o," or else the
former part of the alternative was duly carried out, as the bishop's seat
remained at Dunblane, and Inchaffray was denied its only opportunity of
elevation to cathedral rank.

[Illustration: Inchaffray]

The next event of interest connected with the Abbey is the pilgrimage of
the Abbot Maurice to Bannockburn. Every schoolboy can tell the story,
for no annals of Scotland omit to record his presence and service when
the rival hosts stood face to face for a huge trial of strength and
valour. But probably it is not quite so well understood that much of the
glorious success which crowned the Scottish arms was popularly attributed
to the fact that the monk carried with him the arm of St. Fillan. A
legend is that St. Fillan, when Abbot of Pittenweem, transcribed with his
own hand the Holy Scriptures, and that his left arm became so luminous
that it enabled him to proceed during darkness with his pious work.
Lesly asserts that this wonderful limb afterwards came into the
possession of Robert Bruce, who enclosed it in a silver shrine, which he
commanded should be borne at the head of the army. Previous to the
battle, a story has it, the King's chaplain (Maurice), with the view of
preserving the treasure from all chance of abstraction by the English,
had it removed and deposited in a place of security. While, however, the
King, unaware of what had been done, was addressing his prayers to the
empty casket, it was observed to open and shut suddenly. On inspection,
the Saint was found to have himself returned his luminous member to its
place as an assurance of victory. The writers of the Statistical Account
of Maderty thus express themselves--"This relic might, indeed, have given
some encouragement to the superstitious; but one arm of a brave Scotchman
fighting in earnest for the liberty of his country had more effect in
obtaining that memorable victory than could have been produced by the
innate virtue of all the relics of the dead that could have been
collected." If these critical authors had been less anxious to square
truth with orthodoxy, and not orthodoxy with truth, they would have known
that where the entire force was "superstitious" the influence of the
sacred arm would enormously intensify soldierly enthusiasm, and that it
is impossible to define its comparative share in the result. Robert
Bruce, indeed, appears to have been sensibly impressed by the good
offices of the sacred relic, and attested