145 



By the Rev. A. C. Smith, M.A. 



Head before the Society at Avebuiy during the animal Meeting at Marlborough, September, 1859. 



" Unchanged it stands : it awes the lands 



Beneath the clear dark sky ; 

 But at what time its head sublime 



It heavenward reared, and why — 

 The gods that see all things that be 



Can better tell than I." * 



flYINGr as I do, though not quite under its shadow, yet 

 ^y, within sight of Silbury, I feel in some degree locally consti- 

 tuted its guardian, and if I hear of any one impugning its purpose, 

 or in any way speaking disrespectfully of the great mound, I have 

 such a wholesome dread of incurring the wrath of the " genius 

 loci," that I consider myself in duty bound to act in some sort as 

 its champion, and rebut any such accusations to tlie best of my 

 power. Moreover esteeming it as one of the most remarkable and 

 interesting relics of antiquity in this or any other County, and 

 entertaining a strong belief that it contains the remains of the 

 mighty dead of a very early age, I am very desirous to rescue it 

 from the imputation of having been raised for other than sepulchral 

 purposes, under which it has lain since the year 1849, when Mr. 

 Tucker, who drew up the report of its examination by the Archae- 

 ological Institute boldly concluded his paper by announcing the 

 sepulchral theory to be henceforth exploded.^ From such an 

 assumption I must beg leave to dissent, and I hope to prove that 

 here Mr. Tucker has jumped too rapidly to a conclusion, which is 

 hardly warranted by his premises ; and while I enter my humble 



•Bode's Ballads from Herodotus, p. 102. 

 ' Salisbury Volume of the Proceedings of the Archseological Institute for 

 1849, p. 303. Archaeological Journal, vi., 307. 



VOL. VII. — NO. XX. O 



