as false the teaching of transubstantiation in the sacrament, that is, the changing of the bread and wine into the actual blood and flesh of Jesus. They taught that the ordinary believer could arrive at true doctrine by reading the Bible for himself and that celibacy for priests and nuns was unnatural and wrong.

The Lollard movement went underground after a futile rebellion in 1414. There was a nucleus of Lollards In Ayrshire which seems to have merged into the Covenanter movement in Scotland in later years. The Covenanters were a militant wing of Presbyterianism. In 1560 while Sir Patrick Houston III pursued his turbulent career as baron of the estate in Renfrewshire, Protestantism was established as the national church of Scotland, and Catholic worship was prohibited by law.

But the religious issue was not settled. During these and earlier times, bitter religious wars were fought, some being civil conflicts and others between nations as one monarch after another attempted to force the religion which he espoused upon his subjects and even upon other nations. First these wars were between Protestants and Catholics, but when Protestantism was established in Britain, the struggle continued. Now it was the Episcopal or English National Church against the Presbyterians and their militant arm, the Covenanters.

The close friendship of the Houstoun barons with the royal family of Stewart might have had some influence on their religious leanings. The Stewarts remained Catholic throughout their history though some of them found it expedient to support the Episcopal Church of England. The Houstoun barons for a time seem to have remained loyal to the religion of the reigning sovereign, whether Catholic or Episcopal, but other Houstons, who had spread over the Scottish Lowlands, embraced the Presbyterian faith. The barons soon followed.

The wealthy Sir Patrick Houstoun IV, mentioned in an earlier chapter, drew the wrath of the Covenanters. On one occasion the Covenanters set up a "conventicle," an outdoor religious meeting, near his castle. The baronet sallied forth with his armed retainers and drove them off his land. The Covenanters took refuge on a more friendly estate and heaped Houstoun with such maledictions as "ungodly prelatist" and "man of sin." He was even accused of having dealings with the devil and bringing evil upon the faithful adherents of the Covenant.

However, Lady Houstoun, the former Ann Hamilton, was