Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/213

 AND THE PROBABLE DATE OF STONEITENOE. 155 temples arc situated in places Avherc the blocks of stone, connnonlj called Sarsen stones, abound, or, at least, are known at one time to have abounded ; and that the geological conditions which distinguish such localities, occur more fre- quently in England than in the interior of France. I think, thcrefoi'C, wc may account for the unfrequent occurrence of these structures in such j)arts of Gaul as arc remote from its western coast, without being driven to the conclusion which Mr. Herbert would bring us to. There is one argument against the theory, which assigns to Stonehenge, and the other Druidical structures, a date subsequent to the Roman occupation of the island, which the nienibers of an Archaeological society are peculiarly fitted to appreciate. We all know — the principles on which our " Gothic buildings " were so long constructed, sufficiently teach us — liow difficult it is for an architect to compose in a new style of architecture, and at the same time to keep his mind unswayed by the forms to which he has been long accustomed. Now I do not forget, that Inigo Jones started the hypothesis, that Stonehenge was " a hypsethral temple ;" but in his day the fundamental principles, which distinguish the diffijrent s^^stems of architectural construction, had been but little studied, and the researches of modern times have placed us on a vantage-ground that enables us to estimate at its proper value, a theory, which, coming from a man so eminent, might otherwise occasion us some difficulty. After thus much of preface, I would ask the archaeological reader, whether he thinks it comes within the limits of a reasonable probability, that men who had, for centuries, been familiarised with the forms of Roman architecture, could have built Stoneheno;e ? i If we suppose Stonehenge to have been erected after the Southern Belgre had pushed their frontier to the "VYansdike, and not long before Divitiacus obtained his impcrium over the other Belgic races, every difficulty vanishes. The [manufacture of iron was probably known in Britain at that period, though it seems to have been only lately introduced, as CcGsar tells us, not many years afterwards, that the metal was not abundant,^ " ejus exigua est copia ; " and i ' Iron appears to have been scarce, at necks with this metal (/. c. I suppose, least in the remoter parts of Britain, as made their torcx of ii'on, and covered late as the befj;inning of the third century. their girdles with it), and esteemed it not jHerodian informs us, that the tribes who only as an ornament but also as a proof of ppposed Severus decked tlieir loins .%nd wea/t/i.