aters."

Belief in clairvoyance and prophecy was quite common among the Lowland
Covenanters; and I believe _Peden's Prophecies_ may still be found among
the lumber of the book-shops. An old lady, in Irvine, once repeated to
me the following couplet, as having been uttered by Peden:--

"Between Segton and the sea
A bloody battle there shall be."

Now, as Segton is the old name for Kilwinning, it would seem that the
locale of the battle (probably, as the lady, indeed, thought, the battle
of Armageddon) will be _in the immediate neighbourhood of the site at
present occupied by Nobell's Dynamite Factory_.

ANTIQUITIES OF DUNVEGAN.

_Taisch_ has taken me a long way from Dunvegan, of which I meant to say
something. No souvenir is to me more delicious than that of some days
spent there, on one of which I visited the fine old castle of the
Macleods, stablished on its rocks, and filled with romance from base to
topmost turret. On the landward side are lawns, flowers, and abundance
of eye-gladdening leafage, while, seaward, there is the unspeakable
glory of isle-dotted loch and distant sea. By the kindness of Macleod of
Macleod (you must not call that grand and most genial gentleman by any
more garish title: he is _the_ Macleod; he typifies the clan--that is
his highest glory), I visited the delightful old castle and saw every
room, relic, and dirk of importance. What gave me the most pleasure was
the illuminating commentary of Macleod himself and of his charming
daughters. One cannot hear the history of some of the rooms without a
feeling of terror. In the drawing-room of the castle (the room now used
for prayers, and well it may be,) a horrible outrage was planned to take
place by Black Ian, a usurping chief. The atrocious deed happened in the
middle of the sixteenth century, and was due to Ian's fear that the
Campbells, who had landed with a large force in Skye, would expel him
from Dunvegan castle. Ian, pretending that he wished to discuss terms,
invited eleven of the leading Campbells to a banquet. At table, Macleods
and Campbells were seated side by side; and, at a given signal, which
consisted in placing a cup of blood in front of each guest, all the
Campbells were simultaneously stabbed to death, each Macleod
exterminating his man. I was glad to get out of that drawing-room.

The main relics in the castle are: (1) The Fairy Flag; (2) Rory Mor's
Drinking-horn; and (3) the Dunvegan Cup.

It is not as well