136 Vestiges of the Earliest Inhabitants of Wiltshire. 



place of some ancient Briton : numbers of them have been levelled, 

 many of those which remain have been sadly mutilated ; but some 

 to this day show astonishing elegance, and the most perfect sym- 

 metry of form. 



It must not however be supposed that every deceased Celt was 

 honoured with so elaborate a tomb : to the chiefs only could sucli 

 respect be paid : ^ while the many would be satisfied to be laid in 

 a trench, and covered with earth ; ^ and thus in digging on the 

 open Down, workmen frequently meet with skeletons, where no 

 vestige of a tumulus exists. This is especially the. case in my own 

 parish of Yatesbury, within sight of the famous temple of Avebury ; 

 for, like Christians of the present day, the Celts loved to lay their 

 bones near the temple, hallowed by their worship. 



Such is the imperfect sketch of the earliest inhabitants of our 

 county, which is all that I am able to pourtray : I am aware that 

 it is but an indistinct outline, and that to some minds the conclu- 

 sions I have arrived at will seem to be based on insufficient evidence. 

 I wish it had been otherwise. I wish it had been possible to have 

 described more accurately and circumstantially the details we all 

 so much desire to know. I wish it were possible to have brought 

 the ancient Britons again upon the field, and to have made them 

 pass in review before my readers. But this was not to be expected. 

 In dealing with such remote and pre-historic times we cannot look 

 for much positive and undoubted evidence : we must be content 

 with such circumstantial testimony, as a fact here, and a fragment 

 there may supply. We must not then approach such a question 

 in too disbelieving a frame of mind : caution indeed in admitting 

 proofs is indispensable, and to jump to conclusions on insufficient 

 grounds fatal to the cause of historic truth : still it should be 

 remembered that even prudence may be carried too far, and over- 

 caution may degenerate into scepticism. 



* Archaeological Journal, vol. vi., p. 377. 

 'Sir R. Hoare's Ancient Wilts, vol. i., 87. Vol. ii., 64, note, 112. Archseo- 

 logical Journal, vol. iii. p. 108. 



