K N O 



476 



K N O 



Knighthood a relation should occupy the place of the defunct, to 

 I prove that he had not died of fear. As he was a stick- 

 ier for fighting on equal terms, he contended, that a ro- 

 ""~ r "" * bust and healthy appellant should be sweated, bled, and 

 purged, till he had attained a degree of.gracility and 

 feebleness equal to those of the respondent. If one 

 party wanted an eye, the other must wear a patch ; if 

 one was lame, the other must have a leg tied up be- 

 hind, &c. &c. Pozzo is only one out of an enormous 

 list of similar writers to be found in Ducange. In all 

 of these authors we find forms of prayer proper for 

 duels. The combatants uniformly prepared themselves 

 by taking the sacrament. The religious orders attend- 

 ed all duels in pompous array; and their masters, priors, 

 &c. were commonly appointed umpires of the fight. 

 The pernicious influence which all this had upon the 

 manners of Europe, is still but too apparent, in the 

 subsistence of a practice which could only have origi- 

 nated in a barbarous and credulous age. The belief in 

 the interference of providence in all duels, (the only 

 apology for duelling that could ever have had a shadow 

 of reason on its side, ) is now no more ; and we there- 

 fore surpass our ancestors in the absurdity of our con- 

 duct, in the same proportion that we have the advan- 

 tage over them in the justice of our opinions. 



KNISTENEAUS. See CANADA, Vol. V. p. 313. and 

 INFANTICIDE, Vol. XII. p. 119- 



KNOX, JOHN, the celebrated Scottish reformer, was 

 born in the year 1505, in the village of Gilford, in the 

 county of East Lothian. His father was descended 

 from an ancient and respectable family, who possessed 

 the lands of Knock, Ranferly, and Craigends, in the shire 

 of Renfrew ; but the particular period when his paternal 

 ancestors removed from the western to the eastern coast 

 of the kingdom, cannot be exactly ascertained. His pa- 

 rents were so far affluent in their circumstances, as to 

 be able to give their son a liberal education, ( which 

 was by no means common in that age) ; and, after ac- 

 quiring the principles of the Latin language in the 

 grammar-school of Haddington, he was sent, about 

 the year 1524, to the university of St Andrew's, at that 

 time the most distinguished seminary in Scotland. The 

 celebrated scholar Buchanan, (by whom he is always 

 mentioned in terms of high respect,) was his contem- 

 porary and fellow-student ; and their preceptor, John 

 Mair, or Major, professor of philosophy and theology 

 in the university, who had acquired in France more en- 

 lightened sentiments both in ecclesiastical and civil po- 

 licy, than were generally prevalent in those times, ap- 

 pears to have early inspired these distinguished men with 

 some of the leading principles, which they subsequent- 

 ly matured and advocated in the cause of the Reforma- 

 tion. Knox, in the mean time, applied to the scholas- 

 tic studies of those days with great success ; and, after 

 being created Master of Arts, he taught philosophy 

 (probably as a private lecturer in the university) with 

 extraordinary celebrity. About the same time, he was 

 advanced to clerical orders, and was ordained a priest 

 before he had reached the age (25) which the canons of 

 the church required Hjs studies, however, soon re- 

 ceived a new direction, which led to a complete revo- 

 lution in his religious sentiments, and future pursuits. 

 Having entered upon a fuller perusal of the ancient au- 

 thors and earlier fathers of the Christian church, he was 

 attracted by the simplicity of their method of investiga- 

 ting and communicating truth ; and was especially en- 



gaged by the writings of Jerom and Augustine to a 

 closer study of the sacred sc/iptures, as tb,e only pure ' 

 fountain of divine knowledge.' From this time, (about 

 the year 1B35,) he renounced the stutly">f scholastic 

 theology ; and was gradually led to a more compre- 

 hensive view of evangelical religion ; but it does not 

 appear that he professed himself a Protestant before the 

 year 154-2. 



This change of sentiment first appeared in his philo- 

 sophical lectures, in which he began to forsake the scho- 

 lastic path, and to recommend to his pupils a more ra- 

 tional and useful method of study ; and the suspicions 

 of heresy which this innovation excited, were soon con- 

 firmed by his proceeding to reprehend the corruptions 

 that prevailed in the church. Finding it impossible to 

 remain in safety at St. Andrew's, which was wholly un- 

 der the power of Cardinal Beatoun, the most determi- 

 ned supporter of the Romish church, he retired to the 

 south of Scotland ; and, in a short time, avowed his 

 full belief of the Protestant doctrines. The cardinal, 

 not satisfied with passing sentence against him as a he- 

 retic, and degrading him from the priesthood, hired as- 

 sassins, says Beza, to waylay him, by whose hands he 

 must have fallen, had he not been taken under the pro- 

 tection of Hugh Douglas of Langniddrie, into whose 

 family he had entered as private tutor to the children :' 

 and in whose service he so conducted the religious in- 

 struction of his pupils, as to allow the people of the 

 neighbourhood to derive advantage from the lessons.* 

 But he was not permitted to continue long in this em- 

 ployment. Hamilton, the successor of Beatoun, sought 

 his life with so much eagerness, that he was obliged to 

 provide for his safety, by removing secretly from place 

 to place ; and at length, wearied out with such a state 

 of continual apprehension, he came to the resolution of 

 leaving his native country. He was persuaded, how- 

 ever, by the lairds of Langniddrie and Ormiston, to re- 

 linquish this design, and to repair, along with their sons, 

 to the castle of St. Andrew's, which was then held, in 

 defiance of the regent, by the conspirators against 

 Cardinal Beatoun, and where a number -of persecuted re- 

 formers enjoyed the free exercise of their religion. In 

 this place, our reformer conducted the education of his 

 pupils in his usual manner, catechizing them in the pa- 

 rish church belonging to the city, and continuing his 

 expositions of scripture in the hearing of all who chose 

 to attend ; but he was soon constrained to take a more 

 public part in the promulgation of protestant principles, 

 in consequence of his election to act as colleague with 

 John Rough, preacher to the garrison. His labours 

 were so successful, during the few months that he 

 preached in St. Andrew's, that, besides the garrison in 

 the castle, a great number of the inhabitants of the 

 town renounced popery, and made profession of the pro- 

 testant faith, by partaking of the Lord's supper after 

 the mode of the reformed churches. After the Capitu- 

 lation of the castle to a French armament in July 1547, 

 Knox was conveyed to France along with the other pri- 

 soners; and, in violation of the terms of surrender, was 

 confined on board the galleys, and exposed to all the 

 ordinary rigours of such captivity, with the additional 

 indignities which the Papists were accustomed to heap 

 upon the heads of heretics. In the summer of 1548, 

 when the galleys, in which these sufferers were confin- 

 ed, were stationed on the coast of Scotland, his health 

 was so greatly impaired by the severity of his treatment, 



* The ruins of the chapel at Langoiddrle, in which he publicly catechized his scholars, and expounded to them the scriptures, are stillap- 

 parent ; and the place is popularly denominated John Knox's Kirk. 



