.141 



the rough colossal stones, the ponderous altar, and the mystical 

 cavern temple, must have produced a strong feeling of the myste- 

 rious and the awful. 



The stone-circles were also the temples of judicial assembly 

 where justice was administered, where the great council deliberated 

 on affairs of national importance, and where kings and leaders were 

 elected.* This custom continued in Ireland even to the days of 

 Spencer ;-\- so also in Sweden, so late as 1396, when Ericus, was 

 inaugurated on the great stone in the centre of the circle called the 

 Morasteen, near Upsal.:}: Old Upsal was remarkable for the wor- 

 ship of the primitive gods of Sweden, and the name Upsal is ex- 

 pressive of this circumstance — sal implying the house or portico 

 of the gods, and up, upen or open — thus it signifies the open courts 

 of the gods.§ The religious and judicial character are here com- 

 bined in the most distinct manner. 



The same united character, as belonging to consecrated stones, 

 may also be traced in Scripture. We are told,|| that by the 

 command of the Lord, Joshua pitched at Gilgal twelve stones, one 

 for each of the tribes of Israel ; stones of memorial to future gene- 

 rations, of the miraculous passage of the river Jordan, and of their 

 entrance into the promised land. It is not said that these testimonial 

 stones were placed in a circle ; but from the name Gilgal, which ex- 

 presses circle upon circle, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they 

 were : this term is explainedf to mean the " rolling away the reproach 



♦ Mona Antiqua, 69. — Perhaps this is the origin of the stone tribunal of the Grecians, and 

 of the " set thrones of judgment," mentioned in Psalm 1 29, 6, and in other parts of Scripture- 



t Spencer's View, p. 11. Edit. Dub. 1809. 



:}: Borlace's Antiq. Cornwall. Dr. E. D.Clarke's Scandinavian Travels, ix. p. 216. Octavo 

 Edition. 



§ Ibid. p. 216. 



II Josh. V. 2. . 



IT Ibid. V. 9. 



