58 Stonehenge and its Barroioa. 



membered sight ! " ' Mr. Cunnington states that Mr. Purser, 

 of Dublin, verified the same fact some years before (about IS-ii). 

 . This stone acquired the name of the " Friar's Heel'' from the 

 following circumstancCj which must, of course, be received with 

 implicit belief: "The stones of which Stonehenge was composed 

 were standing on the premises of an old woman in Ireland ; and 

 Merlin sent the Devil to buy them of her. He bought them for as 

 much money as she could count during the time of their removal ; 

 which in effect was none at all, for their removal was instantaneous. 

 They were then erected in due order upon Mount Ambre; and the 

 Devil boasted, that nobody would ever be able to tell how the fabric, 

 or any of the parts of which it is composed, came there. But a 

 friar, who had been concealed near the building, overheard the Devil, 

 and replied, * That is more than thee can tell ; ' which so enraged 

 the evil spirit, that he snatched up a pillar and hurled it at the friar, 

 but it only reached his heel and struck him on it. Therefore a nlark, 

 visible on the stone, is to this day called the Friar's Heel." 



Returning to the great structure we observe the group of upright 

 stones with their imposts, over the entrance. It is, with reason, sup- 

 posed that thirty upright stones and thirty imposts, similarly arranged, 

 constituted the outer circle of Stonehenge. It was, doubtless, in- 

 tended that, in so far as possible, the uprights should be so shaped 

 and hewn as to be of the same height and size, the transoms of the 

 same dimensions, and the intervening spaces of the same extent. 

 This, however, could not be rigidly carried out, and accordingly we 

 find that neither the heights, nor breadths, nor interstices, are always 

 the same. The average height of the external uprights is 12 feet 

 6 inches, with an average interval of 4 feet. The imposts were 

 secured to the uprights not only by their own weight, but by mor- 

 tices, which, when filled by the tenons at the top of the uprights, 

 ought to have been able to defy wind or weather, and to a certain 

 extent, the destructive hand of man. The diameter of this outer 

 circle is 106 feet. Of this outer circle seventeen uprights and six 

 imposts retain their original position. 



' Proceedings of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, No. 

 2, p. 73. — See " Notes and Queries," Fifth Series, vol., xiv., p. 83. 



