wo great luminaries of the heavens were ordained figns, and for feasons, and for days, and for years."

that is, to be for

The conjectures on the defign of the great flone ufually found in the centre of Druidical Circles, are no less worthy of attention. Thefe extend from p. 146 to p. 150 Mr. King thus fums up the obfervations on the different ceremo nies obferved in thefe Circles.

"On the whole, perhaps we fhall not err from the truth, if we conclude thofe circles, where the ftones are placed uniformly at equal dif tances, and are of no great magnificence in point of bulk, though to high to fit upan, to have been d figned for these sort of celebrations; whilft these, where the ftones are carefully placed at unequal intervals, with two oppofite ones placed nearly in a meridian line; and thofe other circles which have pillars, obviously placed with great care towards the caft and weft, were defigned for the most important purposes of aftronomical obfervations; and that those which have an high flone in the centre of many smaller ones, were for public affemblies and councils; and thofe, where all the floues are rather low, for courts of judicature."

The account of Stonehenge, in chapter the fourth, is very long, and not to be understood without reference to the figures; the whole, however, is full of curious matter. At p. 167, Mr. King expreffes an abhorrence, which does honour to his piety, of thofe ceremonies at Otaheite in which Captain Cook bore a part. He points out with particular ingenuity the refemblance between the structure called the WHATTA, and the Stone Altars erected by Balak. This fubject is continued from p. 166 to p. 186, and is again refumed at p. 189. Here the author concludes with the following obfervations:

"We may now venture to refume the courfe of our inquiries, and to proceed with our obfervations, by remarking plainly, and without further hefitation, that fuch as were Balaam's Altars, fuch in fome degree were the altars at Stonehenge, only more vaft and magnificent; being constructed by a people who were at the time more at leifure, and who erected the altars with more additional appendages, for the purposes of more grofs fuperftitious rites, introduced in the later and itill more corrupted ages of the world."

The remainder of this chapter, from p. 203, is occupied by further illuftrations of the interefting fubject from facred and profane writers. The views of Stonehenge are from drawings by the Rev. Mr. Rackett, and are executed in a very masterly ftyle; they are the best we have ever yet fen. We have been informed, that the account of the fall of the TRILOTHON, given at p. 164, is erroneous. The late Dutchefs of Queensberry never had any intention of removing it.

5

The

The fubject of CROMLECHES Occupies the fifth chapter. In oppofition to the idea of Borlafe, Mr. King endeavours to prove that Cromleches were altars, and intended for human facrifices. He illuftrates this opinion, by a very curious and minute defcription of Kit's Cotty Houfe, in Kent, which is accompanied by a plan, elevation, and accurate measurements. Having noticed the precipitate conclufions of former writers, he cites the account given by Diodorus Siculus, on the customs of the Druids in Gaul. On which fubject, the following extract feems necessary.

In the account given by Diodorus, of the customs, and horrible fuperftitions of the antient Druids, in Gaul, who derived both their fcience and fuperftition, merely from those in Britain, we read this strange defcription.

"Amongst the Druids, are Prophets (or Divines) who are held by them in the highest eftimation. Thefe men divine concerning future events, both by means of augury, and by means of facrificing victims ; and have the whole multitude fubfervient to them. And in a more particular manner, when they inquire concerning any great event, they observe a most astonishing and incredible rite. For pouring out a libation upon a man, as a victim, they fmite him with a fword upon the breaft, in the part near the diaphragm; and on his falling, who has been thus fmitten, both from the manner of his falling, and from the convulfions of his limbs, and ftill more from the manner of the flowing of his blood, they prefage what will come to pafs; firmly trufting in thefe conclufions, from antient and long established obfervations."

"And Strabo relates this matter alfo; in a manner, indeed, a little different, but, upon the whole, to the fame purport. For, he fays, fpeaking of their favage custom of keeping by them the heads of their enemies:

"The Romans have brought them off from thefe cuftoms, and alfo from thofe which they had adhered to, with regard to facrificing and divination. For fmiting a man (who had previously had a libation poured upon him) with a fword upon the back, they divined from his convulfions. They never facrificed without the Druids.

