Part 4

I have given you a full relation what concerning _Stoneheng_ hath been delivered by Writers, in respect of us though ancient, yet in regard of the great antiquity of this _Work_, indeed but modern, _Geffrey Monmouth_ living not full five hundred years ago, and _Polydore Virgill_ long after him, in King _Henry_ the eighths reign: Who, as they are the principall Authors that write any thing of _Stoneheng_; so, upon what authority deliver the same, they make not appear. Insomuch, _Camden_ gives no more credit to their relations in this very particular, then unto common sayings, (so he cals them) as if grounded upon _Fame_ only, or invented by themselves. And it may the rather be so presumed, because, as they lived not in ancient times, and consequently could not themselves bear testimony of any such things; so, neither the _Britans_ nor _Saxons_ for a long time after their first arrivall here, had any Records or Writings to convey whatever actions, either of their own, or others to posterity. _Ninnius_ a _British_ Historian, living about one thousand years ago, telling us, Britannos _doctores nullam peritiam habuisse, &c. The great Masters and Doctors of_ Britain _had no skill, nor left memoriall of any thing in writing_: confessing, that himself _gathered whatsoever he wrote, out of the Annals and Chronicles of the holy Fathers. Nec_ Saxones _amusi quicquam penè de rebus inter ipsos, &_ Britannos _eo tempore gestis scriptum posteritati reliquerint_, &c. _Neither did the_ Saxons _being unlearned_ (saith _Leyland_) _leave almost any thing in writing to posterity, of the actions performed in those times betwixt themselves and_ Britans: _whatsoever, remembred after Christ taught in this Island, of the first victories of the_ Saxons, _being both taken up upon trust from the mouth of the common people, and committed to writing from vulgar reports only. Neither the_ Britans, _utterly worn out with so many wars, had_ (as the same Author hath it) _or desire, or opportunity, had they desired it, to bestow their pains in compiling any whatever history, that might commend their actions to succeeding Ages._

But, it maybe objected: If _Polydore Virgill_, and _Geffrey Monmouth_ could neither be eye-witnesses themselves, nor have authority from other more ancient Authors for what related by them concerning _Stoneheng_: and that from whatever writings ancient or modern, not any thing of certainty can be found out concerning the same; from whence then appear, for what use, or by whom _Stoneheng_ erected? I answer, though not appear from Histories written either by the _Britans_ or _Saxons_; yet, as _Gildas_ professing he wrote his History (for the former reasons) _by relations from beyond Sea_: and, as _Ninnius_ his _out of the Annals and Chronicles of the holy Fathers_ as aforesaid: so, severall other ways a possibility of truth may be gathered, namely, from the authority of other Nations; from the concurrence of time for such undertakings; from the customs of forepassed Ages in like works; from the manner and form of building proper to severall Countries; from the use to which such buildings applied, and the like. Upon which, as occasion serves, intending hereafter more largely to insist, I shall in the mean while set down the judgement our late Writers give of this _Antiquity_.

[Sidenote: _Cam. fo. 251._]

