untrustworthy, and lost in the veriest and silliest fiction. In regard to a nation's ignorance of its own history, especially and not very creditably peculiarly applicable to Scotland, one of the greatest of the ancients expresses himself thus, that "Not to know what has happened before one's birth, is to be always a child." And again that "to him none seemed to have any claim to learning, who were ignorant concerning the affairs of their own country." The foundation of the early history of any country should be carefully and critically examined; for as a celebrated historian most truly remarks, "how is it possible that, while the beginnings are false, the rest should prove true?" Such a task requires great research, unflagging patience, and indomitable industry, keen critical acumen, variety of information, and persistent, continuous labour. But this incessant drudgery and extreme stretching of the powers of the mind, is at first very irksome and exceedingly painful, for in the truthful words of Thucydides, "amongst most men, even the investigation of truth. is impatient of labour; so that they rather have recourse to what is next at hand."

Learning in Scotland being thus degraded and neglected, it was not till the beginning of the last century, that the study of antiquities made any progress in that country. While in the sixteenth century, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany had produced several eminent antiquaries, and Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, had almost rivalled, if not eclipsed them in the next, Scotland remained barren of, and undistinguished by, antiquarian lore, and isolated by its ignorance of the sciences, from all the other civilized nations of Europe. The best, as well as the weakest writers, seemed to have despised the name and province of an antiquary, ignoring the bright examples of Cato, Varro, Cæsar, in ancient times; and of Luther, Melanchthon, Spelman, Selden, Du Cange, Leibnitz, and Muratori, in modern.

When the science of antiquities, however, began to be

cultivated, the first great enquiry ought to have been, whether the barbaric monuments in Britain were either Celtic or Gothic. Without examining at all the foundation. and taking as their guide those very points which have been proved to be entirely false and illusory, antiquarians have rushed at once to the conclusion that they are all Celtic, while the truth is all on the other side, that they are Gothic. Save cairns of stones used as sepulchres, and as memorials of ancient monuments by the British Scots, there are none. This may be attributed to Celtic inaction and indolence : while the activity and industry of the Gothic raised vast stones for the same purposes, instead of heaping together an insignificant number of small ones. The Celts, according to all ancient history and present knowledge of their habits of life, were a race utterly incapable of labour, far less adept in the rude arts. No stone monuments can anywhere be traced among them. The Goths, on the contrary, originating from Asia, where the rude as well as the cultivated arts, first began, were only a barbaric race, with barbaric arts from the beginning. The antiquities of the Picts, the Gothic inhabitants of Scotland, may, according to Pinkerton, be classified thus:

I. Single Stones erect; being 1. Sepulchral; 2. Memorial ; 3. Boundaries.

II. Barrows or Sepulchral Hillocks.

III. Temples, and Places of Judgment.

IV. Castles.

V. Caves.

VI. Entrenchments.

Meigle, the quiet secluded village we are now approaching, is beautifully situated in the very heart of Strathmore. Beneath the friendly shadow of the umbrageous woods of Belmont and Kinloch, it unostentatiously reposes in all the richness of its sylvan beauty. Its name may have been derived from the circumstance of the church and manse being situate on a tract of level ground between two marshes or

"gills," giving rise to the word, Midgile or Meigle. Little of its ancient history is known. Boece, however, notices it when alluding to the monument erected there to the memory of the faithless wife of the fabulous King Arthur. It is certain it was a burying-place before the introduction of Christianity. The sluggish Dean and the impetuous Isla, water the north-west boundary of the parish, and the placid rivulet called Meigle burn, flows gently around its southwestern borders, the whole parish being in the highest and most beautiful state of cultivation, and the crops rich, varied, and abundant.

