139 



as that in which some remarkable stones of corresponding character 

 are found at a circular temple called Temple Brian, in the county 

 of Cork.* The same arrangement was followed at Stonehenge, 

 and at Rollrich in Oxfordshire, -f- and may be noticed in Sir Wm, 

 Ouseley's description of the circle and pillar stones near Ddrab in 

 in Persia.^ 



An hundred and twenty feet due south of this circle a third pre- 

 sents itselfj an hundred and thirty feet across. Only forty-three 

 stones of various dimensions remain* forming a perfect circle ; some 

 of them are very small, while one in the north-east part of the 

 circle is seven feet and a half high by five in breadth ; nearly oppo- 

 site to it stands another very little smaller. Many of the intermediate 

 stones have been removed, and a part of the north side of the 

 circumference has been much disturbed by a ditch lately made close 

 to it. The whole of this southern circle is surrounded by a mound 

 about fifteen feet broad and about four feet high, which skirts 

 along the outside edge of the stones, enclosing the area within them 

 as a pit of three or four feet deep.§"^ I '^^ ■>' jf ,,- An-ikr: ::h^ ' rn' 



The number of stones employed in composing these circles varies 

 also ; but it is thought that they expressed periods of time or as^ 

 tronomical epochs.y The most frequent number is twelve, the 

 months of the year: nineteen stones are also common, and are 

 considered to record the cycle of nineteen years. Stonehenge, 

 and some of the greater circles, are computed to have been originally 

 formed of six hundred and sixty stones, which shadowed out the 



* Smith's Histor}' of Cork, II. p. 418. 



f Brewster's Beauties of Ireland, II. p. 470. 



-\. Ouseley's Travels in the East, II. p. 124. . !.' 



§ The Rev. W. L. Beaufort, who measured the whole, and made a plan of the ground. 



H Maurice Ind. Antiq. vi. p. 118. 



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