_Camden_, a diligent searcher after Antiquities of our Nation, having, in his _Chorography_ of _Wiltshire_, collected all the aforesaid opinions, together with his own, gives a summary description of _Stoneheng_, in words as follow. _Towards the North, about six miles from_ Salisbury, _in the plain, is to be seen a huge and monstrous peece of work, such as_ Cicero _termeth_ insanam substructionem. _For, within the circuit of a ditch, there are erected in manner of a Crown, in three ranks or courses one within another, certain mighty and unwrought stones, whereof some are twenty eight foot high, & seven foot broad, upon the heads of which others, like overthwart peeces, do bear and rest cross-wise, with a small tenon and mortaise, so as the whole frame seemeth to hang; whereof we call it_ Stoneheng, _like as our old Historians termed it for the greatness the Giants dance. Our Countrimen reckon this for one of our wonders, and miracles. And much they marvell, from whence such huge stones were brought, considering that in all those quarters bordering thereupon, there is hardly to be found any common stone at all for building: as also, by what means they were set up. For mine own part about these points I am not curiously to argue and dispute, but rather to lament with much grief, that the Authors of so notable a Monument are thus buried in oblivion. Yet some there are, that think them to be no naturall stones hewn out of the rock, but artificially made of pure sand, and by some glewy and unctuous matter knit and incorporate together, like as those ancient trophies or monuments of victory which I have seen in_ Yorkshire. _And what marvell? Read we not I pray you in_ Pliny, _that the sand or dust of_ Puteoli, _being covered over with water, becometh forthwith a very stone, that the cisterns in_ Rome _of sand, digged out of the ground, and the strongest kind of lime wrought together grow so hard, that they seem stones indeed? and that statues and images of marble scalings, and small grit grow together so compact and firm, that they were deemed entire and solid marble? The common saying is, that_ Ambrosius Aurelianus, _or his brother_ Uther _did rear them up, by the art of_ Merlin, _&c._ Thus far _Camden_, it being needlesse to repeat more from him, having already delivered the story from the Authors themselves. Yet here neverthelesse, as necessarily induced thereunto, I shall take leave to observe something more remarkable to our purpose in hand, upon his words.

In the first place then, _Stoneheng_ is by him called _a huge and monstrous peece of work_, terming it from _Cicero_, _insanam substructionem_. To which I say, had _Camden_ as well attained other abilities of an _Architect_, as he was skilfull in _Antiquities_: or been as conversant in _Antiquities_ abroad, as learned in those of his own Nation, he would have given a far different judgement hereof. For, whosoever is acquainted with the ancient ruines yet remaining in and about _Italy_, may easily perceive this no such huge building, either for the circuit of the work, or bignesse of the stones, they being as manageable to the _Roman Architects_, as amongst us to raise a May-pole, or mast of a Ship. And, if this styled _huge_ and _monstrous_, what may be said of _Diocletians_ baths? the great _Cirque_? _Marcellus_ his Theater? _Vespasians Temple of Peace_? and other prodigious works of the _Romans_? the very remainders whereof now lying in the dust, breed amazement and wonder (not without just reason too) in whosoever beholds them with attentivenesse and judgement. Nay, whereas he styles it _insanam substructionem_, it’s demonstrable, that betwixt this Island of great _Britain_, and _Rome_ it self, there’s no one structure to be seen, wherein more clearly shines those harmoniacall proportions, of which only the best times could vaunt, then in this of _Stoneheng_.

Moreover, _Our Countreymen marvell_ (saith he) _from whence such huge stones were brought, considering that in all those quarters bordering thereupon, there is hardly to be found any common stone for building_. Upon what trust _Camden_ (his extraordinary judgement otherwise considered) took this relation, I know not. For there is not onely common stone thereabouts, for ordinary uses, but stone of extraordinary proportions likewise, even for greater works (if occasion were) then _Stoneheng_: the Quarries of _Hasselborough_ and _Chilmark_, both of them not far from the borders of the plain, having of a long time furnished all the adjacent parts with common stone for building. And (to come nearer the matter) it is manifest, that in divers places about the Plain, the same kinde of Stone whereof this _Antiquity_ consists may be found, especially about _Aibury_ in North-_Wiltshire_, not many miles distant from it, where not onely are Quarries of the like stone, but also stones of far greater dimensions then any at _Stoneheng_, may be had.

