244 STONEHENGE AND THE STARS 



still to be seen, namely, the Peak Cavern and 

 Cheddar Caves. The fourth wonder is this : 



" That in some parts of the country the rain is 

 seen to gather about the tops of the hills, and 

 forthwith to fall on the plains," 



which operation of nature one would scarcely 

 expect to meet with in a list of marvels. The 

 second wonder is 



" at Stonehenge, where stones of extraordinary 

 dimensions are raised as columns, and others are 

 fixed above, like lintels of immense portals ; and 

 no one has been able to discover by what mechan- 

 ism such vast masses of stone were elevated, nor 

 for what purpose they were designed." 



Geoffrey of Monmouth (1100-1154), who was 

 Bishop of St. Asaph, gives a picturesque and wholly 

 untruthful narrative of the origin of the monu- 

 ment which was afterwards adopted by that most 

 agreeable chronicler, Giraldus Cambrensis. Ac- 

 cording to this tale the stones were originally set 

 up on the Curragh of Kildare in Ireland, and there 

 known as the " Giant's Dance." Now about 470 

 A.D. Hengist treacherously massacred 460 British 

 chieftains " at the monastery of Ambrius," and 

 Aurelius Ambrosius, desiring to erect a monument 

 to this little army of princes, consulted Merlin, 

 and was advised by him to steal the Giant's Dance 

 from Ireland, a suggestion which seems to lend 

 quite a touch of verisimilitude to an otherwise 

 unconvincing narrative. Further, Merlin told his 

 sovereign that these stones were not originally 



