CUP, DIVINATION BY, a mode of foretelling events, practiced by the ancient Egyp tians, and still prevailing in some of the rural districts of England and Scotland. One of the eastern methods consisted in throwing small pieces of gold or silver leaf into a C. of water, in which also were placed precious stones, with certain characters engraved upon them. The infernal powers were then invoked, and returned answer. either in an intelligible voice, or by signs, on the surface of the water, or by a repre sentation in the C. of the person inquired about. By the modern method, a person's i fortune is foretold by the disposition of the sediment in his tea-cup after pouring out the last of the liquid. Few people now, however, even among the most ignorant, have implicit faith in the oracle.
a t. on the borders of Perthshire and Forfarshire, and partly in both, is situated on the left bank of the Isla, a tributary of the Tay, 12i m. e. by n. from Perth, and 16 in. w.n. w. from Dundee. It lies between the Grampian and Sidlaw hills, in the center of the valley of Strathmore, and from its position in this valley it is popularly called " the capital o the Ilow.v Pop, in 1871, 2,149. It has extensive linen manufactures, with a considerable traffic in timbers Near the town are the remains of two Roman camps, on one of which stand the ruins of a monastery, built in 1164 by Malcolm IV., and destroyed at the reformation. Recent excavations have exhumed numerous richly-carved tombstones is the grave-yard contigimits to the parish church, evidently those that hail marked. the,graves of the ringient,digniggies of the monastery.
The abbey revenue in 1362 was .t1234 14s. 9d. in money, and 182 chalders of victual. The classic bill of Dunsinane is situated about 5 m. to the s.w. of Cupar-Angus, and the dilapidated castle of ,the bold Pitcur," who fell in the battle of Killiecrankie, in 1689, is within a distance of 2 miles., a royal, parliamentary, and municipal burgh, and the co. t. of Fife shire, near the middle of the peninsula of Fife, on the Eden, 9 in. from its mouth, 32+ m. u. of Edinburgh, and 14i s. of Dundee. It lies in a beautiful vale, stretching e. and w., with a range of hills on the s., and a fertile country, with wooded eminences, on the north. It consists chiefly of two streets at right angles to each other. Pop. '71, 5,015. The chief manufactures are linens, bricks, and earthenware. It contributes, with St. Andrews, East and West Anstruther, Crail, Kilrenny, and Pittenweem, to return one mem ber to parliament. A fortress of the Macduffs, thanes of Fife, once stood on a mound called the ,Castle hill, at the c.. end of the town. In, former times, religious shows, mysteries, or moralities, were acted on a green esplanade in front of the castle, still called the Play-field. There also was acted the Three Eqtates, a celebrated satire on the priesthood, which hastened the religious revolution, and was written by sir David Lindsay; whose estate of the Mount was near the town.