[Sidenote: _Plut. in Marcel._]

[Sidenote: _Herod. lib. 2._]

[Sidenote: _Ptol. lib. 4._]

[Sidenote: _Plin. lib. 36._]

[Sidenote: _Dom. Font. lib. 1._]

_They wonder also_ (saith he) _by what means they_ (that, is such huge stones) _were set up_. What may be effected by that _Mechanicall Art_, which _Dee_ in his _Mathematicall Preface_ to _Euclyde_, cals _Menadry_, or _Art of ordering Engines for raising weights_; those (it seems) of whom _Camden_ speaks took little notice of, when _Archimedes_ during the siege of _Syracuse_, raised out of the Sea, and turned in the air at pleasure, the Ships and Gallies of the _Romans_, full fraught as they were with Souldiers, Mariners, and their ordinary lading: and if King _Hieron_ could have assigned him, a fit place to firm his engines on, he would have undertaken to remove, even the terrestriall _Globe_ out of the worlds _center_, so high, perfection in this _Art_ transported him. What should I say of the _Obelisk_ in Ages so far past, brought from the Mountains of _Armenia_, and erected in _Babylon_ by _Semiramis_, one hundred & fifty foot high, and at the base twenty four foot square of one entire stone? _Est in fano_ Latonæ (saith _Herodotus_ of his own knowledge) _delubrum ex uno factum lapide, cujus parietes æquali celsitudine ad longitudinem quadragenum cubitorum, cujus lacunari, pro tecto impositus est alius lapis quatuor cubitorum per oras crassitudine. In the Temple of_ Latona (in _Ægypt_) _is a Chappell formed of one stone, whose walls being of equall height, are in length forty cubits, covered in like manner with one sole stone four cubits thick_. Those, which made this wonder would have much more admired, if they could have seen the _Obelisk_ raised in times of old by King _Ramesis_ at _Heliopolis_, in that part of _Ægypt_ anciently called _Thebais_, in height one hundred twenty one Geometrical feet (which of our measure makes one hundred thirty six feet) of one entire stone: and so little wonder made they of raising it, that the Architect undertook and did effect it, the Kings own son being at the same time bound to the top thereof. Amongst the _Romans_, _Augustus Cæsar_ erected in the great Cirque at _Rome_, an _Obelisk_ of one stone, one hundred and twenty foot, nine inches long: another also, was set up in _Mars_ field, nine foot higher then it, by the said Emperour. And it seems also, neither they, nor _Camdens_ self had ever seen that _Obelisk_, which even in these our days, in the year one thousand five hundred eighty six, _Sixtus Quintus_ caused to be erected in the _Piazza_ of S. _Peter_ at _Rome_, one hundred and eight _Roman_ palms high, and at the base twelve palms square, (according to our Assise, fourscore and one foot high, and nine foot square) of one entire stone also: _Dominico Fontana_ being _Architect_. But, there are more strange things (as Sir _Walter Raleigh_ hath it) in the world, then betwixt _London_ and _Stanes_. It is want of knowledge in _Arts_ makes such admirers, and _Art_ it self have so many Enemies. Had I not been thought worthy (by him who then commanded) to have been sole _Architect_ thereof, I would have made some mention of the great stones used in the work, and _Portico_ at the West end of S. _Pauls_ Church _London_, but I forbear; though in greatnesse they were equall to most in this _Antiquity_, and raised to a far greater height then any there. What manner of Engines the _Ancients_ used for raising; and what secure ways they had, for cariage and transportation of their huge weights, is more proper for another subject.

[Sidenote: _Vitr. lib. 2. cap. 6._]

