Download files
Complete book:
Individual page:
Thumbnail gallery: Grid view | List view
THE CORONATION STONE. 17
The stone now lies under the seat of the Coronation
Chair. It is not much to look at, being a rough block
of dark grey sandstone, roughly squared, and measuring
26 inches in length, i6f inches in breadth and loj inches
in depth.
Logan says that it appears to be that sort found near
Dundee, but we prefer to go with Dean Stanley who
wrote: — "The iron rings, the battered surface, the crack
which has all but rent its solid mass asunder bear witness
to its long migrations."
There are sermons in stones no doubt, but oh ! what
a sermon could this stone speak if it had the faculty.
Compared with man, whose years are "as the grass that
withereth" or as "a tale that is told," its age connects
the present with the most distant pagan past. For two
thousand five hundred years it has witnessed the
crowning of Kings, Pagan and Christian. Even
usurpers and protectors did not act before first sanctifying
and securing their position by some ceremony in which
this ancient relic was brought into legal requisition. It
is a connecting link in a long chain of Kings that takes
us back from the very present and the metropolis of the
world, through the various capitals of Scotland to the
"Blessed Isle" itself. Then it takes us through Europe
to the Holy Land, a connection which no loyal Scotsman
wishes to sever.
But wherein it particularly interests is in the fulfil-
ment of its prophetic story, so well expressed in a Gaelic
verse, which, translated into English, reads: — "The
race of the free Scots shall flourish, if this prediction is
not false. Wherever the Stone of Destiny is found they
shall prevail by the Right of Heaven."
Oh, stone!
The stone now lies under the seat of the Coronation
Chair. It is not much to look at, being a rough block
of dark grey sandstone, roughly squared, and measuring
26 inches in length, i6f inches in breadth and loj inches
in depth.
Logan says that it appears to be that sort found near
Dundee, but we prefer to go with Dean Stanley who
wrote: — "The iron rings, the battered surface, the crack
which has all but rent its solid mass asunder bear witness
to its long migrations."
There are sermons in stones no doubt, but oh ! what
a sermon could this stone speak if it had the faculty.
Compared with man, whose years are "as the grass that
withereth" or as "a tale that is told," its age connects
the present with the most distant pagan past. For two
thousand five hundred years it has witnessed the
crowning of Kings, Pagan and Christian. Even
usurpers and protectors did not act before first sanctifying
and securing their position by some ceremony in which
this ancient relic was brought into legal requisition. It
is a connecting link in a long chain of Kings that takes
us back from the very present and the metropolis of the
world, through the various capitals of Scotland to the
"Blessed Isle" itself. Then it takes us through Europe
to the Holy Land, a connection which no loyal Scotsman
wishes to sever.
But wherein it particularly interests is in the fulfil-
ment of its prophetic story, so well expressed in a Gaelic
verse, which, translated into English, reads: — "The
race of the free Scots shall flourish, if this prediction is
not false. Wherever the Stone of Destiny is found they
shall prevail by the Right of Heaven."
Oh, stone!
Set display mode to: Large image | Transcription
Images and transcriptions on this page, including medium image downloads, may be used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence unless otherwise stated.
Early Gaelic Book Collections > Ossian Collection > Romance of the Highlands > (43) |
---|
Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/81816141 |
---|
Description | Selected books from the Ossian Collection of 327 volumes, originally assembled by J. Norman Methven of Perth. Different editions and translations of James MacPherson's epic poem 'Ossian', some with a map of the 'Kingdom of Connor'. Also secondary material relating to Ossianic poetry and the Ossian controversy. |
---|
Description | Selected items from five 'Special and Named Printed Collections'. Includes books in Gaelic and other Celtic languages, works about the Gaels, their languages, literature, culture and history. |
---|