ROCKISG STONES. 
(505 
Polydore 
Mio were murdered by Hengist the Saxon. 
’’’’■g'l says that it was erected by tlie Britons as the 
*®Pulchral monument of Aurelius Ambrosius ; and other 
'Writers consider it to have been that of the famous British 
5 t>eeti Boadicea. Inigo Jones is of opinion that it was a 
't>man temple ; and this conclusion he draws from a stone 
^'xteeii feet in length, and four in breadth, placed in an 
?*act position to the eastward, altar- fashion. By Charlton it 
^ itscribed to the Danes, who were two years master of 
^‘Itshire ; a tin tablet, on which were some unknown 
'^‘'^racters, having been dug up in the vicinity, in the reign 
Henry VIll. This tablet, which is lost, might have given 
information respecting its founders. Its common 
‘''’tne, Stonehenge, is Saxon, and signifies a “ stone 
Stillows,” to which these stones, having transverse- imposts, 
some resemblance. It is also called in Welch cAoir 
or the giants’ dance. 
^ ^Ir. Grose, the antiquary, is of opinion that Doctor 
jfitkeley has completely proved this structure to have been a 
''fish temple, in which the Druids officiated. He sup- 
y>ses It to have been the metropolitan temple of Great 
/""in, and translates the words choir goiir, “ the great 
'eir 01- temide." It was customary with the Druids to 
"fe tine large stone on another for a religious memorial ; 
these they often placed so equally, that even a breath of 
'"d would sometimes make them vibrate. Of such stones 
remains at this day in the pile of Stonehenge. The 
l^^f'cnis distinguished stones erected with a religious view, 
J fits name of amirosim petrce, amber stones, the word 
implying whatever is solar and divine. According 
j '"'■ynnt, Stonehenge is composed of these amber stones; 
^ hence the next town is denominated Ambresbury. 
ROCKING STONES, 
*t<!e 
ROCKING STONE, Of LOGAN, is a stonc of a pfodigious 
nicely poised, that it rocks or shakes with the 
j^'filest force. Several of the consecrated stones mentioned 
Were rocking stones ; and there was a wonderful 
H^/'itnent of this kind near Penzance in Cornwall, which 
retains the name of main-amber, or the sacred stones 
these stones the ancients were not vmac^uainted. 
