reached Leith on the 22nd, when, after a rest of a day or two, he came to Edinburgh. On the first Sunday after, and every Sunday till confined to his deathbed, he was carried to the pulpit, not, it would seem from a letter of Killigrew, the English envoy, at St. Giles's, but at some smaller place, where he preached with his old vehemence. Through Killigrew he sent a message of the respect that he felt for Cecil. In September 1572 the news of the massacre of St. Bartholomew reached Edinburgh, and added another to the causes of grief and disappointment of his last years. On the 21st he preached in the Tolbooth, which had been specially prepared for him, and on 9 Nov. he was able to preside at the admission of his colleague, Lawson, when he preached on the duties of a pastor and his flock. On leaving the pulpit he returned home, leaning on his staff and attended by the congregation. He never left his house again, being seized next day with a violent cough, and gradually losing strength till the night of 24 Nov., when he breathed his last. The house in which he lived and died has been identified on the evidence of tradition with the picturesque residence in Netherbow Port, whose projecting angle still forms one of the prominent features of the High Street of old Edinburgh. A recent controversy on the point led to no absolutely certain result. Two accounts—one by Bannatyne, his secretary, and the other probably by his colleague, Lawson—describe the closing fortnight of his life. The second account was published by Thomas Smeaton in his ‘Answer to the Violent Dialogue of Archibald Hamilton on the Calvinistic Sect in Scotland.’ Both accounts treat of those who visited him, his conversation with them, the passages of Scripture he desired to be read, his prayers for the church, his bitter message to Kirkcaldy, his excuse for his vehemence, and his last prayer, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ ‘Surely,’ concludes Smeaton, ‘whatever opprobrious persons may say, in him God hath set us an example both of living and dying well.’
On 26 Nov. Knox was buried in the kirkyard of St. Giles, now the paved courtyard of the Parliament House, where the initials ‘J. K.’ mark the spot. His coffin he had himself ordered. In this, as in the discharge of his servants' wages and in making his last will, his long illness had not deprived him of the power of punctually performing the last earthly duties. His funeral was attended by Morton, who had been appointed regent. His will, dated 13 May 1572, was confirmed on 13 Jan. 1573 in the commissary court of Edinburgh, where it is still preserved. The sums owing to the testator amounted to 830l. 19s. 6d. Scots. He owed nothing. His wife and three daughters were executors.
By his first wife Knox had two sons: Nathaniel, born at Geneva, May 1557, and Eleazar, baptised at Geneva 29 Nov. 1558. They were brought up by their mother's family, and sent to St. John's College, Cambridge, of which they became fellows (Cooper, Athenæ Cantabrigienses, i. 430, 568; Rogers, Genealog. Mem. of Knox, pp. 138–9). Nathaniel died in 1580. Eleazar was vicar of Clacton, Essex, from 1587 till his death in 1591. Neither son left issue. Knox's second wife, who survived him, was granted by the general assembly, at Morton's suggestion, the sum of five hundred merks. In 1574 she married Andrew Ker of Faldonside, Roxburghshire, who died 19 Dec. 1599. She herself died about 1612. By Knox she had three daughters: Martha (1565?–1592), wife of Alexander, son of Robert Fairlie, laird of Braid, and left issue; Margaret (b. 1567?), married Zachary Pont, archdeacon of Caithness, in 1608, by whom she had two sons; and Elizabeth (1570?–1625), married John Welsh, minister of Ayr [q. v.] Descendants of this daughter are still traceable. The line of descent from Knox's other daughters is believed to be extinct.
Morton's words at his tomb, ‘Here lies one who never feared the face of man,’ were not biassed by intimate friendship. They are confirmed by his life, and reveal the source of his power. Bannatyne calls him ‘the light of Scotland, the comfort of the kirk, the mirror and example to all true ministers in purity of life, soundness in doctrine, and boldness in reproving of wickedness.’ He died, worn out by a life of continuous conflict, and although he won only a part of that for which he fought, the cause into which he flung all his strength ultimately triumphed, and that largely through his influence. Rarely has any country produced a stronger will. In British annals Oliver Cromwell is his nearest parallel; but, while both are examples of the power of self-confident faith, Knox mastered his countrymen by the influence of speech, without the stain of self-aggrandisement. His egotism was not vanity. It was the spirit required for the reformation he desired, the essence of the character of a people which prizes independence and self-reliance above humility and reverence. The breach of continuity with the Roman church that Knox effected was a sign of the continuity of Scottish history. Robert Bruce also had defied the pope. Knox was a Scottish patriot, with two important modifications. His patriotism was limited to the body of believers, and extended beyond the bounds of his
