By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



153 



We may take Stonehenge and Avebury as instances of what the 

 first of these motives could effect, while the Pyramids of Egypt, 

 the renowned Mausoleum in Caria, 1 and the famous Taj Mahal 

 and other tombs of astonishing size, beauty, and the most elaborate 

 workmanship in India, demonstrate no less clearly the power of the 

 second. 



Now to affirm positively, that Silbury was not erected for 



religious worship, would be to beg the question at issue : moreover 



we know that the Persians and other Sun-worshippers did frequent 



the tops of conical mountains, whence they could catch the first 



beams and watch the last rays of their rising and setting Deity : 2 



as indeed at this day do the Parsees or Ghebers in the East, and the 



Peruvians and inhabitants of La Plata in the West, 3 



" To loftiest heights ascending, from their tops 

 With myrtle wreathed tiara on their brows.* 



Therefore I say it is not impossible that this may have been the 

 origin of the great mound in question : though I confess such a 

 conjecture carries little conviction to my mind : for in the first 

 place, its immediate contiguity to the famous temple at Avebury 

 seems to forbid its intention for such a purpose : and again, stand- 

 ing as it does, on comparatively low ground, and surrounded with 

 undulating downs which tower above it, very limited indeed is the 

 view from the summit, and this fact alone seems to deny that it had 

 any such object. 



But against the probability of its being the tomb of some Sovereign 

 or famous Chieftain amongst the early Britons 4 I confess I have 



1 Herod., vii., 99. Strabo, xiv. Diod., xvi. Pliny, N. H., xxxvi., 4 — 9. 

 Aul: Gell., xc., 18. 



2 Herodotus Clio, chap. 131. Rollin's Anc. Hist., ii., 136. Job xxxi., 26, 27. 



3 " Lost Solar System of the Ancients discovered," vol. i., pp. 260, 265, 395. 



* Wordsworth's Excursion, book iv. Gladstone's Studies on Homer, vol. iii. p. 169. 



4 Stukeley goes so far as to assume (though I must own he comes to conclusions 

 on very slight premises) not only that Silbury is the tomb of the Royal founder 

 of Avebury, but that the temple of Avebury was made for the sake of this 

 tumulus : and then he adds, " I have no scruple to affirm 'tis the most magni- 

 ficent Mausoleum in the world, without excepting the Egyptian Pyramids: " 

 and then giving the reins to his fanciful imagination, he continues, " this huge 

 snake and circle (meaning the avenues and temple of Avebury) made of stones, 

 VOL. VII. — NO. XX. P 



