EDINBURGH] ST GILES 57 in St Giles. The result was a brawl, when the famous Jenny Geddes flung her stool at the Dean's head. The service was inter- rupted ; Bishop and Dean were pelted by the mob, and protests against the English Prayer Book were bitter and universal. Seldom has there been a popular tumult leading to greater results. "It not only suppressed the English Liturgy almost until the nineteenth century, but it gave an impulse to the Civil War of England, which ended in the overthrow of church and monarchy " (Dean Stanley's Lectures on the Church of Scotland). H. was dep. 1st Jan. 1639, for declining the General Assembly, and reading and defending the Service Book. He died before 21st June 1661, when his children had £100 allowed by Parliament, out of vacant stipends, on account of their father's sufferings. He marr. Isobel Brown, who was buried in the Kirk of Holyrood House, July 1674(Canon- gate Beg.),andhad issue—Magdalen ; John ; Martha ; William ; James ; George ; Marion (marr. George Smelholm, servitor to the Earl of Tweeddale : P. C. B., Third Series, i., 517); Isobel. — [Beg. Sec. Sig., Edin. Counc. and Canongate Beg. (Bajrt.) ; Baillie's Lett., i. ; Stevenson's Hist., Peter- kin's Bee, Wodrow's MSS. ; Acts Pari., v., vii. ; Maitland Miscell., ii. ; Charters of St Giles, Lees' St Giles.] ALEXANDERHENDERSONwas born 1639 a^ Guthrie, in the Fife parish of Creich, in 1583. Of his parentage and family history hardly anything is known. Tradition says he was the son of a feuar, and a cadet of the Hendersons of Fordel. In support of the latter statement, his remains lie in the burying-ground of that family in Greyfriars Churchyard, and a contemporary portrait of him is still in possession of a representative of that house. At the age of sixteen he matriculated at St Salvator's College, St Andrews, and took his degree of M.A. in 1603. From 1603 to 1611 he was a Regent of Philosophy, and during that period he completed his course in divinity. He adopted strong prelatic principles, and was a staunch upholder of Archbishop Gledstanes, who afterwards became his patron, and pre- sented him to the parish of Leuchars. His settlement was so unpopular that on the day of his ordination, probably in Jan. 1614, the church doors were found securely nailed up, and he and his friends were obliged to enter by the window. A Communion sermon preached in a neighbouring parish by Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, was the means of changing Henderson's spiritual outlook. Attracted by the fame of the preacher, he slipped (so goes the story) into the darkest corner of the church, hoping to steal out again un- recognised. Bruce chose for his text the words : "He that entereth not by the door," etc. The effect of his earnest appeal won Henderson to the side of Presbyterianism. His first appearance in that connection was at the Perth Assembly of 1618, when he strenuously opposed the Five Articles, not- withstanding the threats of the Govern- ment. In Aug. 1619 he appeared before the Court of High Commission charged with the publication of a pamphlet denouncing the Perth Assembly. But nothing came of the matter, and Hender- son returned to his parish. Of the next eighteen years we know little or nothing. With the memorable year 1637 he reappears on the scene, a keen opponent of "Laud's Liturgy," which King Charles was determined to foist on the Church. Mainly through Henderson's influence the National League and Covenant was signed, 21st Feb. 1638, and he was Modera- tor of the Assembly which met at Glasgow, 21st Nov. of the same year. He received calls to St Andrews, and Greyfriars, Edin- burgh, and was translated to this charge, 10th Jan. 1639. He was appointed a Com- missioner for framing a treaty of peace with England, and was again Moderator in 1639. In Jan. 1640 he was Rector of the University of Edinburgh, and held office for the rest of his life. In 1641 he preached before King Charles at Holyrood, and was made Dean of the Chapel Royal. A third time he was Moderator, 2nd Aug. 1643, and was elected a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He declined the principalship of St Mary's College, St