Kinloch House, Drumkilbo, and Meigle House, in the immediate neighbourhood of the village, embosomed in extensive woods, and pleasantly situated, contribute greatly to the rural and architectural adornment of the district. Belmont Castle, the seat of Lord Wharncliffe, about a mile south of the village, is a large and very elegant quadrangular building, the venerable old tower of the ancient pile being happily incorporated with the modern mansion. In Belmont Park there is a tumulus called Beliduff, which, like so many other fabulous places associated with the death of Macbeth and its attendant circumstances, tradition assigns as the spot on which that monarch fell in combat with Macduff. This popular tradition is still tenaciously adhered to, in defiance of the historical fact, that Macbeth was slain at Lumphanan or Lunfanans in Aberdeenshire. About a mile distant stands a large, erect block of whinstone, of nearly twenty tons in weight, called Macbeth's Stone, said to be monumental of one of his chief officers. This conjecture differs from the former, inasmuch as it has at least the air of probability about it, for although Meigle be now proved not to have been the place where Macbeth fell, it may, nevertheless, have been the scene of some of his many battles.

To the scholar and antiquarian, however, the churchyard of Meigle which we are now entering, must prove the most interesting spot in the parish, containing as it does the remains

of the famous sepulchral monument of Vanora, or Guinevar, wife of the renowned King Arthur. According to tradition, Arthur lived in the beginning of the sixth century; was conquered in battle by the Picts and Scots;-and that Vanora was detained as a prisoner for some time at the fortified castle of Barryhill in the neighbouring parish of Alyth, about three miles distant from Meigle. Tradition relates further, that Vanora, during her husband's absence, proved unfaithful to him, having held an unlawful intercourse with Mordred, a Pictish King; that Arthur when he returned, enraged at her infidelity, caused her to be torn to pieces by wild beasts; and that she was buried at Meigle where a monument has been erected to perpetuate her infamy.

The account of these doubtful circumstances chronicled by Geoffrey of Monmouth, differs very considerably from the above commonly received local tradition. According to this authority, the origin of King Arthur occurred in this wise. When the Saxons were laying waste our Island, but before they had made themselves masters of it, the Britons were ruled by a wise and valiant King, named Uther Pendagron. One of the most eminent of his nobles was Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, whose wife Igerna was a woman of exquisite and surpassing beauty. At one of the royal feasts of Easter, Gorlois was present with his lady. The king, who had never seen her before, immediately fell violently in love with her, and manifested his passion so openly that Gorlios took away his wife abruptly, and went home with her to Cornwall without asking for Arthur's leave. To punish his offending vassal, the enraged king led an army into Cornwall. Conscious of his inability to resist the King in the field, Gorlios shut up his wife in the impregnable Castle of Tintagel, while he took shelter in another castle, where he was immediately besieged by Uther. Borrowing the main incident from classical history, Geoffrey relates further, that during the siege, Uther, with the assistance of his magician, Merlin, obtained access to the beautiful Igerna in the same manner as Jupiter approached Alcmena,

namely, by assuming the form of her husband; and that the consequence was the birth of the child who was destined to be the Hercules of the Britons, and who when born was named Arthur. In the sequel, Gorbios was killed, and then Uther married his widow.

Such, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the origin of King Arthur. On the death of Uther, Arthur, it is said, was unanimously chosen to succeed him, and was crowned at Silchester.

In recounting the stirring events of Arthur's life and reign, Geoffrey alludes to his wars with the Saxons, when he crushed the Picts and Scots to such a helpless condition that they took shelter in the Islands of Loch-Lomond, and there made their peace with him. He next conquered Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, the Orcades, Norway and Denmark. He afterwards subdued the whole of Gaul, the prolonged conquest occupying nearly nine years.

Arthur, at this time, according to the same authority, being in the full zenith of his power, was suddenly startled by a peremptory summons from Lucius Tiberius, the "Procurator" of the republic of Rome, to restore to Rome the provinces which he had unjustly usurped on the Continent, and also to pay the tribute which Britain had formerly paid to the Imperial power. At a great council held it was resolved to retort by demanding tribute of Rome, and to march an army immediately into Italy to subdue the Imperial city.

Arthur entrusted the government of Britain to his nephew, Modred, and his queen, Guanhumara, and then embarked at Southampton for the Continent.

The army of Britain soon encountered the Romans, who had advanced into Gaul to meet them. After much fighting, and great slaughter on both sides, the Romans were driven out of the country with the loss of their Commander, Lucius Tiberius, who was slain by Arthur's nephew, Walgan, the Gawain of later romance.

Disastrous news from Britain reached the King when on his