Part 7

_Stonehenge_ is compos’d of two circles and two ovals, respectively concentric. At the distance of two cubits inward from the greater oval, describe another lesser oval, on which the stones of the inner oval are to stand: 19 stones in number, at about the central distance of 3 cubits. This lesser oval is to be describ’d by a string and the 2 centers, as before. Or by 2 circles from a 10 cubit _radius_, and the 2 centers _a_ and _b_, as of the other before was spoken. Mr. _Webb_ says, p. 60, “the stones of the hexagon within, 2 foot 6 inches in breadth, one foot and a half thick and 8 foot high, in form pyramidal.” His two foot and a half is our cubit and half, for the breadth of these stones; being but a third of the breadth of the stones of the greater oval. And the interval between stone and stone, the same. Their height is likewise unequal, as the _trilithons_, for they rise in height as nearer the upper end of the _adytum_. Mr. _Webb_’s 8 foot assign’d, is a good _medium_ measure, for it is just 4 cubits and 4 palms, the third part of the height of the _medium trilithon_. From the ruins of those left, we may well suppose, the first next the entrance and lowest were 4 cubits high; the most advanc’d height behind the altar might be five cubits, and perhaps more. The stones are somewhat of what Mr. _Webb_ calls a pyramidal form, meaning that of an _Egyptian_ obelisk, for they taper a little upwards. They are of a much harder sort than the other stones, as we spoke before, in the lesser circle. The founders provided that their lesser bulk should be compensated in solidity. They were brought somewhere from the west. Of these there are only 6 remaining upright. The stumps of two are left on the south side by the altar. One lies behind the altar, dug up or thrown down, by the fall of that upright there. One or two were thrown down probably, by the fall of the upright of the first _trilithon_ on the right hand. A stump of another remains by the upright there, still standing. Their exact measures either as to height, breadth or thickness, cannot well be ascertain’d. For they took such as they could find, best suiting their scantlings, but the stones were better shap’d and taller, as advancing towards the upper end of the cell.

CHAP. VI.

_Of the number of the stones. Of the altar-stone. Of what has been found in digging, about the temple. A plate of tin of the Druids writing. A plate of gold, supposed to be of the Druids writing._

Thus have we finished the work, or principal part of this celebrated wonder; properly the temple or sacred structure, as it may be called. Tho’ its loftiest crest be compos’d but of one stone, laid upon another. “A work, as Mr. _Webb_ says justly, p. 65. built with much art, order and proportion.” And it must be own’d, that they who had a notion, that it was an unworthy thing, to pretend to confine the deity in room and space, could not easily invent a grander design than this, for sacred purposes: nor execute it in a more magnificent manner. Here space indeed is mark’d out and defin’d: but with utmost freedom and openness. Here is a _kebla_ intimating, but not bounding the presence of the Deity. Here the variety and harmony of four differing circles presents itself continually new, every step we take, with opening and closing light and shade. Which way so ever we look, art and nature make a composition of their highest gusto, create a pleasing astonishment, very apposite to sacred places.

The great oval consists of 10 uprights, the inner with the altar, of 20, the great circle of 30, the inner of 40. 10, 20, 30, 40 together, make 100 upright stones. 5 imposts of the great oval, 30 of the great circle, the 2 stones standing upon the bank of the _area_, the stone lying within the entrance of the _area_, and that standing without. There seems to have been another stone lying upon the ground, by the _vallum_ of the court, directly opposite to the entrance of the avenue. All added together, make just 140 stones, the number of which _Stonehenge_, a whole temple, is compos’d. Behold the solution of the mighty problem, the magical spell is broke, which has so long perplex’d the vulgar! they think ’tis an ominous thing to count the true number of the stones, and whoever does so, shall certainly die after it. Thus the Druids contented themselves to live in huts and caves: whilst they employ’d many thousands of men, a whole county, to labour at these publick structures, dedicated to the Deity.

Our altar here is laid toward the upper end of the _adytum_, at present flat on the ground, and squeez’d (as it were) into it, by the weight of the ruins upon it. ’Tis a kind of blue coarse marble, such as comes from _Derbyshire_, and laid upon tombs in our churches and church-yards. Thus _Virgil_ describes an ancient altar, after the _Etruscan_ fashion, and which probably had remain’d from patriarchal times.

_Ædibus in mediis nudoque sub ætheris axe Ingens ara fuit._———— Æne. II.

