At present everything was getting on well in Scotland, and the continuance of this well-being was all that was desired. The severest eye could find nothing to censure in the court of the regent; and he acted with so much moderation in the government that not a single complaint was heard of his administration. Arran was as much respected and obeyed as any king could have been. All men were promising themselves a quiet life, when a sudden gust upset everything. There was one party which was full of wrath at the recent changes. The alliance of Scotland with England, the imprisonment of the cardinal, the regency of Arran, the freedom conferred on the Holy Scriptures,--all these things filled the friends of the papacy with excitement and horror, whether at Rome, in France, or in Scotland. The earl of Lennox had arrived from Paris for the purpose of giving his support to the French party in Scotland; and he flattered himself that he should be appointed regent, and even that he should marry the queen dowager. The pope had sent the legate Marco Grimani into Scotland, with orders to join the cardinal, the earl of Lennox, and all the other adversaries of Arran; to fulminate anathemas, and to use all other means which he could devise for effecting the fall of the regent and the elevation of the cardinal.[288] Grimani and Lennox expected to find the material all ready, so that it would be an easy task for them to set fire to it. They were not entirely mistaken. The ultramontanes of Scotland were in a rage with the regent and with the lords who were on his side.[289] Their scheme was to liberate the cardinal, who should then go with his adherents to Linlithgow, get possession of the young queen and depose the regent. [Sidenote: THE ABBOT OF PAISLEY.] Lennox and Grimani had not come from the continent alone. Two Scottish priests, who had lived for a long time in France and had there become imbued with Roman Catholicism of the deepest dye, landed in Scotland in the month of April. These men were likely to do, perhaps, more than all others towards the restoration of ultramontanism. They were John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley, a natural brother of the regent, and Master David Panter,[290] who was afterwards bishop of Ross. Their learning, their lowliness, and their religion were much talked of, and people thought that their coming would prove a great comfort to the Church of God.[291] ‘They will soon,’ it was said, ‘go into the pulpit and truly preach Jesus Christ.’