quently met with, and a considerable number of detached oolitic sand-stones of various sizes lie scattered about at no great distance. These are known by the name of Gray Wethers, and from among such the builders of the temple appear to have selected the materials with which it was constructed. Stukeley supposes that Avebury might be the grand national cathedral, while the smaller circles, met with in various parts of the island, may be compared to the parish or village churches. The idea is by no means improbable though we owe more to that writer for his careful survey, taken in 1720, than for any very valuable deductions drawn by him from his observations.

But the most remarkable British monument of this class, and indeed, unequalled by any known structure of the kind in the World, is the celebrated temple of Stonehenge, on the Downs of Wiltshire. Fortunately this remarkable primitive structure has escaped the fate which has befallen Avebury, and there is now good reason to hope that the increasing reverence with which such ancient national monuments are regarded will preserve it from wanton injury. Dr. Stukeley remarks of this temple, writing in 1743;-"Stonehenge stands, not upon the summit of a hill, but pretty near it; and for more than three quarters of the circuit you ascend to it very gently from the lower ground; at a half a mile distance its appearance is very stately, awful, and really august. As you advance nearer, especially up the avenue, which is now most perfect, the greatness of its contour fills the eye in an astonishing manner.”

Stonehenge is inclosed within a circular ditch; after passing which the visitor ascends thirty-five yards before he comes to the work itself. This measure is the same as that which Webb calls one hundred and ten feet, the diameter of the circle; for the area inclosed by a ditch, wherein the temple of Stonehenge is situated, is three times

the diameter of Stonehenge: the distance between the verge of the ditch within side, quite round to the work of the tem ple, is consequently equal to the diameter of the temple.

Upon entering the building, whether on foot or horseback, and casting the eye round upon the yawning ruins, the mind is impressed with a sense of wonder which none can describe, and they only can be sensible of, who have felt it. Other buildings fall by piece-meal: but here a single stone is a ruin, and lies like the haughty car case of a Goliah. Yet there is as much of it undemolished as enables us sufficiently to recover its form in its most perfect state. When we advance farther, the dark part of the ponderous imposts over our heads, the chasm of sky between the jambs of the cell, the singular construction of the whole, and the greatness of every part excite renewed feelings of astonishment.

All writers who allude to the remarkable temple on Salisbury Plain, speak of its gigantic and imposing effect as producing on their minds mingled impressions of surprise and awe. Yet it is hardly necessary to remind the reader that it is a mere wreck of what it once was, when its circles were complete, and its huge masses stood poised in air. Portions of it have fallen at a recent period, and slow as the work of destruction progresses, it is vain to hope that this has the elements of perpetual endurance in it more than any other work of man's hands. The following account of the sudden fall of two of the largest columns, towards the close of the last century, is contained in a letter written by Dr. Manton to Mr. A. B. Lambert: "On the 3d of January 1797, some people employed at plough, full half a mile distant from Stonehenge, suddenly felt a concussion, or jarring of the ground, occasioned, as they afterwards perceived, by the fall of two of the larg est stones and their impost. That the concussion should have been so sensible will not appear incredible, when I state the weight of these stones.

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 en tire 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 pros

trate.

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 memorials 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 structure, 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.

EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY THOMAS NELSON