_Servius_ upon the IIId _Georg._ says, in the middle of a temple was the place of the Deity: the rest was only ornamental. This altar is plac’d a little above the _focus_ of the upper end of the ellipsis. Mr. _Webb_ says, p. 56. the altar is 4 foot broad, 16 in length. 4 foot is 2 cubits 2 palms, which at four times measures 16 foot. I believe its breadth is 2 cubits 3 palms, _i. e._ 1 and a half: and that its first intended length was 10 cubits, equal to the breadth of the _trilithon_ before which it lies. But ’tis very difficult to come at its true length. ’Tis 20 inches thick, a just cubit, and has been squar’d. It lies between the two centers, that of the compasses and that of the string: leaving a convenient space quite round it, no doubt, as much as was necessary for their ministration.

[Illustration: _P. 30._ TAB. XVI.

_The Section of Stonehenge looking towards the Entrance._]

Mr. _Webb_ says, the heads of oxen, and deer, and other beasts have been found upon digging in and about _Stonehenge_, as divers then living could testify, undoubted reliques of sacrifices, together with much charcoal, meaning wood-ashes. Mr. _Camden_ says, mens bones have been found hereabouts. He means in the barrows adjacent, and I saw such thrown out by the rabbets very near the temple. But eternally to be lamented is the loss of that tablet of tin, which was found at this place, in the time of King _Henry_ VIII. (the _Æra_ of restitution of learning and of pure religion) inscrib’d with many letters, but in so strange a character, that neither Sir _Thomas Elliot_ a learned antiquary, nor Mr. _Lilly_ master of St. _Paul_’s school, could make any thing out of it. Mr. _Sammes_ may be in the right, who judges it to have been _Punic_; I imagine if we call it _Irish_, we shall not err much. No doubt but it was a memorial of the founders, wrote by the _Druids_: and had it been preserv’d till now, would have been an invaluable curiosity. To make the reader some amends for such a loss, I have given a specimen of supposed Druid writing, out of _Lambecius_’s account of the Emperor’s library at _Vienna_. ’Tis wrote on a very thin plate of gold, with a sharp-pointed instrument. It was in an urn found at _Vienna_, roll’d up in several cases of other metal, together with funeral _exuviæ_. It was thought by the curious, one of those epistles, which the _Celtic_ people were wont to send to their friends in the other world. So certain a hope of a future state had the _Druids_ infus’d into them. The reader may divert himself with endeavouring to explain it. The writing upon plates of gold or tin is exceeding ancient, as we see in _Job_ xix. 24.

[Illustration]

_Plutarch_ in his pamphlet _de dæmonio Socratis_ tells a similar story. “About the time of _Agesilaus_, they found a brazen tablet in the sepulchre of _Alcmena_ at _Thebes_, wrote in characters unknown, but seem’d to be _Egyptian_. _Chonuphis_, the most learned of the _Egyptian_ prophets then, being consulted upon it, confirm’d it, and said it was wrote about the time of _Hercules_ and _Proteus_ king in _Egypt_.” _Tzetzes_, chil. 2. hist. 44. mentions _Proteus_ a king in lower _Egypt_ by the sea side, pretends he was son of _Neptune_ and _Phœnicia_, throwing him up thereby to very ancient times, those of the first famous navigators, our _Hercules_ and the _Phœnicians_. He is said to have lived in the island afterward call’d _Pharos_, from the watch-tower there erected. Here _Homer_ sings, that _Proteus_ diverts himself with his _phocæ_ or sea-calves, most undoubtedly his ships. But at that time of day, every thing new and strange was told by the _Greeks_ in a mythologic way.

In the year 1635, as they were plowing by the barrows about _Normanton_ ditch, they found a large quantity of excellent pewter, as much as they sold at a low price for 5_l._ says Mr. _Aubry_ in his manuscript collections, relating to antiquities of this sort. There are several of these ditches, being very small in breadth, which run across the downs. I take them for boundaries of hundreds, parishes, _&c._ Such as the reader may observe in my _Plate_ XXXI. of the barrows in _Lake-field_. I suspect this too was a tablet with an inscription on it, but falling into the hands of the countrymen, they could no more discern the writing, than interpret it. No doubt but this was some of the old _British stannum_, which the _Tyrian Hercules_, sirnam’d _Melcarthus_, first brought _ex Cassiteride insula_, or _Britain_. Which _Hercules_ liv’d in _Abraham_’s time, or soon after.

Mr. _Webb_ tells us, the Duke of _Buckingham_ dug about _Stonehenge_: I fear much to the prejudice of the work. He himself did the like, and found what he imagin’d was the cover of a _thuribulum_. He would have done well to have given us a drawing of it. But whatever it was, vases of incense, oil, flower, salt, wine and holy water, were used by all nations in their religious ceremonies.

