said to be wrought upon those who devoutly frequented it. Pilgrimages continued to be made to the shrine of St Ninian down to the period of the Reformation. In a letter of King James V. of Scotland to the Pope, the king states that pilgrims from England, Ireland, the Isles, and adjoining countries came yearly in flocks to St Ninian’s shrine at Whithorn. That notable pilgrim King James IV. made special pilgrimages to this famous shrine, and his Treasurer has preserved an account of his disbursements on these occasions. From it we learn that the king made offerings in money ‘at the Rude Altar; at the fertir (or shrine) in the outer kirk; at the reliques at the Hie Altair; at the Lady Altar; and in the chapel on the hill—at ilk place xiiis. 4d.’ And in 1505 he offered also ‘ane relique of the king’s awn silver’ of considerable weight and value. The number of dedications to St Ninian, scattered over the whole country from the remotest Northern and Western Isles to the Mull of Galloway, bear testimony to the widespread devotion to his memory which once pervaded the Scottish Church. The removal of a portion of the wall of the choir of the old church of St Congan at Turriff in 1861 brought to light a fresco-painting of St Ninian, robed as a bishop, with mitre and pastoral staff—the only relic of pre-Reformation work of the kind that has been discovered in Scotland. Neither in his _Life_ nor in any ancient document has any reference been found to the occupation of the cave at Physgill by St Ninian; but Sulpicius Severus, who wrote a Life of St Martin of Tours, mentions that he had a little cell in the rock at Marmoutier to which he was accustomed to retire for prayer and meditation, and that many of his disciples also dug cells in the rock and took up their abodes in them. St Ninian being a disciple of St Martin, there is reason to conclude that in this respect he would follow the example of his master. But apart from this consideration, it is certain that from a very early period this cave has been traditionally associated with his name, and that this association was the reason for converting it into a chapel, where services would be held on the saint’s anniversaries, pilgrimages performed, vows paid, and offerings presented. It is not unlikely that in its earlier days the chapel may have been ministered to by a resident recluse, as was often the custom in similar circumstances. For instance, we are told by Bower, the continuator of Fordun’s _Chronicle_, that in crossing the Firth of Forth in the year 1123, King Alexander I. was driven by stress of weather to land on the island of Inchcolm, ‘where at that time lived an island hermit, who, belonging to the service of St Columba, devoted himself sedulously to his duties at a little chapel there, content with such poor food as the milk of one cow, and the shells and small sea-fishes he could collect.’ It is suggestive, too, that one of the