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THE RUDE STONE MONUMENTS OF CORNWALL. 



By R. N. worth, F.G.S., Corresponding Member R.I.O. 



Part II. 



Menhirs. 



It may seem at first sight somewhat strange that circles 

 should have been considered before menhirs — monuments of 

 many stones before those of one. But a circle is not in any 

 antiquarian sense an aggregate of menhirs ; and we shall see as 

 we proceed that the circle is really the most simple form of rude 

 stone monument, and the one which has the most restricted 

 meaning. 



A menhir on the other hand may have many purposes. 

 The difficulty is less in ascertaining what these objects may 

 be, than in deciding which to choose as the special intention 

 in a particular instance. These purposes may be classed as 

 follows : — 



A. Memorial. This is the simplest use of a stone pillar. 

 Hence stones are erected in all ages and in all countries as the 

 silent witnesses of special events, localities, or people. We read 

 the record of the erection of memorial menhirs in the earliest 

 pages of history : we erect them for similar objects now. The 

 column which commemorates the great fire of London, — as that 

 which preserves the memory of the brothers Lander, — but 

 illustrates the sentiment that led to the rearing of Pompey's 

 Pillar or Cleopatra's Needle, or the setting up of the stele at 

 Mizpah. 



And so the modern boundary stone is simply the surviving 

 exponent of a custom which dates from the veriest dawn of 

 civilization ; and the everyday headstone merely the successor 

 of the sepulchral pillars of forgotten races. It mattered not 

 what had to be commemorated — thing, or place or person, the 

 upright stone was at once the plainest, simplest, and handiest 

 means of attaining the end in view, and its adoption to that end 

 is one of the universal instincts of common humanity. 