"And other facrifices of men by them are spoken of. For fome they fhoot with arrows, and fome they crucify, in the facred places.

And (alfo) having formed a vaft Coloffus of ftraw, and calling wood upon this, they make an whole burnt facrifice, of cattle, and of all manner of wild beafts, and of men."

178

"Cæfar fays, fpeaking of the Gauls and their Druids, after having told us that the rites and difcipline of the Druids were found originally m Britain, and from thence carried over into Gaul ;

"That those who were afflicted with any fevere disease, or who were entered into battle, or were in danger, either facrificed men as victims. or vowed that they would fo facrifice them; and they made use of the Druids as minifters or performers of thefe facrifices. Thinking that the immortal Gods could not be rendered propitious, unless the life of man was given for the life of man.

"They

"They have alfo public facrifices inftituted of the fame kind.

And others have images of a vast magnitude, the limbs and parts of which are formed of wicker-work, and are filled with living men ; and being fet on fire, the men are burned to death by the furrounding flame. On thefe occafions, they deem the punishment of fuch perfons as are found to have been guilty of theft, or robbery, or of any other atrocious mischief, to be most grateful to the immortal Gods; but when there are not enough of thefe, they proceed to inflict the fame punishment on the innocent,"

"Now laying afide the confideration of the Coloffus of ftraw, and wicker-work, and of the poor wretched victims destroyed in it (with which, on this occafion, we have no immediate concern; but the defcription of which it would not have been proper to have separated from the reft of thefe curious defcriptions) and putting the other parts of thefe accounts fairly together, we shall perceive, that in the obfervance of thefe horrid rites and ceremonies of the Gauls, derived from the Britains, there was, a facred public spot for the borrid folemnity, fully afcertained and distinguished; that it was performed in the prefence of multitudes; that therefore the poor victim must have been placed ALOFT, in a fituation where he could be feen; that none but a Druid, or Druids, were on THE SAME SPOT to ftrike the fatal blow; that it must also have been fuch a kind of furface, and elevation, that the firwing of the blood might be traced, as well as that the fad convulfions of the Sufferer might be exposed to view; and that the dire ceremony was performed by firft pouring a libation on the head of the poor sufferer, and then Ariking him with a frward, either on the breaft or back.

"And confidering that it is almoft impoffible to conceive there fhould be no remains left of any spots deftined for fuch dreadfully notorious folemnities, fo much more remarkable above all others; when fo many other marked Spots kill exift, that were used for fuperftitious rites, even of much lefs, and of the moft trifling importance; we may venture to affirm, there is no kind of appearance that fo perfectly correfponds with thefe dire relations, which we have from Cæfar, Diodorus, and Strabo, as that of the inclined Cromlech in general, wherever found, and particularly as this ftructure, which we have now been examining, called Kit's Cotty Houfe."

Mr. King proceeds to trace fimilar fuperftitious customs among the most barbarous nations, particularly in Syria (p. 225) he notices also other remains in our ifland, and does not omit to remark, the mention made of these structures in facred writ. His interpretation of boxomov, and his derivation of the word Cromlech, pp. 257, 258, will probably be objected to by fome

faftidious critics.

The fixth chapter is on the subject of Barrows, Cairns, and Kilvaens; and Mr. King here points out the refemblance between the Barrows of this country, and those constructed in Afia, in the earlier ages. His inference is, that moft, if not all of thefe, were raifed by the Aboriginal Britons, and by no means, as has been commonly fuppofed, by the Romans, Danes,

or

or Saxons. The principal arguments for this opinion are to be found from p. 266 to 269; the remainder of this chapter confifts of defcriptions, of particular Barrows. The author makes many judicious reflections on the vain labour of erecting fuch memorials, as well as on the inutility of disturbing thefe repofitories of the dead. The varieties of Barrows are engraved in a manner, flight indeed, but fufficient to diftinguish the objects they are intended to reprefent. We thould alfo remark on this chapter, that the account of Silbury Hill is very curious, and, as Mr. K. obferves, it is more than probable, that the fame ceremonies were followed on raising it, as were performed at the funeral pile of Patroclus.

