to kindle into a flame on the first puff of popular dissatisfaction.



CHAPTER XVIII--THE SUPPRESSION OF THE FAIRS



The spirit by which the Smeddumites were actuated in ecclesiastical
affairs, was a type and taste of the great distemper with which all
the world was, more or less, at the time inflamed, and which cast
the ancient state and monarchy of France into the perdition of
anarchy and confusion. I think, upon the whole, however, that our
royal burgh was not afflicted to any very dangerous degree, though
there was a sort of itch of it among a few of the sedentary orders,
such as the weavers and shoemakers, who, by the nature of sitting
long in one posture, are apt to become subject to the flatulence of
theoretical opinions; but although this was my notion, yet knowing
how much better the king and government were acquainted with the
true condition of things than I could to a certainty be, I kept a
steady eye on the proceedings of the ministers and parliament at
London, taking them for an index and model for the management of the
public concerns, which, by the grace of God, and the handling of my
friends, I was raised up and set forward to undertake.

Seeing the great dread and anxiety that was above, as to the
inordinate liberty of the multitude, and how necessary it was to
bridle popularity, which was become rampant and ill to ride, kicking
at all established order, and trying to throw both king and nobles
from the saddle, I resolved to discountenance all tumultuous