140 



great cycle of the Egyptians, Indians, and Druids, consisting of six 

 hundred and sixty years. 



Besides this astronomical character, the circle also bore a second, 

 a commemorative character; alluding, as is explained by Taliessen, 

 the bard and mythological historian of Wales, whose assertions are 

 confirmed and illustrated by the researches of our oriental scholars 

 in the Sanscrit sacred books, to the deluge, and the events connected 

 with it. The early erections seem to have been a species of hiero- 

 glyphic, a symbolic record of those great events : the high place 

 represented Mount Ararat ; the cave, the dark interior of the ark : 

 the ark was called the world, because in it were preserved man and 

 all creatures : the cave, or cella, was also called the world, because 

 it represented the ark : in the same spirit the huge stones composing 

 the circle pourtrayed the mountain tops, as they appeared around 

 Ararat, when the flood had partially subsided, and the Ark re- 

 mained wedged between the two peaks of the mountain.* Some 

 circles seem to have expressed both ideas ; some may have been 

 simply astronomical, while others possibly were wholly of the com- 

 memorative character. In New Grange the latter may be traced — 

 the artificial high place representing Mount Ararat: within it the 

 cave typifying the inside of the ark resting on the mountain side ; 

 while the outside circle of stones was expressive of the mountain 

 tops. When the people anciently assembled for the performance of 

 their idolatrous rites in such places, surrounded as they were by the 

 hallowed forest, it may easily be conceived how different their 

 appearance was from what they present in their now denuded 

 state : then the deep shade of the consecrated grove, relieved only 

 by the ruddy glare from the sacred fi^re, which indistinctly displayed 



• Origin of Pagan Idolatry, p. 1 90, vol. I., where this subject is amply discussed, and various 

 authorities given. 