Chapter the feventh, and last, is on the subject of RockingStones; from this chapter we fhall only make one fhort extract, as the author himself confeffes it is impoffible to fay any thing more, than that fuch remains do actually exilt.

"With regard to the Logan, or Rocking-Stones, and concerning the Tolmen, and the Bafon Stones, it is almoft impoffible now to add any fatisfactory remarks, or to fay any thing further, than that such remains do exift.

"They were in all probability the inftruments of fuperftition in fome fhape or other, the memorial whereof is well buried in everlasting oblivion.

They appear obviously, however, to have been works of art; and because no one circumftance eccurs that can induce us to suspect that any of them were the works either of Saxons, or Danes, or Romans, we must confider them as being folely the works of the Britons; to which conclufion we are alfo led by their maffy resemblance to other ftupendous Druidical remains; and by their proximity to them in point of fituation. But whether the Rocking Stones were used for divination, as our poet Mafon has finely imagined, and as Toland also thought; or whether they were idols; or elfe fraudulent means of impofing upon the vulgar a pretended divine affent on certain occasions ; and whether the Rock-Bafons were for preferving luftral water, or the blood of victims, or for containing libations, or for any other purpose; and what was the precife ufe of thofe vaft maffes of infulated rocks, which have indeed fome marks of the tool, and of thofe that are called Tolmen, must be left to mere conjecture; as we have no records, or clear facts to be compared together, that can illuftrate this matter, All that can be done by way of explaining this fpecies of British art and Contrivance, is merely to show how and where they exift; and by what means they feem to have been formed. And in general to remark, that as they are maffes of rock, on which tools certainly have been lifted up, therefore they are unquestionably of the later ages of Druidism, when much corruption, and the groffeft fpecies of abominable fuperftition had been introduced, and are, on that account, the more inexplicable, Τι because

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XIV, DEC, 1799.

because there was nothing in the primitive patriarchal times, with which they can now be compared.

"We are not, however, altogether without notices of fomething fimilar in the Eaft, because Pliny tells us, that near Harpafa, a town in Afia, is a moft ftupendous rock, eafily moved with one finger; but which cannot be removed or made to ftir from its place, if you thruft at it with your whole body.

"And in like manner Ptolemy fpeaks of a mass of rock, called the Gygonian Stone, near the ocean, which may be moved with the ftalk of an Afphodel; but cannot be removed by any force,

"Many of thofe that exifted in our own country are ftill well known. And a very few defcriptions, with one or two reprefentations, will fufficiently convey the idea of their form."

It is incumbent upon us to conclude this article, by remarking, that the author deferves the highest commendation for his laborious researches and patient induftry, in enumerating and defcribing fo great a number of Diuidical remains, by which the antiquary will find his ftudies aflifted, and his toil relieved, if he should ever vifit thefe monuments of antiquity. Of thefe, many are but little known to the public, many are totally unknown even to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood where they are ftill to be found. The plates are, in general, well-exe cuted, particularly thofe of Stonehenge, from the drawings of Mr. Rackett, fome are finifhed with great delicacy, in the line manner, others in aquatinta. The latter method of engraving is excellently adapted to express the rough and irregular furfaces of Druidical stones. We fhall expect the remainder of this work with the most anxious curiofity.

BE

ART. V. Elements of Chriftian Theology, &c.

(Concluded from our last, p. 472.)

EFORE we proceed in our obfervations on thefe important volumes, it may not be impertinent to remark, that although they were profeffedly and principally defigned for young ftudents in Divinity, yet it was obviously the intention of the learned writer, to place the subjects he difcuffes within the reach of general readers, and to render his publication alfo a Family Book. For thefe, as well as for other reasons, the obfervations of the Bishop of Lincoln are particularly directed against the scepticifm which modern philofophers have endeavoured to excite with refpect to the credibility of the Jewish history, the difregard of the Sabbath, and more immediately and ftrenuously against the notion which has too far

prevailed,