ralleled purity of life:
David's two grandsons, Malcolm IV. and William, and William's son and
grandson, Alexander II. and III., were noble Catholic kings. Thus did
the influence of this saintly queen extend {168} over the space of
two hundred years and form monarchs of extraordinary excellence to
rule Scotland wisely and well.

St. Margaret died on the 16th of November at the age of forty-seven.
Her body was buried with that of King Malcolm, who had been killed in
battle only four days before her own death, in the church they had
founded at Dunfermline. At the Reformation her relics were secretly
carried into Spain, together with the remains of her husband, and
placed in the Escurial. Her head, with a quantity of her long, fair
hair, was preserved for a time by the Scottish Jesuits at Douai. The
sacred relics disappeared in the French Revolution. Fairs on the
saint's feast-day, known as "Margaretmas," were held at Wick,
Closeburn (Dumfries shire) and Balquhapple (now Thornhill) in
Kincardineshire. St. Margaret's Well at Restalrig near Edinburgh, was
once covered by a graceful Gothic building, whose groined roof rested
on a central pillar; steps led down to the level of the water. It is
thought to have been erected at the same period as that covering St.
Triduana's Well in the same place. {169}

When the North British Railway required the spot for the building of
storehouses, the well-house was removed to Queen's Park, where it
still stands, but the spring has disappeared (see October 8th).
Innocent XII. at the petition of James VII. (and II.) in 1693, placed
St. Margaret's feast on June 10th, the birthday of the King's son
James (stigmatised the "Old Pretender"), but Leo XIII., in 1898,
restored it for the Scottish calendar to the day of her death.

18--St. Fergus, Bishop, 8th century.

This saint, a Pict by nationality, is said to have been for many
years a bishop in Ireland. Moved by a desire to benefit the pagans of
the northern districts of Scotland, he left Ireland and returned to
his own land, accompanied by a few priests and clerics, and settled
in Strathearn. Here he founded three churches, which he dedicated to
St. Patrick. Passing north wards he visited Caithness, and after
preaching the Gospel there for some time he travelled to Buchan,
where he built a church at Lungley, a place afterwards known as St.
Fergus. Finally {170} he moved on to Glamis, in Forfarshire, where he
founded another church, and it