DRUIDIC REMAINS. 75 



perfect barn, although they had the old church as a model 

 before them, and the tombstones, covered with absurd inscrip- 

 tions, are painted white, yellow, or black, according to the taste 

 of relatives ; and to crown all, a cenotaph, the property of the 

 Marquis of Bute, is built in rude courses of rough stone, plas- 

 tered, < harled,' painted white, and slated on the top. I wonder 

 any one's bones, far less those of one of the aristocracy, could 

 repose in peace under so abominable an erection. Were I pos- 

 sessed of one tithe of the Marquis's property, I should level it 

 to the ground as fast as possible. In the east end of the island, 

 as probably you have learned from mother's letters, there are 

 the remains of an old Catholic chapel. There is nothing very 

 particular about this ruin ; it has the Saxon circular arch, and 

 in one case the zig- zag arch ; it is not, however, very large. In 

 a wood near, a circle of stones is mentioned as the remains of a 

 Druid temple, and from the immense Cyclopean stones which 

 have been employed in the erection, it is highly probable it was 

 so built. It was certainly with very curious feelings of mingled 

 fear and awe I stood within the circle where centuries ago the 

 unhallowed rites of the Druids were carried on in the deep 

 shadow of close woods ; where often the sacred mistletoe bough 

 must have been carried in solemn procession, and the reeking 

 blade sheathed in the quivering heart of the human victim. 

 How true is the sacred declaration, that ' the dark places of the 

 earth are full of cruelty.' Egypt, a country situated under a 

 tropical sun, a fair valley where rain never fell, a region of 

 strange customs and mental habits, and Scotland, in the same 

 era, a wild and uncivilized remote region of the earth, ' where 

 savage men more savage beasts pursued,' however different in 

 other respects, were assimilated in this, that the great prominent 

 features of their religion were the same, ' lust and blood ;' in 

 both licentiousness rioted over mankind, and in both the human 

 victim was slaughtered to appease the avenging gods. 



" In the long nights when sitting within doors, we have not 

 been idle. We have conjointly edited an ' Agricultural Eeport 

 for Bute,' in which we are very eloquent on drains ; ' An Essay 

 on Mental Haziness ;' ' A Love Letter from a Eothesay Gaelic 

 Minister to his Chere Amie ;' and finally, I have, at Mr. C.'s 



