S T O N E-H E N G E. 103 
britan y, yet underdand each others language. But the learn- 
ing of the ead is not fuppofed to have been communicated to 
thefe wedern regions, till about the year of the world 3440, 
when cambyses king of Persia marched into Egypt with a 
great army, and by his cruelties fcattered their prieds, and 
diffufed their learning. 
We may fuppofe it was about this time, 500 years before 
christ, that the high-pried, or arch-druid, made choice of 
this plain to eredt a temple of dupendous drucdure, as if he in- 
tended it as a memorial through all the viciffitudes of time, even 
to the didolution of the globe. We fee it was compofed of 
dones of fuch quality and dimendon, that the circuit of 2250 
years has made but little impreflion on fome of them ; the ve- 
diges of this temple yet remaining, in fpite of the ravages of 
time. It is computed that fome of thefe dones weigh forty 
tons, tho’ it is faid, they could not be brought from a lefs di- 
fkince than near Marlborough, which is fixteen miles. 
It is not eafy to difcover the ufe of fuch codly inventions as 
are calculated to remove whole mountains, when the fame 
work may be ealily done in parts ; but we mud conclude, that 
our progenitors had fome extraordinary vehicles for the convey- 
ance of thefe dones. We know that a way may be made of 
timber, with grooves, and carriages fitted to them, either to be 
drawn on an exad level, or an eafy decline ; and by the roeer 
weight of the load to run downhill. This method will convey 
prodigious weights with an eafy purchafe. To draw forty tons 
in the common way, upon the harded even furface, upon wheels, 
would 
