Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/151

Rh have not sunk so deep; indeed, one of them fell on a stone belonging to the second circle, which I at first supposed to have been thrown down by it, but which, from recurring to plans of the prior state of the structure, I find to have long been prostrate.

Though I could not contemplate without emotions of peculiar awe and regret such an assault of time and the elements on this venerable structure, I must own these emotions were in some measure counterbalanced by the satisfaction of being now enabled to discover the original depth of these stupendous stones in the ground. It appears that the longer of the supporters was not more than 3 feet 6 inches deep (measuring down the middle), nor the other but little more than 3 feet. In the cavities left in the ground there were a few fragments of stone of the same nature as that forming the substance of the trilithon, and some masses of chalk. These materials seem to have been placed here with a view to secure the perpendicular position of the supporters.

The immediate cause of this memorable change in the state of Stonehenge must have been the sudden and rapid thaw that began the day before the stones fell, succeeding a very deep snow. In all probability the trilithon was originally perfectly upright, but it had acquired some degree of inclination long before the time of its fall. This inclination was remarked by Dr. Stukely, though it was not so considerable, I think, as is represented in his north view of Stonehenge. One of the supporters had lost much of its original bulk in consequence of corrosion by the weather, near its foundation; this circumstance also rendered it less secure. As both had so inconsiderable a depth in the ground, a sudden, though slight, diminution of the pressure of the latter against the inclining side must appear to have been fully sufficient, on account of the shock which the impost would suffer, to occasion the downfall of the whole.

We do not find the precise time of any alteration prior to this VOL. XIII.