_Some there are_ (saith _Camden_) _that think them to be no naturall stones, hewn out of the rock, but artificially made of pure sand, and by some glewy and unctuous matter, knit and incorporate together, like those ancient trophies, or monuments of victory, which I have seen in_ Yorkshire. As for these Monuments (for my part) I have not seen, otherwise I would give my sense upon them, and happily they may be found as far from being artificiall, as those at _Stoneheng_. _And what marvell?_ (saith he) _read we not, I pray you, in_ Pliny, _that the sand or dust of_ Puteoli, _being covered over with water, becometh forthwith a very stone &c._ He might as well have told us the Rocks in _Portland_ are artificiall. But it’s true, this sand of _Puteoli_, was much used by the _Ancients_, and it is such a kind of earth, as is very famous for its admirable effects in building, being tempered with the cement of _Cuma_: For, it not onely yeelds strength to all other buildings, but thereby also, all works made in the Sea under water, are most firmly consolidated. Yet, doe I not find, that ever the _Ancients_ made any artificiall stones thereof, or that _Vitruvius_ hath any thing to that purpose, to him the credit given to _Pliny_, and others, concerning the Earth of _Puteoli_, being only due; posterity being in the first place beholding unto him for finding out the nature of that earth, he giving us not only the effects thereof, but the cause also from whence those effects proceed. _Hoc autem fieri hac ratione videtur, quòd sub his montibus_ (i.e. _in regionibus_ Baianis, _& in agris, quæ sunt circa_ Vesuvium _montem) & terræ ferventes sunt, & fontes crebri, qui non essent, si non in imo haberent, aut de sulphure, aut alumine, aut bitumine ardentes maximos ignes. Which is_ (saith he) _by reason in those mountains_ (to wit, _in the regions of_ Baiæ, _and fields about mount_ Vesuvius) _the grounds are hot, and full of springs, which heat could not be, but that from the bottome, are nourished mighty great fires, arising from sulphur, alume, or brimstone there._ Indeed, according to _Pliny_, the sand upon the side of the hill of _Puteoli_, being opposed to the Sea, and continually drenched, and drowned with the water thereof, doth (by the restringent quality, no doubt, of the salt water) become a stone so compact, and united together, that scorning all the violence of the surging billows, it hardeneth every day more and more.

Neverthelesse, whosoever could find out any kind of earth in this Island, naturally apt, to make artificiall stones of such greatnesse as these; and, like them so obdurate also, that hardly any tool enter them: or, that our Auncestors in times of old, did make use of such a cement, and in what manner composed by them. The benefit thereof doubtlesse, would amount so ample to this Nation, that Records could not but render him deservedly famous to all posterity. In the mean while, as it is most certain those stones at _Stoneheng_ are naturall; so, am I as clearly of opinion, the very Quarries from whence hewn, were about _Aibury_ beforementioned: where, no small quantities of the same kind, are even at this day to be had; vast scantlings, not only appearing about the Town it self, but throughout the plain and fields adjoyning, the Quarries lying bare, numbers also numberlesse of stones, are generally seen. (being no small prejudice to the bordering inhabitants) As also, not far from the edge of _Wiltshire_, in the ascent from _Lamborn_ to _Whitehorse hill_, the like stones are daily discovered. To mention, more places in particular is needlesse, the Quarries at and about _Aibury_ (without relating to _Lamborn_, or what ever other) distant but fifteen miles or thereabouts from _Stoneheng_, being of themselves sufficient to clear the doubt. These, having through long time, got the very same crustation upon them, are in like manner coloured, grained, bedded, weighty, and of like difficulty in working, as those at _Stoneheng_. Some of which, being of a whitish colour, are intermixt and veined here and there with red: some, of a lightish blew, glister, as if minerall amongst them: some, for the most part white, perplexed (as it were) with a ruddy colour: some, dark gray and russet, differing in kinds as those stones at _Aibury_ do. Some of them again, of a grayish colour, are speckled or intermixt with dark green, and white, together with yellow amongst it, resembling after a sort, that kind of marble which the _Italians_ (from the valley where the Quarries are found) call _Pozzevera_; nothing, notwithstanding, so beautifull, though naturally much harder, and being weathered by time, as in this work; disdain the touch even of the best tempered tool. Insomuch, that if nothing else, the more then ordinary hardnesse of them is such, as will in part convince any indifferent judgement in the nature and quality of stones; those, in this _Antiquity_, are not (as _Camden_ would have them) artificiall, but naturall.

