pay six pound thirteen shillings four pennies of the said crope; and it shall be allowed to them in count, they bringing the said Richard’s acquittance thereupon.” Life of the Author, p. xliv. xlv. prefixed to Historie, edit. 1732. Book of Univ. Kirk, p. 56. It is probable that the deficiency of the funds of the church prevented the publication of the history during Morton’s regency; and the change of politics after James assumed the reins of government into his own hands, precluded all hope of its being allowed to be printed in Scotland. An attempt was made to have it printed in England; but after the work had proceeded so far, the press was stopped. This appears from the following extract from Calderwood’s MSS. “February, 1586, Vaultrollier the printer took with him a copy of Mr Knox’s History to England, and printed twelve hundred of them; the stationers, at the archbishop’s command, seized them the 18 of February; it was thought that he would get leave to proceed again, because the council perceived that it would bring the queen of Scots in detestation.” Calderwood’s MS. apud Life {362} of Knox, p. 45, prefixed to edition of Historie, Edinburgh, 1732. Bishop Bancroft also mentions it in the following terms, “If you ever meet with the History of the Church of Scotland penned by Mr Knox, and printed by Vaultrollier, read the pages quoted here in the margent.” Bancroft’s Survey, (originally printed in 1593,) republished in 1663, p. 37. Copies of this imperfect edition were allowed to go abroad, and are still to be met with. In 1644, David Buchanan published his edition of Knox’s History at London in folio, which was reprinted the same year at Edinburgh in quarto. The editor prefixed a preface concerning the antiquity of the Scots, and a Life of Knox, both of which were written by himself. He modernised the language of the history; but not satisfied with this, he also altered the narrative, by excluding some parts of it, and by making numerous interpolations. It appears from the passage formerly quoted from Milton, (see vol. i. p. 464,) that attempts were made to suppress, or at least to mutilate, this edition; but the passage is so obscure that we cannot learn from what quarter these attempts were made. At last, a genuine and complete edition of the history was printed in 1732, from a manuscript belonging to the university of Glasgow, compared with several other manuscripts of undoubted antiquity. Those who wish to know the great difference between this edition and that of David Buchanan, may consult Mr Wodrow’s letter, inserted at large in the Life of the Author, p. xlvi‒li. prefixed to the Historie, edit. 1732, and partially inserted in Nicolson’s Scottish Historical Library, p. 132‒141. Lond. 1736. All the editions of the history lately published are mere copies of Buchanan’s spurious and interpolated one.