Bjf William Long, Esq. 59 



Within this outer circle, and at an average distance of 9 feet from 

 it was an inner circle, composed of thirty or forty pillars of syenite 

 and other primitive rocks, each about 4 feet in height, and one foot 

 in breadth. These stones, of which more will be said presently, were 

 of a different geological character from that of the stones composing 

 the outer circle, and those composing the five trilithons (or groups of 

 three stones) which formed the "adytum," or more important portion 

 of the entire structure. Of this circle there remain but few stones 

 standing upright, and they are rude and irregular in shape, and ap- 

 parently unwrought. 



Within this circle again was a group of grand trilithons, five in 

 number, arranged in horse-shoe form ; one, the highest, immediately 

 behind what is called the " altar-stone," and two on either side, 

 those more distant from the central trilithon being of a lesser height. 

 The standing stone of the lower trilithon of this group, on the 

 right-hand side of the entrance, is 16 feet 8 inches high, 7 feet 

 6 inches wide, and 3 feet 10 inches thick. This stone seems to 

 have been much honeycombed at its base by the weather. The Duke 

 of Buckingham, temp. James I., appears to have wrought the down- 

 fall of the most important group, of which the parts are now either 

 reclining, or prostrate upon the " altar-stone," which they have 

 broken in their fall. The reclining stone is 22 feet 6 inches in 

 height; the once associated upright, now broken and recumbent, 

 was 21 feet high above ground, and had 4 feet in addition, which 

 formed its basement and kept it upright. The impost is 144 

 feet long and 4 feet 8 inches thick. The uprights of the tri- 

 lithon which the gipsies helped to overthrow, are each about 21 feet 

 6 inches long, and about 7 feet 6 inches wide, and 3 feet 6. inches 

 in depth. The transom is 15 feet 9 inches long, and 5 feet in width. 



Allowing 2 4 feet for the part imbedded in the ground, the average 

 height of these grand trilithons must have been, without the im- 

 posts, about 18 feet, and with the imposts, about 22 feet. 



The innermost ellipse of stones consisted of about 15 or 19 stones of 

 an average height of 8 feet, and of syenitesimilar to someof thoseof the 

 inner circle. They are, as Sir R. C. Hoare says, much smoother and 

 taller than those of the inner circle of small stones, and incline to 



