One reafon is obvious : thefe muft prove the illuftration and import of the 
lines and characters wherewith the Caledonian obelifks are impreffed ; or it muft m 3 
probability follow, that they never will be found to have had any meaning at 
The latter pofuion cannot be admitted; for thefe trophies, uniformly emblazoned ^ 
a diftinguilhed manner on the more eminent compartments of the obelifks— wroug^ 
with the greateft mathematical accuracy — with fuch ftudious care raifed on the 1 ^ 
durable done— in far diftant provinces correfponding with each other— and on mon 
ments erected near to Druid Temples, and in other confecrated places— we fcarce 
doubt of their preferving memorials of religious and national importance, accord > » 
to the uniform ideas on which all fculptured obelifks were originally raifed ; 
therefore ought to look among thefe mouldering lines for the interefting commune 
tions which they were intended to convey. 
l | pj 
Another not lefs obvious and inviting reafon, nor lefs momentous in the cl 
views of antiquarian refearch, is, that the nobleft, and perhaps the brighteft beams ^ 
knowledge, are derived from following the light of human wifdom to its prim®^ 
fources. By this purfuit we attain to the firft rudiments and origin of literatur » 
we advance beyond the dubious dawn of hiftorical record, and attain intuitive c° !l ^ 
munications as from the Fountain Head of Truth. This is to drink of th c ^ 
famed Castalian Spring, of which fo much has been written, and fo li tcIe 
known. 
Juftly, then, as applicable to the daring attempt, is the fragment. Fig. C. of an o& 
lifk in Ross-shire thrown down : it retains a fimple figure thrice repeated, 
was fome time in Grecian architefture efteemed an elegant ornament, but was 
the obelifks of Mgypt of philofophical import: as copied from the Pamphilia*^ 
Rome, it is placed with fome others as on a ftone D, at the foot of the above-m ^ 
tioned Caledonian monuments, with a view more diftinCtly to afcertain the o 0 ^ 
ing illuftrations. ’Twas a fymbol which expreffed the “ narrow way” the m trl c 
windings of the paffage that led through the facred fanes to the chambers of imag e 
and initiation *. 
Thefe were the original labyrinths ; and in reference to thefe the above hieroglypj^ 
equally implied, the embarraflment and difficulty attending the paths of fcience 
led to the knowledge of recondite truths. 
Let us enter then this fymbolic House of the World f. We fee there the gaT ^ 
the fanftuary open — the fun and moon to give us light. It is the temple of the ^ 
verfe. The fceptre by which it is governed extends equally beyond the fun and & 
in depth, as over them above, and circumfcribes their fpheres. There is a g ran 
• See Kercber, Obelif. Pamphil. lib. v. p. 481. firft Symbol. ,y 
f Mundana Domus ! This title is given to the Hieroglyphic oftheVismLE Creation. to j, a v« 
tarch, in his letter to the Priestess of the Sun “ De Ofiride & Ifide.” And he feems 
taken it from the Her metical Oracles on Symbols. O'- 
