CROMLECHS. 341 



stone, we find it is still a practice among the peasantry at 

 Colombiers, in France, for young girls who want hus- 

 bands, to climb upon the cromlech called the Pierre-levee, 

 place there a piece of money, and then jump down. At 

 Guerande, with the same object, they deposit in the 

 crevices of a Celtic monument bits of rose-coloured wool 

 tied with tinsel.' 



' Cromlech,' however, really means Druid's altar. The 

 Celtic mythology, amongst others, had Esus or Crom^ who 

 was the creator of the world, and was represented by a circle 

 of stones, an emblem of the infinite. From this name was 

 derived ' Cromlech ' or Crom-lekh.^ Mr Davies thinks 

 that the spaces under the cromlechs were used as the places 

 where aspirants to the office of Druid were imprisoned 

 during, or previous to, their initiation into the mysteries of 

 this religion. 'This opinion,' says Mr Roberts,^ ' seems to 

 be confirmed by the name of a cell near the Ridgeway 

 and the White Horse, in Ufiington parish. It is called 

 Wayknd Smith, a corruption, I presume, of a Welsh 

 name " Gwely," or " Wely-anesmwyth," that is, the uneasy 

 bed. I know of no more probable origin of the name, 

 and this explanation bears with it a signification of no 

 small moment, as to the use to which it was probably 

 applied. In Cardiganshire (Wales) there is a kind of 

 cist-vaen called " Gwely Taliesin," which no doubt was 

 intended for a similar purpose.' 



Mallet,'^ we know, asserts that the tradition relating to 



' Wright. The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon. 

 "^ H. Martin. Hist, de France, vol. iii. p. 58. 

 3 Popular Antiquities of Wales, p. 45. 

 ■* Northern Antiquities. Note. 