Mr. _Thomas Hayward_, late owner of _Stonehenge_, dug about it, as he acquainted Lord _Winchelsea_ and myself. He found heads of oxen and other beasts bones, and nothing else. In 1724. when I was there, _Richard Hayns_ an old man of _Ambresbury_, whom I employed to dig for me in the barrows, found some little worn-out _Roman_ coins at _Stonehenge_, among the earth rooted up by the rabbets. He sold one of them for half a crown, to Mr. _Merril_ of _Golden Square_, who came thither whilst I was at the place. The year before, _Hayns_ was one of the workmen employ’d by Lord _Carlton_ to dig clay on _Harradon_ hill, east of _Ambresbury_, where they found many _Roman_ coins, which I saw. I suspect he pretended to find those at _Stonehenge_, only for sake of the reward. My friend the late Dr. _Harwood_ of _Doctors-Commons_ told me, he was once at _Stonehenge_ with such sort of _Roman_ coins in his pockets, and that one of his companions would have persuaded him, to throw some of them into the rabbit-holes: but the Doctor was more ingenuous. Nevertheless were never so many such coins found in _Stonehenge_, they would prove nothing more, than that the work was in being, when the _Romans_ were here; and which we are assured of already. I have a brass coin given me by _John Collins_ Esq; collector of the excise at _Stamford_. The heads of _Julius_ and _Augustus_ averse: the reverse a crocodile, palm-branch and garland. COL. NEM. the colony of _Nemausus_ in _France_. It was found upon _Salisbury_ plain; and might be lost there before the _Roman_ conquest of _Britain_ under _Claudius_, by people of _France_ coming hither; or in after-ages: no matter which.

_July 5 1723._ By Lord _Pembroke_’s direction, I dug on the inside of the altar about the middle: 4 foot along the edge of the stone, 6 foot forward toward the middle of the _adytum_. At a foot deep, we came to the solid chalk mix’d with flints, which had never been stir’d. The altar was exactly a cubit thick, 20 inches and ⅘; but broken in two or three pieces by the ponderous masses of the impost, and one upright stone of that _trilithon_ which stood at the upper end of the _adytum_, being fallen upon it. Hence appears the commodiousness of the foundation for this huge work. They dug holes in the solid chalk, which would of itself keep up the stones, as firm as if a wall was built round them. And no doubt but they ramm’d up the interstices with flints. But I had too much regard to the work, to dig any where near the stones. I took up an oxe’s tooth, above ground, without the _adytum_ on the right hand of the lowermost _trilithon_, northward. And this is all the account, of what has been found by digging at _Stonehenge_, which I can give.

[Illustration: _P. 32._ TAB. XVII.

_An inward View of Stonehenge Aug. 1722. from the north._

_Stukeley delin._ _V^{dr}. Gucht Sc._]

CHAP. VII.

_Of the area round_ Stonehenge. _The bowing stones. The manner of sacrificing._

Of the court round the temple of _Stonehenge_, somewhat is said already, and of the two stones standing within the _vallum_: and of the two cavities remarkable, which have some correspondency therewith. I supposed, they were places, where two great vases of water stood, for the service of the temple, when they perform’d religious rites here. And I endeavour’d to illustrate it by a coin of the city _Heliopolis_. 60 cubits is the diameter of _Stonehenge_, 60 more reaches the inner edge of the circular ditch of the court. The ditch originally was near 30 cubits broad, but thro’ long tract of time, and the infinity of coaches, horses, _&c._ coming every day to see the place, ’tis levell’d very much. The intire diameter of the court, reaching to the outward verge of the ditch, is 4 times 60 cubits, which is about 410 foot. The five outer circles of the ditch are struck with a radius of 80, 90, 100, 110, 120 cubits.

