n an hour, and without any one
being hurt.

The man who raised the panic in the 'Little Church' never came to be
known; but it was believed that he was one of the 'Cubiculars' (as they
were called), or gentlemen of the King's bedchamber, who were annoyed at
the Octavians, on account of the retrenchments made in the King's
household expenditure; and that this _ruse_ had been devised for the
purpose of fomenting the differences between the Octavians and the
ministers.

The action taken by the Court in connection with the riot would have
been ridiculous had its consequences for the Church not been so serious.
Next day the King removed the Court to Linlithgow, and a Proclamation
was made at the Cross of Edinburgh announcing that, owing to the
'treasonable' arming of the citizens, the Courts of Law would also be
removed from the city, and ordering the four ministers and several
prominent citizens of Edinburgh into ward in the Castle, and citing them
before the Council on a general charge. The ministers fled, as Melville
and others had done in like circumstances twelve years before.

In January 1597 the King returned to the capital, and the Estates were
called together to confirm the Acts passed by the Council for punishing
all whom it chose to hold in blame for the riot of the previous month.
In accordance with these Acts, all ministers were to be required, on
pain of losing their stipends, to subscribe a bond acknowledging the
King to be the only judge of those charged with using treasonable
language in the pulpit; authorising magistrates to apprehend any
preachers who might be found so doing, and declaring the King to have
the power of discharging ministers at his pleasure. Vindictive Acts
against the city of Edinburgh were also confirmed. Henceforth no General
Assembly was to be held within its walls; the seat of the Presbytery was
to be transferred to Musselburgh or Dalkeith; the manses of the city
ministers were to be forfeit to the Crown; these ministers were not to
be readmitted to their pulpits, nor any others chosen in their places
without his Majesty's consent; and no magistrates, any more than
ministers, were to be appointed without the royal approval.

At the same meeting of the Estates, arrangements were made for the
restoration of the Popish lords. The contrast between the King's
leniency towards them, and his rigorous and vindictive measures towards
the ministers, plainly advertised the disposition of the