and songs of joy, they hail the utmost exaltation of that luminary, as the supreme triumph of the symbol of the god of their adoration.” a

Cooke, in his Enquiry, &c. has given us a particular account of Abiry 8 ABIRI, Potentes, signifying in the language of the founders, THE MIGHTY ONES; of whom the whole was an emblematical representation. Speaking of this amazing work of Abiry, he says, "than which a grander and more extensive design scarce ever entered into the imagination of man; and which, when in perfection, was, without question, the most glorious temple of the kind which the world has ever heard of.” Dr. Stukely, in a letter to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. dated March, 1766, states, that the immense work of Abury, cannot be less than 3000 years old: and is so large, that the whole village of Abury is now contained within its circumference. Of Stonehenge, Cooke says, "When you enter the building, and cast your eyes around on the yawning ruins, you are struck into an ecstatic reverie, which none can describe, and they only can be sensible of that have felt it. Other buildings fall by piece-meal, but here a single stone is a ruin. That the Druids were considerable adepts in mechanics, we have very convincing proofs in the stupendous remains of Stonehenge, and other of their works, some single stones, in which are said to be more than forty tons weight! To accommodate great assemblies, whether on religious or civil accounts, the place seems peculiarly adapted; for which purpose I believe the world does not afford a nobler spot. Its situation is upon a hill, in the midst of an extended plain, one hundred miles in circuit; in the centre of the southern part of the kingdom; covered

a Cic. Epis.

with numberless herds and flocks of sheep, in which respect the employment and the plains themselves are patriarchal; where the air is perfectly salubrious and exhilirating, and the yielding turf fine as the surface of a bowling-green. From almost every adjoining eminence the prospect is open into Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and takes in all the lofty hills between Marlborough and Sandy-lane, sustaining the long range of Wandsdyke and the mother church of Abiry. The meaning of its ancient denomination was Choir Gaur.

, choir in the Hebrew tongue, is the Concha marina, or round double sea shell, which very exactly comprehends the idea of circle within circle, and is thence used to signify any lofty pile of building raised in that form. gaur is a gathering together of the people, collectio, congregatio. So that the proper signification of choir gaur, is, the circular high place of the assembly or congregation." a

,כיר גור

The stones of which this temple was composed, according to Dr. Stukely, undoubtedly were brought fifteen or sixteen miles off, prodigious as they are, from those called the Grey Wethers, near Abury on the Marlborough Downs, all the greater stones, except the altar, being of that sort; for that being designed to resist fire, is of a still harder kind; it is a composition of crystals, of red, green, and white colours, cemented by nature with opaque granules, of flinty or stone matter. The stone at the upper end of the cell, which is fallen down and broken in two, the Doctor tells us, weighs above forty tons, and would require above one hundred and forty oxen to draw it, and yet it is not the heaviest stone to be found there. He goes on to give it as his opinion, that

a See Cooke's Inquiry.

D

the building of Stonehenge was not long after the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses, when many of the priests and inhabitants in general dispersed themselves to all parts of the world; and some coming as far as Britain, introduced their learning, arts, and religion amongst the Druids; and perhaps had a hand in this very work, the only one where the stones are chiselled: this was before the second temple of Jerusalem was built, and before the Grecians had any history.

At a place called Biscau-woon, near St. Burien's, in Cornwall, there is a circular temple, consisting of nineteen stones, the distance between each, twelve feet; and a twentieth in the centre, much higher than the rest. The circle of Rollrich-stones, in Oxfordshire, and the Hurlers in Cornwall, are two of those Druid temples.

In Scotland, we meet with numerous traces of Druidical superstition. In the shire of Murray, are many stone circles. One, in Inerallen parish, is full of graves, and was, in the last age, a burial-place for the poor people, and still for unbaptized children and strangers. Another in the Strathspey and parish of Duthell, consists of two circles of stones, and is called Chapel Piglag, from a lady of that name. Within half a mile of it is a small grove of trees, held in such veneration that no one will cut a branch of it. Several Druidical temples, as the people call them, and many cairns, lie on the east side of the Spey. Between Fort-William and Inverness is a circle of stones. Cairns are found on the top of the hill of Dunevan in Calder; to the east of Gateside between Elgin and Forres, on the muir of Urquhart, and in many other places, are great broad heaps of stones, surrounded with stones set on end in the earth, and joined close—some of them have a circle of such stones at the top, and one or more altar-stones within the inner circle. Such a cairn

is to be seen on the muir to the east of Aviemore, in Strathspey.

In the little shire of Mearns, at Anchincorthie, five miles from Aberdeen, are two circles of stones, the exterior twenty-four large paces, consisting of thirteen great stones, besides two that are fallen, and the broad one towards the south, about three yards high and seven or eight paces asunder: the interior about three paces from the other, and its stones three feet high. Twentysix paces east from these circles is a large stone, level with the ground, having a cavity capable of containing near a Scots gallon of water. The other monument, rather larger than this, and about a bow-shot from it, consists of three concentric circles; the stones of the largest are about three yards, and the two others about three feet, and all close together: the innermost circle three paces diameter. One of the stones, on the east side of the largest circle, has at the top a hollow, about three inches broad, running down the side of the stone, as if for libations. Another stone, in the same side of the same circle, standing nearer to the broad stone on edge, which looks towards the south, has a like cavity. The general tradition of the country is, that these circles were places of heathen worship.

On the road from Stonehaven to Montrose, are several remains of the ancient Druids to be traced: one is exceedingly good. In Breadalbane, a part of Perthshire, there are several scattered Druidical circles, called in the Erse language, Tibberd. On the left hand of the road, leading to Taymouth, is a small circle of great stones, thrown down at the foot of the hills; a single stone opposite to it. In Caithness, near Clathron, is a Druidical stone, of stupendous size, set on end. In the highest part of Scotland, there are many traces to be

found among the inhabitants of its ancient customs and superstitions ;-such as the belief of spectres, fairies, elf shots, and unlucky days, the third day of May being a dismal day; the beltein, a rural festival on May-day, preceded by a libation to the evil spirits and noxious animals, a remain of Druidism; another sort of beltein is placing crosses dipped in pottage over the doors of the cattle hovels, on Thursday before Easter; the late-wake, or funeral dance; the coranich, or funeral howl; the prediction of death by the Benshi, or the cries of the fairy's wife where a funeral is to pass : superstitious observances respecting marriage. Much more information on this subject might be collected from Camden's Britannica, by Gough.

The large stones at Stanton-Drew, near the town of Pensford, a few miles from Bristol, are undoubtedly the remains of a Druid temple, which seems to be a stupendous model of the Pythagorean system of the world, constructed with enormous blocks of marble, taken out of Clay-hole, near Wells. Three circles, representing the sun, the earth, and the moon; together with some stones representing the planets, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, are still remaining; and it seems highly probable, that the circles of the sun and moon were used as temples, in honour of those luminaries.

In the island of Lewis, at the village of Classerniss, there is a temple extremely remarkable, and another about a quarter of a mile from it: and commonly two temples stand near each other. East of Dumcruy, in the Scottish isle of Arran, is a circular temple; and south of the same village is another temple, in the centre of which still remains the altar; being a broad thin stone, supported by three other such stones. In the largest island of Orkney, commonly called Mainland, there are like