London Stoi 



' heid stones ; that is standing stones. And again, another manu- 

 script gives us the following proclamation by a man and his wife, con- 

 cerning some land of which they had been unlawfully deprived, as fol- 

 lows : " Then it is that I, the aforesaid Edward, to make known that I 

 and my spouse, Jonet of Ska, at ting and stone, divers days and years in 

 the borough of Kirkwall, and in and to land where it effected, we made 

 it known that Barnet of Kamsto and his heirs and had taken and vio- 

 lently possessed and one-half of the profits these manyyears, pertaining 

 to my said wife's mother, Katherine of Papley." Now, these extracts 

 go to prove that the sale of land was made in the tyng or head court ; 

 and that it was also necessary that notice of the seller's intention 

 should be given at the stone, in the parish in which these lands were 

 situated ; and it is further evident that these courts had been held at 

 the " Heid stone," or standing stone, and that one was so intimately 

 associated with the other that a "court" and a "stone" became 

 synonymous ternm 



Scone, which was an oval-shaped rising ground or hillock, having on 

 the top a flat area of about one hundred yards by sixty, and situated 

 near the palace of Scone. Here the kings held their parliament; for 

 history tells us that Eobert II was crowned at Scone on the 2Gth of 

 March, 1371, and on the following day convened the prelates, earls, 

 barons and nobles before him, "the king sitting as use is, in the royal 

 seat upon the mount of Scone." And another parliament was held 

 by Robert III in the same place. These parliaments consisted of what 

 were called the two estates of Scotland, the barons and the higher 

 clergy. The stone, as you all know, is in the coronation chair at 

 Westminster Abbey, and in it all the kings and queens of England, 

 since the time of Edward I, have been crowned. Without placing 

 full credence in the tradition that it was the identical stone upon 

 which Jacob laid his head, on the night of his memorable dream, we 

 may acknowledge that it was brought to Scotland by Fergus, king of 

 Ireland, some three hundred and thirty years before Christ, and that 

 from an early period it was certainly used in the coronation of the 

 Scottish kings. It was the custom of all the Celtic tribes to inaugu- 

 rate their kings upon a sacred stone, which was supposed to symbolize 

 the monarchy. And when Edward carried this sacred stone to Eng- 

 land, he committed the worst outrage he could possibly commit upon 

 the feelings and hopes of the people. And so intimately was it con- 

 nected with the idea of a national independence that its loss was con- 

 sidered as equivalent to a loss of their independence; and they would 



