given to the ancient Israelites concerning the idolatrous altars found in the land of Canaan. Yet, upon closer examination, as intimated before, you may ascertain the circles, and satisfy yourself that it was originally a regularly constructed building. The whole structure is one hundred and ten feet in diameter, and being composed of rough stones placed in a circular and oval form, of course, leaves it open to the heavens; for, in the early ages of the world, they did not worship in covered buildings, but in places open to the heavens. As to its particular description, we prefer that of Sir R. C. Hoare, in his "History of Wiltshire," not only as the latest we have seen,* but as being brief and perspicuous, adding, however, a remark or two. "This temple," says he, "consists of two circles and two ovals; the two latter constituting the cell, or sanctum. The outward circle, about three hundred feet in circumference, is composed of huge upright stones, bearing others over them, which form a kind of architrave. Though they evidently show the mark of tools, they are still irregular in their forms and sizes. The height of the stones on each side of the entrance is a little more than thirteen feet; and the breadth of one seven feet, and of the other six feet four inches: the impost over them is about two feet eight inches deep. The space between the stones in this outward circle varies; that between the entrance stones is five feet, and rather * A.D. 1812.

wider than in the rest. This circle consisted originally of thirty stones, of which seventeen still remain standing. At the distance of eight feet three inches from the inside of this outward circle, we find another composed of smaller stones, rude and irregular in their shapes, but in form pyramidal. We come now to the grandest part of our temple, the cell, or sanctum; in forming which the general plan has been varied; for this inner temple represents two-thirds of a large oval, and a concomitant small oval: as in the outward temple, we find a large and a small circle. The large oval is formed by five pair of trilithons, or two large upright stones with a third over them as an impost. The placing of the imposts is also varied, for they are not continued all round, as in the outward circle, but are divided into pairs, thereby giving a great lightness to the work, and breaking its uniformity; neither are they like those of the outward circle, parallel at top, but they rise gradually in height from east to west.” So far Sir Richard; but he omits the innermost oval, which we shall supply from the "Universal History :”*—“ Within this grand oval," say they, "is another of much lesser, though broader and finer stones. This circle, together with the long stone, now broken, which is supposed to have been the altar, is of a darkish blue marble, such as is often set upon common altar-tombs, and about sixteen feet in length, consists of

* Vol. vii. 346,

twenty stones, the greatest part of which are sadly mangled, but not so much as to hinder a curious observer from recovering the form and order in which they stood."

We shall now give our own statement, as taken in July 1834. 1st. The situation of the building appeared to be on a plain, in the form of a plate with its border or edge-the building in the middle, and the barrows on the border. 2nd. It consisted of four circles; and, beginning at the innermost, this consisted of small upright stones; the second, or next, of five trilithons, or five pairs of uprights with an impost, or cross stone, on the top of each pair, fastened by tenon and mortice; the third, composed of small upright stones; and the fourth, or outside circle, of large stones, twenty feet high, and seven feet wide. 3rd. The distance between the outer oval circle of the five trilithons, and that of the inner, was about three feet. 4th. There is an eastern entrance into the area, about two hundred and twenty feet from the building, where three large stones are placed; and in the middle of this area, or just in the half way from the entrance stones to the temple, there is a hollow place, with a stone lying flat in the earth, perhaps the place of sacrifice before entering the sacred inclosure, like the altar of burnt-offering for sacrifice before the tabernacle of the congregation in the worship of Israel.

Before we dismiss our account of the building, we would remark on some things worthy of notice,

most of which are selected from the authors of the "Universal History."* 1. The stones are placed in a kind of socket, dug in the chalky soil, having small stones carefully rammed in between the stone and the sides of the socket. 2. That in the trilithons the uprights are locked or fastened together by tenon and mortice even to this day, and that they exactly fit each other; of which trilithons there were originally fifteen. 3. That though there are greater and smaller stones, yet that the stones of the trilithons are twenty-one feet high, seven feet and a half in breadth, and three feet nine inches thick. 4. The stones of the second circle, and the stones of the second oval, are pyramidal. 5. Each tenon is a Druidical cubit, somewhat above twenty inches in diameter on th broadest side, for they are of an oval figure; and the mortices are exactly answerable to the tenon. 6." Where the imposts are heaviest, the tenons are shortest; and where those are lightest, and consequently more in danger to be shaken, as in those of the outward circle, these are made longest, and the mortices deeper accordingly." 7. "If the bottom face of the impost be divided into three squares, the two mortices will be found in the middle of the two outward ones: draw diagonal lines from corner to corner, and where they intersect is the centre of the mortice; which central distance from one to the other is seven Druidish cubits, or about eight of ours." 8. "The * Universal History, vol. vii. pp. 341-345.

ellipsis, or oval, is formed by a line of sixty cubits, which, being joined at the two ends, and turned round the two centres, give a diameter of thirty cubits at the longest, and twenty-five at the shortest, five cubits being the supposed distance between the two centres." To which we add, 9. A remark of Brown, that, in the trilithons of the large or first oval," the uprights of the first pair stand sixteen feet above the surface of the ground; those of the second, seventeen; and those of the central one, twenty-two." And the inner oval rises in height, too, according to Dr. S. And, 10. A remark of King's, "That the stones of the inner circle are of darker hue than those of the outer circle, almost inclining to black :" and Dr. S. says, that the stones of the lesser oval are 66 of a much harder sort than the other stones of the lesser circle." 11. The stone called the "altar-stone" (though, as we conceive, erroneously,) is noticed by the observers in general as distinguishable from the rest, and is a different kind of stone.

But this last-mentioned stone deserves a more attentive consideration. Inigo Jones's account of it is this:-" In the inmost part of the work there is a stone, appearing not much above the surface of the earth, and lying toward the east, four feet broad and sixteen feet long, which, whether it might be an altar or no, I leave to the judgment of others; because so overwhelmed with the ruins of this work, that I could make no search after it, but even with much difficulty took the