The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 | Page 2

illustrium,"
&c., published at Geneva, in the year 1580, 4to. It is the earliest of the
engraved portraits, and, so far as we can judge, it ought to serve as a
kind of test by which other portraits must be tried. A similar head
engraved on copper, is to be found in Verheiden's "Præstantium aliquot
Theologorum, &c., Effigies," published at the Hague, in 1602, folio;
but this, I apprehend, is merely an improved copy from Beza, and not
taken from an original painting. It does not retain the expressive
character of the ruder engraving, although the late Sir David Wilkie,
whose opinion in such matters was second to none, was inclined to
prefer this of Verheiden to any at least of the later portraits of the
Reformer.[3]
It may not here be superfluous to mention, that this publication was
projected by the Editor many years ago, and that some arrangements
had been entered into for having it printed in England. When the
WODROW SOCIETY, therefore, expressed a willingness to undertake
the work, I proposed as a necessary condition, that I should have the
privilege of causing a limited impression to be thrown off, for sale,
chiefly in England; and the Council, in the most liberal manner, at once
acquiesced in this proposal. Instead however of availing myself to the

full extent of their liberality, which some circumstances rendered less
desirable, but in order to avoid throwing, either upon the Society or the
Editor, the extra expenses which have been incurred in various matters
connected with the publication, it was finally arranged that a much
more limited impression than was first proposed, should be thrown off
on paper to be furnished by the BANNATYNE CLUB, for the use of
the Members of that Institution.
NOVEMBER, 1846.
$CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES$.
IOANNES CNOXVS.
[Illustration: From THEOD. BEZÆ ICONES, etc., M.D.LXXX.]
$CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES
OF
THE CHIEF EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF JOHN KNOX$.
[SN: 1505.]
Knox was born this year, at the village of Gifford, near the town of
Haddington, in East-Lothian. His father is said to have been descended
from the Knoxes of Ranferly, in the county of Renfrew; and the name
of his mother was Sinclair. Knox himself, in describing an interview
with the Earl of Bothwell, in 1562, mentions that his father, grandfather,
and great-grandfather, had all served his Lordship's predecessors, and
that some of them had died under their standards; which implies that
they must have been settled for a considerable period in East-Lothian,
where the Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell, had their chief residence.
[SN: 1522.]
After being educated at Haddington, Knox was sent to the University of
Glasgow; where John Major was Principal Regent or Professor of
Philosophy and Divinity. The name "Joh[=a]nes Knox," occurs in the

Registers of the University, among those of the students who were
incorporated in the year 1522. There is no evidence to shew that he
afterwards proceeded to St. Andrews, as is usually stated, either to
complete his academical education, or publicly to teach philosophy, for
which he had not qualified himself by taking his degree of Master of
Arts. If he ever taught philosophy, it must have been in the way of
private tuition.
[Sidenote 1530.]
About this time Knox took priest's orders; and he was probably
connected, for upwards of ten years, with one of the religious
establishments in the neighbourhood of Haddington. It is generally
supposed, that between the years 1535 and 1540, in the course of his
private studies, the perusal of the writings of Augustine and other
ancient Fathers, led him to renounce scholastic theology, and that he
was thus prepared, at a mature period of life, to profess his adherence to
the Protestant faith.
[SN: 1541.]
March 8. The name of "Schir John Knox" occurs among the witnesses
to a deed concerning Rannelton Law, in a Protocol-book belonging to
the borough of Haddington; and there is no reason to doubt that this
was the Reformer.
[SN: 1544.]
Knox entered the family of Hugh Douglas of Longniddry, as tutor of
his sons Francis and George Douglas; and also of Alexander Cockburn,
son of John Cockburn of Ormiston.
[SN: 1545.]
In this year he attached himself as an avowed adherent of George
Wishart, from the time of his first visit to East-Lothian.
[SN: 1546.]

George Wishart suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews, on the 1st of
March 1545-6; and on the 29th of May that year, Cardinal Beaton was
murdered.
[SN: 1547.]
April 10. Knox, with his young pupils, entered the Castle of St.
Andrews, as a place of safety from the persecution of the Popish clergy.
May. At the end of this month, or early in June, he received a public
call to the ministry, which he obeyed with great reluctance; but having
undertaken the office, he continued, along with John Rough, to