Roman Mosaics eBook

Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 484 pages of information about Roman Mosaics.

Roman Mosaics eBook

Hugh Macmillan, Baron Macmillan
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 484 pages of information about Roman Mosaics.
of a nameless fort, and a well which is traditionally said to ebb and flow with the tide.  It was here that the Dalriadic Scots first settled; and Captain Thomas, who is an authority on this subject, supposes that the remarkable relic on Dun Add was made for the inauguration of Fergus More Mac Erca, the first king of Dalriada, who died in Scotland at the beginning of the sixth century, and to have been the exact measure of his foot.

King in his Munimenta Antiqua mentions that in the island of Islay there was on a mound or hill where the high court of judicature sat, a large stone fixed, about seven feet square, in which there was a cavity or deep impression made to receive the feet of Macdonald, who was crowned King of the Isles standing on this stone, and swore that he would continue his vassals in the possession of their lands, and do impartial justice to all his subjects.  His father’s sword was then put into his hand, and the Bishop of Argyle and seven priests anointed him king in presence of all the heads of the tribes in the Isles and mainland, and at the same time an orator rehearsed a catalogue of his ancestors.  In the year 1831, when a mound locally known as the “Fairy Knowe,” in the parish of Carmylie, Forfarshire, was levelled in the course of some agricultural improvements in the place, there was found, besides stone cists and a bronze ring, a rude boulder almost two tons in weight, on the under side of which was sculptured the mark of a human foot.  The mound or tumulus was in all likelihood a moot-hill, where justice was dispensed and the chieftains of the district were elected.  In the same county, in the wild recesses of Glenesk, near Lord Dalhousie’s shooting-lodge of Milldam, there is a rough granite boulder, on the upper surface of which a small human foot is scooped out with considerable accuracy, showing traces even of the toes.  It is known in the glen as the “Fairy’s Footmark.”  There can be no doubt that this stone was once used in connection with the ceremonial of inaugurating a chief.

A similar stone, carved with a representation of two feet, on which the primitive chiefs stood when publicly invested with the insignia of office, is still, or was lately, in existence in Ladykirk, at Burwick, South Ronaldshay, Orkney.  A local tradition, that originated long after the Pictish chiefs passed away, and a new Norse race, ignorant of the customs of their predecessors, came in, says that the stone in question was used by St. Magnus as a boat to ferry him over the Pentland Firth; while an earlier tradition looked upon it as a miraculous whale which opportunely appeared at the prayer of the saint when about to be overwhelmed by a storm, and carried him on its back safely to the shore, where it was converted into a stone, as a perpetual memorial of the marvellous occurrence.  In North Yell, Shetland, there is a rude stone lying on the hillside, on which is sculptured with considerable skill the mark of a human foot.  It is known in

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Roman Mosaics from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.