Note 995 — PREFATIO. (continued 3)

Keith has copied from Knox the "Credeit" or Commission from the Queen Regent; but in the Appendix to his History he says, "I make little doubt he (Knox) has curtailed the same, and formed it so as to serve his own purpose: And had this Credit been contained in as few words as this author relates it, the Regent might have easily inserted the whole of it in her letter, without any unbecoming prolixity. I do, therefore, recommend to my readers not to satisfy themselves with this account of the Credit, but to look into that which Archbishop Spottiswood narrates; which, as it is much more distinct in answering to each part of complaint from the Congregationers, so it has all the air of ingenuity, and seems fully to answer the character of that wise and worthy Princess." He then proceeds to quote from Spottiswood's MS. some remarks, differing from the corresponding passage in the printed History; but these are too long to be here quoted: see Keith, Hist. vol. i. pp. 232, 400-492.