22
Edinburgh, and in the neighbouring parts, and on the day appointed, a prodigious nnmber of people were assembled. They found that there was a stage erected on the outside of the chapel. Having waited a little while, they beheld, led forward upon this stage, the seemingly blind young man whom many of them knew, and whose blindness they had probably often pitied He was by priests and friars, and, no doubt, also by Thomas, the Hermit, (a famous worker of miracles,) if he was then alive. After some time spent in the use of prayers and ceremonies, his eyes, to the satisfaction of the multitude, appeared to be perfectly restored. The young man, who had long been restricted from employing honest means for his subsistence, now sincerely rejoiced. He returned thanks to the priests and friars; and when he came down from the stage, was caressed and congratulated by the people, and some of whom gave him money.
A protestaut gentleman who was present, detected the cheat, and took the young man into his service.
Of the "many good men" that suffered death under Archbishop Beaton.—The first was Mr. Patrick Hamilton, Abbot, of Ferm, a man nobly descended, for he was nephew to the earl of Arran, by his father, and to the Duke of Albany, by his mother, and not much past twenty-three years of age. This young man had travelled in Germany, and falling in familiarity with Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, Francis Lambert, and other learned men, was by them instructed in the knowledge of true religion, in the profession
