Richard Bowes did not die till at
least two years later. It is impossible to believe that he
approved of his wife's desertion, after so many years of
marriage, after twelve children had been born to them; and
accordingly we find in his will, dated 1558, no mention
either of her or of Knox's wife. (1) This is plain sailing.
It is easy enough to understand the anger of Bowes against
this interloper, who had come into a quiet family, married
the daughter in spite of the father's opposition, alienated
the wife from the husband and the husband's religion,
supported her in a long course of resistance and rebellion,
and, after years of intimacy, already too close and tender
for any jealous spirit to behold without resentment, carried
her away with him at last into a foreign land. But it is not
quite easy to understand how, except out of sheer weariness
and disgust, he was ever brought to agree to the arrangement.
Nor is it easy to square the Reformer's conduct with his
public teaching. We have, for instance, a letter by him,
Craig, and Spottiswood, to the Archbishops of Canterbury and
York, anent "a wicked and rebellious woman," one Anne Good,
spouse to "John Barron, a minister of Christ Jesus his
evangel," who, "after great rebellion shown unto him, and
divers admonitions given, as well by himself as by others in
his name, that she should in no wise depart from this realm,
nor from his house without his license, hath not the less
stubbornly and rebelliously departed, separated herself from
his society, left his house, and withdrawn herself from this
realm.
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