the nobility in the pulpit, to put violent hands, and slay all churchmen
that will not concur and adopt their opinion. They only reproach my Lord
Duke" (the Archbishop's brother), "that he will not begin first, and
either cause me to do as they do, or else to use rigour on me by
slaughter, sword, or, at least, perpetual prison." {177a} It is probable
that the Archbishop was well informed as to what the bigots were saying,
though he is not likely to have "sat under" them; moreover, he would hear
of their advice from his brother, the Duke, with whom he had just held a
long conference. {177b} Lesley, Bishop of Ross, in his "History,"
praises the humanity of the nobles, "for at this time few Catholics were
banished, fewer were imprisoned, and none were executed." The nobles
interfering, the threatened capital punishment was not carried out. Mob
violence, oppression by Protestant landlords, Kirk censure, imprisonment,
fine, and exile, did their work in suppressing idolatry and promoting
hypocrisy.

No doubt this grinding ceaseless daily process of enforcing Truth, did
not go far enough for the great body of the brethren, especially the
godly burgesses of the towns; indeed, as early as June 10, 1560, the
Provost, Bailies, and Town Council of Edinburgh proclaimed that idolaters
must instantly and publicly profess their conversion before the Ministers
and Elders on the penalty of the pillory for the first offence,
banishment from the town for the second, and death for the third. {177c}

It must always be remembered that the threat of the death penalty often
meant, in practice, very little. It was denounced, under Mary of Guise
(February 9, 1559), against men who bullied priests, disturbed services,
and ate meat in Lent. It was denounced against shooters of wild fowl,
and against those, of either religious party, who broke the Proclamation
of October 1561. Yet "nobody seemed one penny the worse" as regards