_(For the Mirror.)_
It appears from the accounts of the earliest historians, that single
stones, or rude pillars were raised on various occasions, in the most
remote ages. Of these we have frequent notices in the Old Testament, as
of that raised by Jacob at Lug, afterwards named Bethel; a pillar was
also raised by him at the grave of Rachel. The Gentiles set up pillars
for idolatrous purposes. The Paphians worshipped their Venus under the
form of a white pyramid, and the Brachmans the great God under the
figure of a little column of stone. Many large stones are found at this
day in Wales and Cornwall, which are supposed to have been raised by the
Phoenicians and Grecians, who frequently resorted thither for tin and
other metals.
In Ireland some of these large stones have crosses cut on them, supposed
to have been sculptured by Christians, out of compliance with Druidical
prejudices, that the converts from Paganism not easily diverted from
their reverence for these stones, might pay them a kind of justifiable
adoration, when thus appropriated to the use of Christian memorials, by
the sign of the Cross. Some signs of adoration are at this day paid to
such stones, in the Scottish Western Isles; they are called _bowing
stones_. In the Isle of Barra there is one about seven feet high, and
when the inhabitants come near, they take a religious turn round it,
according with ancient Druidical custom.
Stones were raised also as memorials of _civil contracts_; as by Jacob,
in his contract with Laban, when the attendants of the latter raised a
heap, to signify their assent to the treaty. Those conical, pyramidal,
and cylindric stones, perpendicularly raised, which are seen in the
British Isles, were formerly introduced in general, to ascertain the
boundaries of districts. On these, representations of the crucifixion
were frequently cut, and the name of crosses were given to the boundary
stones in general, though remaining without this symbol. Many instances
might be given of these termini. At High Cross, on the intersection of
the Watling Street and Foss Roman roads, there was formerly a pillar
which marked the limits of Warwickshire and Leicestershire--the present
column is of modern date; another distinguished the boundaries of
Asfordby and Frisby, in the latter county. One at Crowland, in the
county of Lincoln, the inscription on which has caused considerable
dispute amongst antiquarians, has been much noticed. A famous one near
Landoris, in Fifeshire, placed, as Camden says, as a boundary between
the districts of Fife and Stathern, was also a place of sanctuary.
Stone pillars, or crosses were also raised to record remarkable events;
as where a battle had been fought, or over persons of distinction slain
therein. Crosses were likewise erected where any particular instance of
mercy had been shown by the Almighty, or where any person had been
murdered by robbers, or had met with a violent death; where the corpse
of any great person had rested on its way to interment, as those
splendid ones erected by Edward I. in memory of his beloved Queen
Elinor; often in churchyards, and in early times at most places of
public concourse; in market-places, perhaps to repress all idea of undue
gain or extortion; and at the meeting of four roads.
Penances were often finished at crosses. Near Stafford stood one called
_Weeping Cross_, from its being a place designated for the expiation of
penances, which concluded with weeping and other signs of contrition. A
great number of sepulchral crosses were erected in Great Britain and
Ireland, soon after prayers for the dead came into use, by the desire of
individuals, at their places of interment, to remind pious people to
pray for their souls.
The ancient practice of consecrating Pagan antiquities to religious
purposes, has been continued to times comparatively modern; thus, Pope
Sixtus V. purified the Antonine column and that of Trajan, dedicating
them to St. Peter and St. Paul, whose statues, of a colossal size, he
placed on their summits. Succeeding Popes followed these examples,
dedicating ancient columns, pillars, and obelisks to different Saints
and Apostles.