[London, Shrine of Edward the Confessor]
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Photograph
Francis Frith & Co.
British, 1859–1971
[London, Shrine of Edward the Confessor]
ca. 1870
Albumen silver print
Image: 6 1/8 × 10 3/8 in. (15.6 × 26.3 cm)
Mount: 9 × 13 1/2 in. (22.9 × 34.3 cm)
Museum accession
1981.1336.0004
Inscriptions Embossed on print, recto BLC: FRITH'S \ SERIES
Inscribed on negative, recto BL: 89. WESTMINSTER ABBEY; Chapel & Shrine of Edward the Confessor.
Newspaper clipping adhered to mount verso TLC: The Stone of Scone \ Christian Science Monitor \ It is a curious history which attaches to \ thos ancient stone, a history half legendary, \ disappearing into the twilight of civilization. \ Edward, during his wars with the Scots, found it in the Abbey at Scone, where for \ years, for centuries if tradition is true, \ the Kings of the Scots had sat upon it, or \ stood upon it at their coronations, in testi- \ mony to the truth of the old Latin proph- \ ecy, \ " Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocumque locatum \ Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibi- \ dem." \ "Unless the fates are faithless found \ And prophets' voice be vain, \ Where'er is placed this stone, e'en there \ The Scottish race shall reign." \ The prophecy has not proven vain, for \ King George is a Sscotsman just as was \ Fergus Mac Erc, who, in the year of grace \ 503, led the Dalriads to the shores of \ Argyle, and started the Dalriadic Dynasty. \ It was this Fergus who, according to the \ legend, induced his kinsman, Murkertach, \ the King of Ireland, to send the stone over \ to him, at Scone, from Tara. The Irish, of \ course, deny this. They insist that the \ Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny, still stands \ on the hill at Tara, and they have maint- \ tained this ever since the twelfth century, \ though they are willing to concede that, \ from the day of the birth of Jesus, it has \ ceased to "roar" whenever the rightful king \ has sat or stood upon it.
Inscribed on negative, recto BL: 89. WESTMINSTER ABBEY; Chapel & Shrine of Edward the Confessor.
Newspaper clipping adhered to mount verso TLC: The Stone of Scone \ Christian Science Monitor \ It is a curious history which attaches to \ thos ancient stone, a history half legendary, \ disappearing into the twilight of civilization. \ Edward, during his wars with the Scots, found it in the Abbey at Scone, where for \ years, for centuries if tradition is true, \ the Kings of the Scots had sat upon it, or \ stood upon it at their coronations, in testi- \ mony to the truth of the old Latin proph- \ ecy, \ " Ni fallat fatum, Scoti, quocumque locatum \ Invenient lapidem, regnare tenentur ibi- \ dem." \ "Unless the fates are faithless found \ And prophets' voice be vain, \ Where'er is placed this stone, e'en there \ The Scottish race shall reign." \ The prophecy has not proven vain, for \ King George is a Sscotsman just as was \ Fergus Mac Erc, who, in the year of grace \ 503, led the Dalriads to the shores of \ Argyle, and started the Dalriadic Dynasty. \ It was this Fergus who, according to the \ legend, induced his kinsman, Murkertach, \ the King of Ireland, to send the stone over \ to him, at Scone, from Tara. The Irish, of \ course, deny this. They insist that the \ Lia Fail or Stone of Destiny, still stands \ on the hill at Tara, and they have maint- \ tained this ever since the twelfth century, \ though they are willing to concede that, \ from the day of the birth of Jesus, it has \ ceased to "roar" whenever the rightful king \ has sat or stood upon it.
