In the parliament now sitting, some noticeable acts were passed. One
decreed that ‘nae person carry forth of this realm ony gold or silver,
under pain of escheating of the same and of all the remainder of their
moveable guids,’ merchants going abroad to carry only as much as they
strictly require for their travelling expenses. Another enacted, that
‘nae person take upon hand to use ony manner of witchcrafts, sorcery,
or necromancy, nor give themselves furth to have ony sic craft or
knowledge thereof, therethrough abusing the people;’ also, that ‘nae
person seek ony help, response, or consultation at ony sic users or
abusers of witchcrafts ... under the pain of death.’ This is the
statute under which all the subsequent witch-trials took place.
A third statute, reciting that much coal is now carried forth of the
realm, often as mere ballast for ships, causing ‘a maist exorbitant
dearth and scantiness of fuel,’ forbade further exportations of
the article, under strong penalties. In those early days, coal was
only dug in places where it cropped out or could be got with little
trouble. As yet, no special mechanical arrangements for excavating it
had come into use. The comparatively small quantity of the mineral
used in Edinburgh--for there peat was the reigning fuel--was brought
from Tranent, nine miles off, in _creels_ on horses’ backs. The above
enactment probably referred to some partial and temporary failure
of the small supply then required. It never occurred to our simple
ancestors, that to export a native produce, such as coal, and get money
in return, was tending to enrich the country, and in all circumstances
deserved encouragement instead of prohibition.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: JULY 2.]
Henry Sinclair, Bishop of Ross and President of the Court of
Session--‘a cunning and lettered man as there was,’ remarkable for
his ‘singular intelligence in theology and likewise in the laws,’
according to the _Diurnal of Occurrents_--‘ane perfect hypocrite and
conjured enemy to Christ Jesus,’ according to John Knox--left Scotland
for Paris, ‘to get remede of ane confirmed stane.’ This would imply
that there was not then in our island a person qualified to perform
the operation of lithotomy. The reverend father was lithotomised by
Laurentius, a celebrated surgeon; but, fevering after the operation, he
died in January 1564-5: in the words of Knox, ‘God strake him according
to his deservings.’
[Sidenote: 1563.