Note 41 — PART I.

Boece gives with great gravity the following extravagant account of the holy origin of the oily well of Liberton:—“Nocht two milis fra Edinburgh (says he) is ane fontane dedicat to Sanct Katrine, quhair sternis of oulie springis ithandlie (where drops of oil rise constantly) with sic abondance, that howbeit the samin be gaderit away, it springis incontinent with gret aboundance. This fontane rais throw ane drop of Sanct Katrinis oulie, quhilk was brocht out of Mount Sinai, fra hir sepulture, to Sanct Margaret, the blessit Queene of Scotland; and als sone (as soon) as Sanct Margaret saw the oil spring ithandlie, be divine miracle, in the said place, she gart big ane chappell (made be built a chapel) there in the honour of Sanct Katherine.”—Bellenden’s Translation of Boece’s Hystory and Chroniklis of Scotland, p. xxxviii.