Just upon the inner verge of the ditch, at the entrance from the avenue, lies a very large stone, at present flat on the ground. Mr. _Webb_, p. 57. pretends to give us the measure of it, confounding it with the other two before-mention’d to be within the _vallum_, to which they have no relation, no similarity in proportion. This is to favour his notion of three entrances of the _area_, dependant upon his hypothesis of equilateral triangles. He there tells us at the letter F, “the parallel stones on the inside of the trench were four foot broad and three foot thick but they lie so broken and ruin’d by time, that their proportion in height cannot be distinguish’d, much less exactly measur’d.” Thus he, but ’tis _invita Minervâ_; for all three stones, in all appearance, are as little alter’d from their first size, as any stones in the work. The two stones within the _vallum_ are very small stones, and ever were so. The one stands; the other leans a little, probably from some idle people digging about it. This stone at the entrance is a very great one, near as big as any one of the whole work, and seems too as little alter’d from its original form: only thrown down perhaps by the like foolish curiosity of digging near it. Instead of _Webb_’s four foot broad, it’s near seven: but to speak in the Druid measure, four cubits. It is at present above 20 foot long. If it stood originally, and a little leaning, it was one of those stones which the _Welsh_ call _crwm lechen_, or bowing-stones. However, Mr. _Webb_ must falsify the truth very much, in making this and the two former any thing alike in dimension, situation and use. But he does so, much more in the next, which is doubtless a _crwm leche_, still standing in its original posture and place in the avenue. ’Tis of much the like dimension as the other, tho’ not so shapely, and stands in like manner on the left hand, or south, of the middle line, of the length of the avenue. I surmise, the Druids consider’d the propriety of making the other a little more shapely than this, because within the _area_, and nearer the sacred fabric. There is the distance of 119 feet between them, to speak properly, 80 cubits. This interval Mr. _Webb_ contracts to about 43 foot, and supposes there was another stone to answer it on the right hand, as also another to answer that on the inside the ditch. And he supposes the like of those before-mention’d, both within and without the ditch, at his two fancy’d entrances. But of these, there is _nec vola nec vestigium_, and I dare say, never was. This stone has a hole in it, which is observable of like stones, set thus near our like temples: as we shall see in the progress of this work. The stone is of 24 foot in circumference, 16 high above ground, 9 broad, 6 thick. The use of it I can’t certainly tell; but I am inclin’d to think, that as part of the religious worship in old patriarchal times, consisted in a solemn adoration, or three silent bowings: the first bowing might be perform’d at this stone, just without the ditch, the second perhaps at the next stone, just within the ditch. Then they turn’d by that stone to the left hand, as the manner was, in a procession round the temple, both the priests and animals for sacrifice. At those two stones and water-vases, probably there were some washings, lustrations, or sprinklings with holy water, and other ceremonies, which I don’t pretend to ascertain. Then upon the entry into the temple, perhaps they made the third bow, as in presence of the Deity. After this, in the _court_, we may suppose the priests prepar’d the hecatombs and customary sacrifices. If that great stone just within the ditch, always lay, as it does now, flat on the ground, and _in situ_, (which I am not unwilling to believe) then, I apprehend, it was a table for dressing the victims. _Ezekiel_, in describing the temple of _Jerusalem_, speaks of such in the entry, xl. 30, 40, 41, 42, 43.

’Tis just to think, the ancient form of sacrificing here, like that of the _Romans_, _Greeks_ or elder nations, was pretty much the same as that among the _Jews_, and _that_ as in patriarchal times; and in short, no other than the original practice of mankind, since the first institution of sacrifices, at the fall. Therefore we shall subjoin it from _Homer_’s description, in _Iliad_ I. It quadrates extremely well, in all appearance, with the place and temple before us.

Straightway in haste, a chosen hecatomb To God, prepar’d, the well-built altar round, They place in order. Then their hands they wash, And take the salted meal. Aloud the priest, With hands uplifted, for the assembly prays. After the prayers, they wav’d the salted meal, And then retiring slay the animals. The skins being stript, they cut off both the thighs, And cover them with cawl; first offer’d crude. The priest then burns a part on plates,† thereon red wine, Libation pour’d. The ministring young men Stand by him, with their five-fold spits in hand. But when the thighs are burnt, out of the rest Entrails and flesh, harslets and stakes they make, Upon the spits transfixt. Then roasted well They set all forth. After the duty done; A feast they next prepare. Plenty of food Distributed around, chearful repast. Banquet being o’re, the youths huge goblets crown, And fill to all in cups. Then sacred hymns Sung to the Deity, conclude the day.

† In another place he adds,

With choice cloven bits of wood, Without leaves——————————————

These are most ancient rites, symbolical of the purity of the sacrifice of the _Messiah_, pointed at by, and deriv’d from the _Mosaic_ dispensation, where every thing of sacred purpose was to be perfect.

Thus much is sufficient to give the reader an idea of the ancient manner of sacrificing, such, no doubt as was practis’d at this very place entirely the _Hebrew_ rite. I suppose only the priests and chief personages came within the _area_, who made the procession with the sacrifices along the avenue. The multitude kept without, on foot or in their chariots.

[Illustration: _P. 34._ TAB XVIII.

_A direct view of the Remains of the adytum of Stonehenge._

_Stukeley delin._ _A. Motte Sculp._]

CHAP. VIII.

_Of the Avenue to_ Stonehenge.