Fenella stepped forward and said, "Sire,
this is a statue of your Majesty; I have given it the most adorned
place in my castle, that all may perceive in what veneration I hold
you. The apple you behold is intended as a present to you, beloved
monarch--unworthy indeed of your acceptance, yet an expression of the
good-will of the donor. The inserted gems are an emerald, a hyacinth,
a sapphire, a topaz, a ruby, an azure, emitting an antidote against
pestilence and deadly poison." Having thus excited the king's
curiosity, she abruptly left the apartment, seemingly with the
intention of bringing some other strange article for his inspection.
Meantime Kenneth, left alone and charmed with the apple, commenced
handling it. In an instant the secret machinery, being set in motion,
discharged a shower of deadly darts against the king, who fell
mortally wounded on the floor. The traitorous Fenella, rejoicing at
her bloody cruelty, mounted a swift steed and fled far away before her
act of treachery became known. Had she remained in Scotland, a cruel
death would have been her doom, but she escaped to Ireland, and was
lost sight of.

Fenella is reported as pointing out to the king pretended special
virtues, to be found in the gems that ornamented the golden apple. And
no doubt the credulous monarch believed what she said, because we have
it on record, that not only in the tenth century, but long before and
after it, both pagans and professing Christians believed that precious
stones possessed greater virtues than even that which she ascribed to
the settings of her golden apple.

The story of Macbeth and the three witches, noticed in chapter XVII.,
does not require to be repeated. Greater men than Macbeth were wont to
consult fortune-tellers. A Druid told Alexander Severus that he would
be unhappy. Vopiscus relates that the prince, having consulted the
Gaulish Druids whether the empire should remain in his family,
received the answer, that no name would be more glorious in the empire
than that of the descendants of Claudius.

Titus Flavius Domitian, who commanded himself to be called by the
names by which the Most High is known, and who passed the greatest
part of his time in catching flies and killing them with a bodkin,
became suspicious of his best friends, and his fears were increased by
the predictions of astrologers. He was so frightened, that, to prevent
sudden surprise, he caused a wall of shining stones to be built round
t