parish, Perthshire, which gave name to the estate of St Fink and the hill of St Fink rising to the height of 918 feet above the sea. The name appears as St Phink in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, where we read: "There was anciently a chapel at St Phink, dedicated to that saint, a small part of the foundation of which still remains. It had been surrounded with a burying-ground, out of which the present proprietor's father dug some human skulls, inclosed between four square stones." 1 The lands connected with the chapel lay to the east of the confluence of the Ericht and the Isla.2

The Nine Maidens, in virtue of their being sisters, are unique in Scottish hagiology; but it is not uncommon to find maidens associated in groups. Thus in the train of St Boniface a certain number of bishops and other clerical attendants are mentioned along with two virgins, Crescentia and Triduana. In one of the legends of St Regulus reference is made to three virgins from Collossia, viz., Triduana, Potentia, and Cineria. In connection with the early ecclesiastical settlements at St Andrews, we are told that in the church of St Muren were fifty virgins of the blood-royal dedicated to God, and veiled eleven years.4 In the last instance is clearly indicated the germ of that conventual life which we find fully developed in the later mediæval nunnery. That the story of the Nine Maidens and their father laid hold on the imagination of the dwellers in the North-East of Scotland, is indicated by a salutation made in quite modern times to a Buchan farmer who had nine daughters: "James, James, good luck to you! you are as rich as St Donevald." 5

1 N.S.A., Perth, p. 1188.

20.S.A., vol. xix. p. 359.

Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i. p. 277, and vol. ii. p. 275.

* Chronicles of Picts and Scots, p. 187. On the Continent we have St Ursula and her 11,000 virgins, who, according to a wildly romantic legend, were martyred by the Huns at Cologne (Baring-Gould's Myths of the Middle Ages, pp. 317-40).

5 Pratt's Buchan, p. 206, n.

IV.

NOTES ON A BRASS TABLE CLOCK BEQUEATHED TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND BY THE LATE HUGH J. ROLLO, W.S., AND A SILVER-CASED TABLE CLOCK BEQUEATHED TO THE SOCIETY BY THE LATE LADY JANE DUNDAS. BY ALEXANDER J. S. BROOK. F.S.A. SCOT.

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland received last year, by a bequest of the late Hugh J. Rollo, W.S., a large gilt brass clock; and also, in April 1898, by a bequest of the late Lady Jane Dundas, a silver alarum repeating clock-watch.

There is neither an authentic history nor even a traditional story attached to these, and the subject is perhaps more suitable for a horological society; but as the clocks in themselves are exceedingly interesting, and are exhibited in our Museum, they have been thought worthy of being described.

The first of them is in the shape of a large watch, and measures 5 inches in diameter, 3 inches thick, and weighs about 7 lbs. avoirdupois (fig. 1). It has a gilt brass case, elaborately pierced and engraved all over, the primary purpose of the pierced work at the back and rim being to emit the sound freely.

Both the back and front are domed, the front cover where the glass of a watch is usually fixed being very open and pierced by a series of eccentric circles. On the back (fig. 2) is a circular shield decorated with a battle- or siege-scene in cast relief work, surrounded by a border of pierced ornament of a slightly Gothic character. There is attached to the rim a loop and ring for suspending the clock.

The dial is gilt brass, elaborately chased and engraved. Outside the hour chapters is a large circle divided into four, with little brass knobs at each quarter, and these quarters are again divided into fifteen subdivisions to represent the minutes. The hour chapters are in ordinary Roman figures inside the quarter circle, and they also have little brass

knobs immediately above them. This would enable a person in the dark to tell the hour by feeling the hands and comparing them with the knobs, and it would also be suitable for use by a blind person. Inside the outer circle of Roman numerals is a circle of Arabic figures beginning with 13 under one o'clock and running up to 24. of the circle is ornamented with a sun in splendour. minute-hands are made of steel.

The inner part

Both hour- and

The movement is a complicated one, striking the hours and quarters on two bells. The larger of these bells, which lies neatly inside the case, is struck by the hour hammer, and the smaller or quarter bell lies in the inside bottom of the larger one. This last is in the shape of a shallow saucer, as it must of necessity occupy little space. The larger bell is also pierced for the emission of the sound of the smaller one which lies inside it. The movement, which is jointed to the case, when shut down occupies the space inside the larger bell.

From this brief description an idea may be formed of the arrangement of the movement, and bells inside the case, where the space is economically utilised. The plates of the movement are of gilt brass, and the wheels of the quarter and striking train of steel. It is evident that at one time one of the wheels in the quarter train has been injured and has been replaced by a brass one. The wheels of the going train are all brass. The escapement is that known as the verge, which, although varying in detail, is the earliest form of escapement with which we are acquainted. It is also fitted with a brass balance and an ordinary steel balance spring.

In this clock there is no fusee to control the force of the spring, although this was invented as early as 1525, but in its place there is applied to the going train an earlier contrivance known as the stackfreed (fig. 3). This was meant to regulate and equalise the motive force, as a spring fully wound up is very much stronger than when nearly run down. It is not of the usual shape met with, and may be regarded as an improved form. It consists of a strong curved spring, with a roller at its extreme end, resting on a snail which revolves as the