242 



The Picts. 



. . . "Strange as they may appear, the stones (previously 

 referred to) are not peculiar to this place : they are found in Scan- 

 dinavia, from which perhaps the first inhabitants of this country 

 (the Orkney Islands) originally came ; and they are also sometimes 

 found in Great Britain. 



" But those that are formed into figures of various sorts> especi- 

 ally circles and semicircles, are the most curious and remarkable ; and 

 it is truly astonishing, that though they occur in different places, they 

 have not, so far as we have learned, been taken notice of by any oj the 

 ancient writers. The reason perhaps is, that, as they bear marks of 

 being Gothic monuments, they must be referred to a later age, when 

 that people had spread themselves, in nations, tribes, and colonies, 

 through most of the countries of the West of Europe." We shall 

 not stop to refute this hypothesis, which would deprive these ex- 

 traordinary remains of an antiquity which extended, as we learn 

 from Csesar, long prior to his invasion of Britain, and which are 

 to be met with in Eastern and other nations, as at Gilgal, &c, and 

 long antecedent, it is thought, to Roman times. That they would 

 have shared the fate of the Druidical groves, had they been of 

 Druidical origin, is also, we conceive, a fallacy, as besides being 

 less easily destroyed than the sacred groves, they were probably 

 not always strictly confined to religious rites, but may have been 

 appropriated as in Scandinavia and Gilgal for the " administration 

 of justice," as well as performance of sacrifice. 



"In the largest class," Mr. Barry observes, "we may certainly rank 

 Stonehenge in England," (he had not probably heard of the still lar- 

 ger circles that formerly existed at Abury), and "which might have 

 been the place for the meeting of their national assembly, as they 

 met in the open air. To the same class may be referred that noble 

 circle of Classerness in the Lewis, which may have been a court 

 house, in which affairs of importance might have been transacted, 

 relative to the interest of the community. Their kings and chiefs 

 were also sometimes elected in these large circles, while the lesser 

 ones were used as temples of the inferior gods, and not un- 

 frequently as family burial places. (?) 



1 A round perforated piece of wood put upon a spindle. 



