A cubic inch of the substance of which the stones are composed, weighing, according to my experiments, one ounce, six pennyweights, the ponderosity of the entire trilithon, will be found to be nearly seventy tons. The impost alone is considerably more than eleven tons in weight. The stone which was projected about two feet beyond the supporters, made an impression in the ground to the depth of seven inches or more; it was arrested in its tendency to roll by the stone it struck while falling. The supporters of course have not sunk so deep; indeed one of them fell on a stone belonging to the second circle, which I at first supposed to have been thrown down by it, but which from recurring to the plans of the prior state of the structure, I find has long been prostrate.

The immediate cause of this memorable change in the state of Stonehenge, must have been the sudden and rapid thaw that began the day before the stones fell, succeeding a very deep snow. In all probability the trilithon was originally perfectly upright, but it had acquired some degree of inclination long before the time of its fall. This inclination was remarked by Dr. Stukeley, though it was not so considerable, I think, as is represented in his north view of Stonehenge. One of the supporters had lost much of its original bulk, in consequence of corrosion by the weather, near its foundation; this circumstance also rendered it less secure. As both had so inconsiderable a depth in the ground, a sudden though slight diminution of the pressure of the latter against the inclining side must appear to have been fully sufficient, on account of the shock which the impost would suffer, to occasion the downfall of the whole.

We do not find the precise time of any alteration prior to this upon record. It is therefore probable that none may have happened for several centuries, and the late accident being the only circumstance ascertained with

exactness, may be considered as a remarkable æra in the history of this noble monument of ancient art."

During the past year unusual attention was directed to these remarkable mémorials of antiquity, by a congress of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, held in the neighbouring city of Salisbury. Some very interesting investigations were then prosecuted in regard to the remains of ancient times. Several sepulchral barrows were opened, and their singular deposits of urns, weapons, and personal ornaments brought to light. But the most laborious and costly operation consisted in carrying a tunnel through Silbury Hill, a vast artificial earth-pyramid which rises to a height of one hundred and seventy feet above the surface of the plain. The immense proportions of this singular structure, which covers an area of five acres and thirty-four perches of land, had led many to expect that it might prove to be a chambered tumulus, revealing contents of value proportionate to its unequalled dimensions. In this, however, they were disappointed, and it is now generally assumed that we must look upon Silbury Hill, not as a monumental struc. ture, but rather as what is termed in Scotland a Moat Hill, or Hill of Justice, from whence law was dispensed, and the decisions or sentences of the judges announced to the people.

Such are some of the interesting and instructive memorials of the past still lingering among the ruins of many lands, and preserving so many striking records of the history of the elder world. If we proceed to investigate them in the mere spirit of curiosity hunters, valuing them merely because they are strange and rare, or unlike what we have been accustomed to, we shall reap little profit or abiding interest from the study. But when we have learned to behold in every relic of the past the eloquent record of former generations; the evidence of how they lived, and

thought, and planned; of what progress they had attained in arts and civilization, and of what rank they occupied in the scale of nations; then we may be considered to have discovered an entirely new field of research. We have learned, in some degree, to read the Book of Nature as well as the Book of Revelation, finding in it evidences of God and of his works which elevate the understanding and enlighten the mind. In this new field of research we may be considered to open up another book, the Book of Art, the record of God's dealings with man, the evidence of the rise, the progress, and the ruin of empires, and the manifestation of the fulfilment of prophecies written by inspired penmen ere some of the nations that have since perished had a being. They are greatly differing records, yet all teach the same truths. All present to us the same Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, controlling the works of creation and the destinies of man, and guiding the whole purposes of his vast and immeasureable dominion in accordance with unerring beneficence and wisdom.

THE END.

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