508 Notes of a Gardening Tour in 1833. 



wish we could see greater evidence of among his wealthy and 

 titled neighbours. 



Sept. 2. — Stonehenge. — This ruin of what may be considered 

 a primeval temple of philosophy, of religion, of devotion, or 

 of instruction (for all these we consider to be essentially the 

 same), affords some good hints for garden buildings on a large 

 scale. A circle of pillars, whether square or round, on a large 

 scale, joined by massive architraves, either with or without cor- 

 nices, is a noble and imposing object, and would be so even if the 

 pillars were built of brick, and covered with Roman cement. 

 Such an ornament might form a fine termination to a wooded 

 hill ; and we do not believe there are any which would produce 

 so grand an effect for so small a sum. The ruins of Stonehenge, 

 though exceedingly interesting in an antiquarian point of view, 

 are very deficient in architectural interest. The cause is their 

 utter want of masonic forms and manipulations: if ever the chisel 

 and the rule were employed on these stones, all evidence of it is 

 now gone. To be convinced of the grand effect of masonic 

 forms in giving architectural interest to ruins, we have only to 

 recall to mind the smallest portion of any of the buildings of an- 

 tiquity, which we have seen in Greece or Italy, and compare 

 them with these gigantic fragments. On every square inch of 

 the surface of the former, there is the impress of human labour, 

 and the evidence of the employment of mind. Here we are 

 obliged to search for this evidence, by convincing ourselves, that 

 so many stones could not be placed on end by chance ; and that, 

 though not equidistant, yet still they are so placed as to form 

 something like regular figures. On examining the stones we 

 find they are of three different kinds ; viz. the larger stones of 

 sandstone, the smaller of granite, and two or three stones, in par- 

 ticular situations, of two varieties of limestone. This shows that 

 they have been brought from different places, but still there is 

 wanting that mathematical regularity and uniformity which are 

 the characteristics of masonry ; and we conclude by wondering 

 how savages, that did not know how to hew, could contrive to set 

 such stones on end, and put other stones over them. We state 

 this as first general impressions : after considering them farther, 

 observing the tenons, and the corresponding mortises, and re- 

 flecting on the subject, and on the countless number of years 

 that they must have stood there, we yield to the probability of 

 their having been originally more or less architectural. 



We met here with an artist, Mr. Browne of Amesbury, author 

 of An Illustration of Stonehenge and Ahury. He was sitting in 

 a kind of covered wheelbarrow, the bottom of which formed 

 his seat; a box, which served as the feet of the wheelbarrow, 

 protected his legs, and kept his feet from the ground, while from 

 the sides and back were continued up glazed canvas, so as to 



