THE UNIVERSAL FAMILY PAPER FOR INTER-COMMUNICATIONS ON 



POLAR SSSEHOE-THIIOS IM Gb 



Conducted by WILLIAM KIDD, of Hammersmith,— 



Author of the Familiar and Popular Essays on ''Natural History;" "British Song 

 Birds;" "Birds of Passage;" "Instinct and Eeason;" "The Aviary," &c. 



"the OBJECT of our work is to mark men WISER, without obliging them to turn over folios and 



QUARTOS.— TO FURNISH MATTER FOR THINKING AS WELL AS READING,"— EVELYN. 



No. 51.— 1852. 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18. 



Price 3d. 



Or, in Monthly Parts, Price Is. \d. 



OTES OF A NATURALIST. 



THE DRUID'S CIRCLE. 



About two miles from Keswick, in 

 a field lying between the Penrith and 

 Ambleside roads, is a circle of stones, sup- 

 posed to have been placed in their present 

 position by the ancient Druids ; and to have 

 formed a temple for their idolatrous rites. 



In Wordsworth's description of the scenery 

 of the Lakes, this ruin is thus noticed : — ■ 

 " The stones that form this temple are forty- 

 eight in number ; describing a circle of nearly 

 a hundred feet in diameter. Most of these 

 stones are a species of granite, and all of 

 them vary in form and size. On the eastern 

 side of this monument there is a small en- 

 closure, formed within the circle by ten 

 stones, making an oblong square, seven paces 

 in length, by three in width. This recess, 

 Mr. Pennant supposes to have been allotted 

 to the priests — a sort of holy place, where they 

 met, separated from the vulgar, to perform 

 their rights and divinations, or to sit in 

 council, to determine on controversies, or for 

 the trial of criminals." If, as we may well 

 suppose they did,the Druids aimed at striking 

 their subjects with awe in the performance 

 of their rites, they could not possibly have 

 chosen a more proper place for their purpose. 

 To the north, the bold face of Saddleback, 

 which, in their day, probably bore the name 

 by which it was known to our ancestors ; 

 Blencathera, and the lofty Skiddaw by its 

 side, frowning down upon them, — look like 

 some mighty deities, sometimes boldly 

 breaking into the blue of heaven, and anon 

 their venerable heads covered with a misty 

 shroud. Look south, and to your left the 

 long Helvellyn range, and Great Dod, form a 

 stern background to the beautiful vale of 

 Naddle. On the east a long district of almost 

 level land appears, and from it a rounded 

 hill, Mell Fell, seems something unearthly, — 

 so unlike is it to the pikes and rugged tops 

 seen in the sea of mountains to the west. 



Indeed, the traveller might search far and 

 near without finding, to the cultivated mind, 

 such a delightful spot for worship, and to 

 the superstitious one, so dreadful. Inside of 

 the circle, about ten years ago were to be 

 seen a number of stunted larch trees, which, 

 though they added to the effect, as seen from 

 a distance, were not much in unison with 

 the other associations of the place. The 

 larch is one of the fastest growers among 

 our forest trees, and therefore could not but 

 be looked upon as an upstart in that venerable 

 place. 



In the passage cited above, it is stated 

 that the stones " are a species of granite." 

 Such is not the case, however, — unless 

 greenstone be looked upon as such. On a 

 late occasion, I examined every stone, in 

 company with a friend, and I found that they 

 were composed of the same greenstone as 

 formed the principal formation of Helvellyn. 

 Where these huge masses could have been 

 brought from, is a difficult matter to de- 

 termine. The bed of the Greta may have 

 furnished a few ; but at the nearest, it is more 

 than half a mile distant, and it would be no 

 easy matter to raise these blocks — many of 

 them being upwards of twelve tons in weight — 

 to their present elevated position, unless 

 mechanical power were put into requisition. 

 The fields adjoining may have furnished a 

 few, but even these could not be procured 

 without levers. 



The interior of the circle is now covered 

 with a rich turf; and instead of the bellowing 

 of a Druid's horn, may now be heard the 

 bleating of a few sheep, or the lowing of 

 cattle. Even the stones have changed. On 

 the occasion of my last visit, I could not see 

 one which had not been lately more or less 

 broken ; and not only from men, but from 

 Nature's self, do they suffer. Lichens are 

 gradually eating them away, thus adorning 

 their rude shapes with figures painted in 

 yellow and in grey. Every one knows the 

 common yellow lichen (Parmeliu parietina) 

 so common on old walls and palings, and not 



Vol. II. 



