The General Assembly, in October 1577, presented a supplication to the regent Morton, requesting him to allow Mr Davidson to return home from England. Buik of the Universall Kirk, p. 70. {350} The editor of Davidson’s Poetical Remains (lately printed) has furnished some interesting information concerning the author. I am indebted to him for correcting a mistake into which I had fallen in the Life of Melville. Davidson returned to Scotland during the lifetime of the regent, though not until his fall. Hume of Godscroft, in his account of Morton’s behaviour before his execution, says, “There he embraced Mr John Davidson, and said to him, you wrote a book, for which I was angry with you; but I never meant any ill to you,――forgive me. Mr Davidson was so moved herewith, that he could not refrain from weeping.” History of the House of Douglas and Angus, ii. 279, 12mo. Note AA, Footnote 299. _Verses to the memory of Knox._――Beza has inserted no verses to the memory of our Reformer, in his _Icones, id est, Veræ Imagines Virorum Doctrina simul et Pietate Illustrium_, published by him in Latin, anno 1580. But of this work, a French version was published under the title of _Les Vrais Pourtraits des Hommes Illustres en Pieté et Doctrine_. Geneve, 1581, 4to. In this translation are inserted original verses on Knox, &c. Irving’s Memoirs of Buchanan, 234. Having never seen this translation, I cannot say whether the verses which it contains coincide with those which I am about to quote. _Jacobus Verheiden_ published “Præstantium aliquot Theologorum, qui Romæ Antichristum oppugnarunt, Effigies, quibus addita eorum Elogia, librorumque Catalogi. Hag. Comit. 1602.” A new edition of this was published by _Fredericus Roth‑Scholtz_, under the title of “Jacobi Verheidenii Hagæ‑Comitis Imagines et Elogia, &c. Hagæ‑Comitum, 1725.” In this work the following lines are placed under the portrait of Knox:―― Scottorum primum te Ecclesia, CNOXE, docentem, Audiit, auspiciis estque redacta tuis. Nam te cælestis pietas super omnia traxit, Atque Reformatæ Religionis amor. {351} To the account of his life and writings, in the same work, is added an _Epigram_ in Greek and in Latin, which, according to a common practice in such compositions, consists of a play upon his name, and that of his country, in the way of contrast; representing Knox as driving the _nocturnal_ crows, or _scotican_ sophists, from Scotland. As the author informs us that the Batavian youth amused themselves in making these epigrams, and thinks that some of them will amuse the reader, I shall not withhold this specimen in both languages. Νυκτερίδας, νυκτὸς κόρακας, καὶ νύκτα ἀφεγγῆ, Ἄλλα τε λύγρ’ Ἠὼς φεύγει ἀλεξίκακος· Ὅυτως μὲν ΚΝΟΞΟΣ Σκοτικοὺς δνοφερούς τε σοφιστὰς Ἐν Σκοτίῃ πάτρῃ ἔκβαλε λαμπόμενος.