ANTIQUITIES. 



ments of the Druids: 1. Single stones 

 erect, 2. Rock idols and pierced stones. 

 3. Rocking-stones, used as ordeals. 4. 

 Sepulchres of two, three, or more stones. 

 5. Circular temples, or rather circles of 

 erect stones. 6. Barrows, or tumuli. 7. 

 CronVieehs, or heaps of stones. 8. Rock- 

 basins, imagined to have been used in 

 Druidic expiations. 9. Caves, used as 

 places of retreat in time of war. But as 

 most of these relics may also be found in 

 Germany and Scandinavia, it is difficult to 

 say whether they are Gothic or Celtic ; 

 and as the Germans had no Druids, we 

 cannot, witn any degree of certainty, be- 

 stow the name of Druidic upon such 

 monuments. It is highly probable, that 

 the earliest inhabitants, as is ever the 

 practice in the inf.mcy of society, made 

 use of wood, not of stone, in their religi- 

 ous as well as in their domestic erections. 

 If we survey the various savage regions of 

 the globe, we shall seldom, if ever, per- 

 ceive the use of stone ; and it is certainly 

 JUSL to infer, that the savages of the west 

 were not more skilful than those of the 

 east, nor those of the old continents and 

 islandsthan those of the new. But as many 

 of these monuments are found in Germa- 

 ny, Scandinavia, and Iceland, and as the 

 Icelandic writers in particular of*?n indi- 

 cate their origin and use, which are un- 

 known in thc j . Celtic records, there is eve- 

 ry reason to attribute them to a more ad- 

 vanced stage of society, when the Belgic 

 colonies introduced agriculture, and a lit- 

 tle further progress in the r:de arts of bar- 

 barism. The nature of this work will not 

 admit a formal investigation of such to- 

 pics, but a few remarks may be offered on 

 Stonehenge, a stupendous monument of 

 barbaric industry. Inigo Jones, in attempt- 

 ing to prove that it is Roman, only evin- 

 ces that no talents can avail when science 

 is wanting, and that antiquities require a 

 severe and peculiar train of study. Doctor 

 Stukely, a visionary writer, assigns Stone- 

 Jienge to the Druids ; while Dr. Charlton, 

 perceiving that such irioniiments are found 

 in Denmark, ascribed it to the Danes. If 

 the latter had considered, that the Bclgse 

 were a Gothic nation, of similar language 

 and institutions, he might with more jus- 

 tice have extended his antiquity. From 

 the Icelandic writers we learn, that such 

 circles were called domh-riuyr, that is, lite- 

 rally, doom-ring, or circle of judgment, 

 being the solemn places where courts 

 were held, of all kinds and dignities, from 

 the national council down to the baronial 

 court, or that of a common proprietor of 

 land, for adjusting disputes between his 

 villani and slaves. The magnificence of 



Stonehenge loudly pronounces that it was 

 the supreme court of the nation, equiva- 

 lent to the Champs de Mars et de Mai of 

 the Franks, where the king and chiefs as- 

 sembled in the circle, and the men capa- 

 ble of arms in the open plain ; nor is it 

 improbable that the chiefs ascended the 

 transverse stones, and declared their re- 

 solves to the surrounding crowd, who, in 

 the description of Tacitus, dissented by 

 loud murmurs, or applauded by clashing 

 their shields. This idea receives confir- 

 mation from the circumstance, that the 

 Belgae, peculiarly so called, as hi- Ing the 

 chief and ruling colony of thai, jeople, 

 were seated in the surround:! 1 ., pi .ivincc, 

 and Sorbiodunum, now Old Sarum, was 

 their capital city. Similar ci.-cles of stone, 

 but far inferior in size, are found in many 

 parts of Great Britain and Ireland, and se- 

 veral undoubtedly as late as the Danish in- 

 roads and usurpations, the practice being 1 

 continued by that people at least till their 

 conversion to Christianity, in the tenth and 

 eleventh centuries. Some of the smallest, 

 as we learn from the northern antiquaries, 

 were merely places of family sepulture. 

 At a later period, the circles of judgment, 

 which had been polluted with human sa- 

 crifices and other Pagan rites, were aban- 

 doned, and the great courts were held on 

 what were called moot -hills, or hills of 

 meeting, many of which still exist in the 

 British dominions and in the Netherlands. 

 They commonly consist of a central emi- 

 nence, on which sat the judge and his 

 assistants ; beneath was an elevated plat- 

 form for the parties, their friends and 

 conpurgators, who sometimes amounted 

 to a hundred or more ; and this platform 

 was surrounded with a trench, to secure 

 it from the access of the mere spectators. 

 Of the other monuments of this period a 

 more brief consideration naust suffice. 

 When a monarch or distinguished general 

 was buried, a barrow or hillock was erect- 

 ed, to preserve his name and memory to 

 future ages; the size depending on the 

 reputation of the person, which attracted 

 a smaller or larger number of operators. 

 Such monuments are very ancient, and 

 even to this day denote the sepulchres of 

 some of the heroes of the Trojan war. In 

 later times, a large single stone erected 

 was esteemed a sufficient memorial : such 

 single stones also sometimes appear as 

 monuments of remarkable battles, or 

 merely as boundaries. The caves are 

 familiar to most nations in an early state 

 of society. The Belgic reliques are follow- 

 ed by those of the Romans, which arc 

 mostly objects of mere curiosity, and rare, - 

 Jy throw the smallest light on the page 



