Who raised the wondrous pile? I asked and sighed,
And paused for a reply; but none replied.
Time passed me by, and answered with a frown,
Whoever raised it I will pull it down.
There is perhaps no subject on which antiquarians have more employed
their learning and industry, on which their theories have been so
fruitful, or their discussions so endless, as on the origin and history
of those ancient stones generally denominated Druidical. But, who were
the founders—when were they founded—and what was the immediate object of
their foundation, are questions which at this period we cannot fully
answer. At the same time the undoubted antiquity of these remains, the
tolerably accurate glimpses of their original condition which the
antiquarian writers afford us, and the very mystery in which they are
enveloped, altogether make their study peculiarly attractive. But more
than all this, there is one fact connected with these antique monuments,
which renders them of very high interest indeed, and that is, their
dispersion over every part of the world, bearing evidently a common
impress of the ideas and habits of their founders, even in places so
remote from each other as to make it appear impossible that there should
have been any mutual intercourse in those ancient times. Monuments of
large and rude stones, disposed in the forms known respectively in our
country by the names of circles, cromlechs, kistvaens, and stones erect,
are found extensively dispersed through Great Britain, Ireland, Jersey,
Guernsey, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Malta,
Gaza, Phœnicia, Malabar, Bombay, and other parts of India, Palestine,
Persia, Northern Africa, North America, and in the Islands of the Indian
Archipelago, and of the South Sea. What conclusions then can we draw
from these phenomena, but that those common ideas and habits of which we
have spoken must have existed prior to the dispersion of the great family
of man, of which the Scriptures tell us? If the identity of the
monuments known as Druidical in this country with those existing in
Palestine and other parts mentioned in the sacred writings be
acknowledged, this important result follows:—that whilst, on the one
hand, “the form of existing monuments illustrates the form of those
mentioned in Scripture;” on the other, “the uses of those described in
Scripture illustrates the uses of those now existing.” The Sacred
Scriptures furnish us with many indications as to the use of the altar
and circle of stones. (Gen. xx. 24, 25, Josh. v. 5–7, 1 Sam. vii. 16,
17–x. 8.)
The general opinion is that the cromlechs were altars on which the
priests offered their dreadful sacrifices. On this subject Cæsar has the
following remarks:—“The whole nation of the Gauls, (whom Cæsar describes
as imitators of those of Britain, and as deriving from the latter their
customs) is much addicted to religious observances, and on that account,
those who are attacked by any of the more serious diseases, and who are
in danger of warfare, either offer human sacrifice or make a vow that
they will offer them, and they employ the Druids to officiate at their
sacrifices; for they consider that the favour of the immortal gods cannot
be conciliated, unless the life of one man be offered up for that of
another; they have sacrifices of the same kind appointed on behalf of the
state.” To which we may add, that Tacitus, in his account of the Roman
attack on the Isle of Anglesey, the then great stronghold of the British
Druids, states—that “they held it right to smear their altars with the
blood of their captives.” It is a striking corroboration of the theory
that the cromlechs were the altars on which these dreadful sacrifices
were performed, to find that in this very Isle of Anglesey are yet
existing about thirty, among which are some of the largest and most
magnificent our country possesses. It is well known that, at a very
early period, this Island was the great school of Druidism—the chosen
retreat and asylum of the Druidical Priests. No wonder, therefore, that
travellers are particularly struck with the great absence of trees,
having naturally enough supposed that the former scene of Druidical
superstition, the horrors of which were carried on in the dark recesses
of consecrated groves, would not be so bare and destitute of timber. Nor
did Anglesey always wear this naked appearance. Classical authors tell
us it formerly had its venerable woods and shady groves, and the ancient
British appellation _Ynys Dywyll_, or the Shady Island, intimates the
same fact; and bodies of trees are constantly met with in the pits from
which the inhabitants get their peat.
Having made these remarks we shall now direct the attention of the
tourist to the