. The Argosy. e a way of obtruding them-selves, whether you will or not. Then they packed and settled intotheir little Victoria, and away they went, evidently in Eden; evidentlypitying all those unhappy mortals who were shut without the gates inthe cold, but leaving me to enjoy in undisturbed silence this greatsolitude; this wonderful and mysterious record of a long past age,in the midst of the wide-spreading, intensely solitary plain. Many things belonging to the past are enveloped in doubt and un-certainty, but none more so, apparently, than Stonehenge. The firstmention of it on record is by
. The Argosy. e a way of obtruding them-selves, whether you will or not. Then they packed and settled intotheir little Victoria, and away they went, evidently in Eden; evidentlypitying all those unhappy mortals who were shut without the gates inthe cold, but leaving me to enjoy in undisturbed silence this greatsolitude; this wonderful and mysterious record of a long past age,in the midst of the wide-spreading, intensely solitary plain. Many things belonging to the past are enveloped in doubt and un-certainty, but none more so, apparently, than Stonehenge. The firstmention of it on record is by Ninnius, in the year 617, but he throwsno light upon the matter. It has been the subject of much con- vol. xxxi. p 210 Salisbury and Stonchcngc. troversy, has occupied the attention of many minds, has been theobject of much research, but nothing is positively known as to theorigin, end and aim of these remarkable ruins. This very uncertaintygoes far to prove their most remote antiquity Fancy inclines to refer. them to Druidical remains, as throwing over them a greater glamourof mystery and romance : but whether they are so or not is as doubtfulas everything else about them. Whether they were a temple erectedto some heathen deity, or whether they were mere sepulchral monu-ments, are questions buried in the past. No Runic inscriptions havebeen handed down to be interpreted by the wise. Some great object Salisbury and Stonehenge. 211 they must have served, and from the labour and stupendous exertionsit evidently cost to erect them, it seems probable that the object wasreligious. The one certain thing about Stonehenge is that it onceexisted, and that it remains to this day a grand ruin. Dr. Smith, writing in 1771, considered that it was most likely aTropical Temple erected by the Druids for observing the motions ofthe heavenly bodies, and in an elaborate exposition he brings forwardmuch cunning argument to prove his case. It is well known that theDruids were skilled astronomers, a
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