which has suggested this disquisition, is not quite correct in his remark when he says — "We find the whole influence of the Reformed church engaging on the side of the Earl of Murray, when he became head of the confederacy which took
