148 APPENDIX. 



PRIMITIVE TEMPLKS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



The British Islands, and the portion of the continent adjacent to them, abound 

 in ancient monuments, closely allied to those under consideration. They have 

 been very accurately investigated and described by Camden, Borlase, Douglas, 

 Hoare, Cunnington, Higgins, Deane, and numerous others; and the world is familiar 

 with their character. The researches of these investigators have directed upon 

 them all the lights of erudition. Availing ourselves at once of the results of their 

 labors, we apply them to the elucidation of the mysterious monuments of our own 

 country. 



The analogies which exist between one class of ancient British remains and a 

 corresponding class of American structures, have already been briefly pointed out. 

 There is, however, another large division, more numerous and more interesting 

 than these, of widely different form and manifestly different design. These con- 

 sist, for the most part, of circular structures, of greater or less dimensions, com- 

 posed of earth or of upright stones placed at short distances apart. These circles 

 are sometimes of great size, embracing many acres of ground ; but most are of 

 moderate dimensions, corresponding in this as generally in other respects with 

 those of this country. They are regarded by all well informed British antiquaries 

 as religious in their origin, and connected with the ancient Druidical system. This 

 conclusion is not entirely speculative, but rests in a great degree upon traditional 

 and historical facts. Borlase observes, " The grandeur of design, the distance of 

 the materials, the tediousness with which all such massive works are erected, all 

 show that they were the fruits of peace and religion." " That they were erected," 

 says Hoare, " for the double purpose of civil and religious assemblies, may be 

 admitted without controversy. They were public edifices, constructed according 

 to the rude fashion of the times, and at a period when the Deity was worshipped 

 in the most simple and primitive manner, under the open canopy of heaven." — 

 (^Ancient Wiltshire, Vol. II., p. 122.) Caesar, writing of the Druids, is understood 

 to allude to their sacred structures in the following terms : " Druides, certo anni 

 tempore, considunt in loco consecrato. Hiic omnes undique qui controversias liabent 

 conveniunt, eorumque judiciis decretisque parent.'''' — (^Ccesar, de Bella Gallico, Lib. VI.) 

 " Once a year the Druids assemble at a consecrated place. Hither such as have 

 suits depending flock from all parts, and submit implicitly to their decrees." It 

 need not be added, that the Druids were priests and judges, the expounders of 

 religion and the administrators of justice ; they were entrusted with the education 

 of youth, and taught the motions of the stars, the magnitude of the earth, the 

 nature of things, and the dignity and power of the gods. They officiated at sacri- 

 fices and divinations ; they decided controversies, punished the guilty, and rewarded 

 the virtuous. Their power was superior to that of the nobles, over whom they 

 wielded the terrors of excommunication from a participation in the imperative rites 

 of their religion. They centred in themselves the occult learning of the day. 



