A description of the part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy; its natural history, manners, customs, superstitions, scenery, antiquities, biography of eminent persons, etcin a series of letters to Robert Southey . me the tenant, they placed hissword by his side, and the heads of twelve arrows;and not unfrequently the horn of a deer, as a symbolof the deceased having been a hunter. The Britons, also, sometimes erected a singlestone in memory of the dead. Possibly the obeliskseen near the cursus (which has no inscription) maybe a memorial of this nature, and if so, of veryhigh ant
A description of the part of Devonshire bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy; its natural history, manners, customs, superstitions, scenery, antiquities, biography of eminent persons, etcin a series of letters to Robert Southey . me the tenant, they placed hissword by his side, and the heads of twelve arrows;and not unfrequently the horn of a deer, as a symbolof the deceased having been a hunter. The Britons, also, sometimes erected a singlestone in memory of the dead. Possibly the obeliskseen near the cursus (which has no inscription) maybe a memorial of this nature, and if so, of veryhigh antiquity; since, by two noble fimeralobelisks of Komanized British chiefs (now preservedill uLii {j^vrlr>n) T should imaoine tkat pffoT fli^Romans had overrun Britain, and not before, theBritons inscribed their monumental stones and pil-lars. On this point, however, I shall have more tosay when I come to the subject of inscribed stones image of Caer Sidi, the Zodiac, or of the Druidlcal temple, formt-d ofgems and set in gold. The device still may be seen upon old Britishcoins. The hierarch presided in the areao/ikealtar, which was guardedby the priests and drenched with human blood. 150 DRUID ICAL AUGURY. [ This S7,e/c/i reprrsen/s the Obelisk, and a Circle near it, r,n Dartmoor. found in this neiglibourlioocl, both of the British andthe Saxon period. I have before noticed what a fine fiekl Dartmoormust have afforded the Druids for the augury ofbirds; and as I do not wish to break in upon theextracts from Mr. Brays Journals, that will supplymatter for many of my letters, before I take myleave of the Druids, I v»isli to offer a few desultoryremarks that will not, I trust, be found altogethermisplaced. Certain it is that in this neighbourhood,sx\A nn thojoaoor in nartirnlar. birds are still consi-dered as ominous of good or evil, more especiall}^ ofthe latter; and no reasoning will operate with thepeople who have imbibed these prejudices from theirinfancy, to make
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdec, bookpublisherlondonmurray, bookyear1836
