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284 THE PORTRAITS OF JOHN KNOX. death, before they would withdraw; and a shrewd suspicion had risen that she would seize Stirling again, and keep the way open to return. This last concern was of prime importance ; and all the more pressing as the forces of the Congregation had nearly all returned home. On this Stirling affair there is a small anecdote, not yet entirely forgotten; which rudely symbolises the spirit of the population at that epoch, and is worth giving. The Ribbands of St. Johnston is or was its popular title. Knox makes no mention of it; but we quote from The Muse^s Threnodie, or rather from the Annotations to that poor doggrel; which are by James Cant, and of known authenticity. The Earl of Argyle and the Lord James, who had private intelligence on this matter, and were deeply interested in it, but without force of their own, con- trived to engage three hundred staunch townsmen of Perth to march with them to Stirling on a given night, and do the affair by stroke of hand. The three hundred ranked themselves accordingly on the appointed night (one of the last of June 1559); and so fierce was their humour, they had each, instead of