The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1884-07-09

advantage. Accordingly be ordered chair
to be made for the purpose OF receiving the
stone. His first intention was that the chair
should be made Of bronze, but for some reason
or other il came to be made OF wood, and the
chair so made we can see with our own eyes
to-day. All the Kings and Queens Of England
from that time till now have been crowned in
il, and we know not how far the monarchy
may be indebted for its stability to the virtues
Of the stone which lies beneath the seat. II
was believed to carry with it the fortunes OF
Scotland Il was called the Stone of Destiny.
There was an old Latin couplet which ran TO
this effect
Wherever fate this stone may bring
There Scotsman shall be King.
The prophecy was in suspense for three
hundred years, but everybody saw that 1t
was fulfilled when James the Sixth of Scot
land and the First of England received on
this stone tho crown Of the EngliBh realm.
But the stone had far more wonderful his
tory. II was said TO be the stone which Jacob
took for his pillow on the way from Beer
sbela 10 Padan-aram, when he saw in 4 vision
a ladder reaching up TO heaven, and the an
gels ascending and descending thereupon. Nor
was there any doubt as to the way in which
the stone reached its destination in Scone
Abbey. Anyone can understand how it might
get from Palestine into Egypt. Jacob per-
haps took it there himself when he went TO
visit his son Joseph. At Joseph's death pos
sibly Pharaoh got possession of his effects.
At any rate q sprightly youth, uamed Gatholus,
ia declared to have married Scotia, the daugh-
ter of Pharaoh, aud the pair having a mind
TO seek their fortunes in foreign lands set sail
from Egypt, taking the stone along with them.
1t almost looks like a case of elopement. Here
the tradition gets a little mixed. According
TO enc account Gatholus and Scotia made direct
for Ireland, and taking a valorous crew on
board went on to Scotland, which they in
vaded and conquered. The Scots, 1t is said,
in keeping with this legend, derived their
name from Pharoah's daughter. We are to
assume, as we may do without any great
violence to probability, that the lady and her
husband agreed TO sit upon the stone, per-
haps by turns, when they were crowned the
monarchs Of Scotland, if they were so crowned,
and that their posterity thought fit TO follow
their example. According to another account,
after Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea
Gatholus took the stone to Spain; while still
another version, leaving Pharaoh and Gatholus
ont of the stofy, merely says that the stone
was found in Spain, where it had served as
the coronation stone Of the Spanish Kings
There is here a further bifurcation Of the
legend. According to one story. Milo, the
King OF the Scots in Spain, assuming that
there were Scots and Spain, gave it to his son,
Simon Brek, the first King Of the Scots in
ireland, who placed it on the hill Of Tara,
where it remained till Fergus, the son of Eric,
took IL with him TO Scotland, when he con-
quered that country, and finally deposited it
in the Abbey OF Scone According to the al
tentative story, Simon Brek fished up the
-. r II \ ! & 4.
il with him from Spain. The history of the
coronation stone has been investigated by the
most eminent antiquarians Of Scotland, and
their researches tell US everything that is or
can be known respecting il. We can trace
the stone no further back than Scone Abbey.
There it undoubtedly was in the eleventh or
twelfth centuries, and the Scottish Kings
were crowned upon it. So long as it remain
ed in Scotland there ls nothing on record re-
specting its legendary origin. 1t was only
when the stone was taken to-England that its
miraculous fortunes began TO be recounted.
According 10 Mr. Burtun, the beginning of its
mythical history is found in the pleadings laid
before the Pope 10y Baldred Bsset some years
after Edwards invasion. 1t was his business
to do justice to the antiquity of the Scottish
realm; and as Edwards scribes had traced
the claims of the English Crown TO the rights
Of primogeniture enjoyed by Locrinus, the
eldest son of Brutus the Trojan, who lived in
the days of Eli and Samuel, it was clever
stroke OF Baldred Bisset to identify the Stone
Of Destiny with the stone on which Jacob had
rested his head at Bethel. This was to outdo
the antiquity OF King Edwards claims By
goodness knows :how many centuries. The
account Of Bsset's pleadiugs is found in the
chronicles of Williams of Rishanger, work
of the fourteenth century. This, be it UNDER
stood, is the earliest intimation we have Of
the wonderful history belonging to the stone
which was then in Westminster Abbey, and ii
goes no further than the legend about Jacobs
pillow. When a beginning had once beer
made the legend grew amazingly. John Of
Fordun, who lived some years later, brings in
the story Of King Milo of Spain, and his SOL
Simon Brek. The Irish part of the legend i,
trst met in Hector Boecc, who wrote his his.
tory of Scotland 1927, He is the father Of the
legends which formerly played so notable q
part in Scottish history. 1t is to his facilC
invention that we owe the long series of fabu-
lous Scottish Kings whose portraits, painted
and paid for at so much the square foot in the
reign OF William Ill, furnish much mIrth &c
those who visit the palace of Hollywood. The
good fellows who act as guides and servitorE
there know the mythical character of the pic
ture heroes consigned to their keeping, and
do not attempt to keep grave countenance
when they tell the traditional story. 1t is
well known that the Scottish Kings traced
their descent TO the Dalriadic Scots, who came
over from ireland, bringing their name along
with them, and settled in Argyllshire in 49s
What moro natural than TO assume that as the
Kings Of later date were crowned on this
stone in Scone Abbey, the oldest Of the Kings
brought it over with him from ireland, where
of course it had served similar purpose al
the coronation Of Irish Kings from time i'm
memoriaR There is one fact to be set against
this very large and unauthorized assumption.
Aidan, great grandson of the Fergus who
brought over the Scot colony in the year lust
named, was cousecrated King of the Dalriadic
Scots by st COLUMBIA. we have an account of
the ceremony, but we hear nothing about this
stone, of which good deal would have been
made had it existed and possessed the history
and the virtues since ascribed to it. Once
transport to ireland, in the vision Of the legen-
dairy historian, it linked easily on to the chain
Of Irish tradition till it got back to Spain and