STONE-HENGB. 



s 



SECTION XXI. 



Stone, henge. 



THIS celebrated monument of antiquity, is of very uncertain 

 date. That it is very ancient is admitted by every one, but its 

 origin, intention, and era, are points of the most doubtful contro- 

 versy. Its situation is on Salisbury-plain, six miles from the city 

 of this name. 



It is described by Camden as a huge and monstrous piece of 

 work, such as Cicero termeth insanem substructionem. For 

 within the circuit of the ditch, he says, there are erected, in man- 

 ner of a crown, in three ranks or courses, one within another, 

 certain mighty and unwrought stones, whereof some are 28 feet 

 high, and seven broad ; upon the heads of which others, like over, 

 thwart pieces, do bear and rest cross.wise, with -mall tenons and 

 mortises, so that the whole frame seenwth to hang : on which ac- 

 count we call it Stone. heng, as our old historians termed it, 

 because of its magnitude, chorea giganlum^ the giant's danrc. 

 The perpendicular stones are called corse-stones, and the over- 

 thwart ones are called cronets. This antiquity says Mr. Inigo 

 Jones, because the architraves are set upon the heads of the up* 

 right stones, and hang, as it were, in the air, is generally known 

 by the name of Stone-heng. The whole work, in general, being 

 of a circular form, is a hundred and ten feet in diameter ; double 

 winged about, without a roof; anciently environed with a deep 

 trench, still appearing about thirty feet broad : so that betwixt it 

 and the work itself, a large and void space of ground being left, 

 it had from the plain three open entrances, the most conspicuous 

 of which lies north.east ; at each of which was raised, on the out- 

 side of the trench, two huge stones, gate-wise ; parallel to which, 

 on the inside, are two others, of less proportion. The inner part 

 of the work, consisting of an hexagonal figure, was raised, by due 

 symmetry, upon the bases of four equilateral triangles, which 

 formed the whole structure. This inner part was likewise double, 

 having within it also another hexagon raised ; and all that part 

 within the trench, situated upon a commanding ground, eminent, 

 and much higher than the surrounding plain ; in the midst of which, 

 upon a foundation of hard chalk, the work itself was placed ; 

 insomuch that, from whatsoever part they came into it, they rose 

 by a hill of easy ascent. In the inmost part of the work is a 

 stone, appearing not much above the surface of the earth, and lying 



