‘... it was ordainit by the ministers, exhorters, and readers of this
realm, that they should begin ane public abstinence fra that day aucht
hours afternoon, whilk was Saturday, unto Sunday at five hours at
even, and then to take but bread and drink, and that in ane sober
manner, during the whilk time the people to be occupiet in prayers
and hearing the word of God; and as meikle to be done the next Sunday
thereafter, for to pray to the eternal God that he wald saften and
pacify his angry wrath whilk appearandly is come upon us for our sins,
and specially that God wald inform, mollify, and make soft the hearts
of our sovereigns towards our nobility whilk are now banished in
England....’--_D. O._
These nobles were meanwhile arranging very active measures by the arm
of flesh to bring about the desired change. Before the second fast
had taken place, Riccio lay cold with his fifty-six wounds in the
ante-chamber of Holyrood, the palace was in the hands of Morton, and
the exiled lords had returned to Edinburgh.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: 1566.