[295] No doubt James Wedderburn, merchant at the West Kirk Style of Dundee, who carried on a large trade with the Continent, and was known to be friendly to those holding the reformed opinions. One of his sons was then studying at St Andrews, and probably had been the means of communication between the canons and Dundee to secure beforehand a speedy departure for their fugitive friend. [For many interesting details concerning the sons of this Dundee merchant, see Dr Mitchell's Wedderburns and their Work, 1867; and also his edition of The Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 1897, pp. xvii-xxxii, lxxxiii-civ.] [296] [In his Introduction (pp. xviii-xx) to Gau's 'Richt Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine,' Dr Mitchell says: "The treatise 'De Apostolicis Traditionibus,' in which he [_i.e._, Alesius] has given an account of his visit, and of the manner in which he was received by his countrymen and the reforming preachers of Malmö, is one of the rarest of his minor treatises, and is not to be found in any of our Scottish libraries, nor in the British Museum, nor even in the library of the University of Leipsic, in which he was so long an honoured professor.... Neither the name of Gau nor that of any other of his countrymen then in the city is given by Alesius.... Principal Lorimer has ingeniously conjectured that Gau may have come out to act as chaplain to his countrymen at Malmö. And I am inclined to accept the conjecture to a modified extent.... At any rate, we find that before the close of 1533 he was in Denmark, and had got such an accurate knowledge of the Danish language that he had translated and published a treatise of considerable length from Danish into his native Scotch." In the Appendix to the same Introduction (p. xlv) Dr Mitchell explains that "modern Danish scholars express doubts whether, in the early part of the 16th century, any nation, save the German as represented by the Hanseatic League, was organised as a distinct community at Malmö."] [297] [This sentence is interlined, and the word which seems to be _first_ is rather indistinct.] [298] In the preceding narrative I have availed myself of the details which Alesius has given us of his labours and sufferings in his commentaries and lesser treatises, and especially in two of the smallest of them, both published in 1533, the one bearing the title--"Alexandri Alesii Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporū in Scotia, quod prohibet legere Noui Testamenti libros lingua vernacula"; the other "Alexandri Alesii Scotti Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias." [299] [The nature of the arguments used by Alesius in this epistle may be learned from the lengthy extracts quoted in Christopher Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 430-437.]