[Sidenote: _H. Hunting, lib. 1._]

[Sidenote: _Cam. fo. 241._]

Whatsoever, worthy admiration concerning _Stoneheng_, either in relation to the greatnesse of the work in generall, the extraordinary proportion of the stones in particular, the wonder the people make, from whence brought, by what Arts or Engines raised, and in such order placed, _Camden_ delivers; certainly, in his judgement he was wholly opposite to the opinions of the aforesaid _British_ Historians. He would never else, with so much regret have complained, _The Authors of so notable a Monument lay buried in oblivion_, had he given any the least credit, this _Antiquity_ had been built, either by _A. Ambrosius_, or the _British_ Nobility, or to eternize either of their names, or actions to succeeding generations. Let _Geffrey Monmouth_ and his followers, say what they please, _Henry Huntingdon_ (his Contemporary, if not more Ancient) is mine Author, _Nec potest aliquis excogitare, qua arte tanti lapides adeo in altum elevati sunt, vel quare ibi constructi sunt. No man knows_ (saith _Huntingdon_) _for what cause_ Stoneheng _erected, or_ (which is fully answered already) _by what Art such huge stones were raised to so great a height_. Take with you also _Draytons_ judgement in his _Poly-olbion_ couched under the fiction of old _Wansdikes_ depraving _Stoneheng_. (_Wansdike_ being a huge Ditch in _Wiltshire_ so called, anciently, as _Camden_ opines, dividing the two Kingdomes of the _Mertians_ and _West Saxons_ asunder)

[Sidenote: _Poly-olbion Cant. 3._]

_Whom for a paltry ditch, when_ Stonendge _pleas’d t’upbraid, The old man taking heart, thus to that Trophy said; Dull heap, that thus thy head above the rest doth reare, Precisely yet not know’st who first did place thee there; But Traytor basely turn’d to_ Merlins _skill dost flie, And with his Magicks dost thy Makers truth belie_.

For, as for that ridiculous Fable, of _Merlins_ transporting the stones out of _Ireland_ by Magick, it’s an idle conceit. As also, that old wives tale, that for the greatnesse it was in elder times called the _Giants dance_. The name of the _dance of Giants_ by which it is styled in _Monmouth_, hath nothing allusive, no not so much as to the _tale he tels us_, saith a modern Writer in the life of _Nero Cæsar_.

[Sidenote: _Speed lib. 7. Stow fo. 58. in 4ᵒ._]

[Sidenote: _Cam. fo. 194._ _Speed lib. 7._]

Furthermore, our modern Historians _Stow_ and _Speed_, tell us, in severall parts of the Plain adjoyning, have been by digging found, peeces of ancient fashioned armour, and the bones of men, insinuating this as an argument, for upholding the opinions of the _British_ Writers. To which, if they would have those to be the bones of the slaughtered _Britans_, how came those Armours to be found with them, they coming to the Treaty unarmed, and without weapons? Howsoever, what is done in the Plains abroad, concerns not _Stoneheng_, Neither can any man think it strange, that in a place, where _Fame_ hath rendred, so many memorable and fierce battels, fought in times of old, rusty armour, and mens bones should be digged up. It is usuall throughout the world in all such places, and (if I mistake not) _Sands_ in his Travels, relates, that even in the Plains of _Pharsalia_, such like bones and Armour, have lately been discovered: and Sir _Henry Blunt_ in that notable relation of his voyage into the _Levant_, speaks with much judgement of those _Pharsalian_ fields. Likewise, the aforesaid Writers, might well have remembred, some of themselves deliver, that at _Kambulan_, or _Cambula_ in _Cornwall_, such habiliments of War have been digged up, in tillage of the ground, witnessing either the fatall field, sometimes there fought, where _Mordred_ was slain by _Arthur_, and _Arthur_ himself received his deaths wound: or else, the reliques of that battel betwixt the _Britans_ and _Saxons_, in the year eight hundred and twenty. ’Tis true, the relation conduces much towards confirming, that ancient custome of the _Saxons_, formerly recited out of _Leyland_, considering especially, not far from this _Antiquity_, lie certain hillocks, at this day commonly called the _seven Burrows_, where it may be presumed, some _Princes_, or _Nobles_ of the _Saxon_ Nation lie interred. But, that _Stoneheng_ should therefore be a place of buriall, the aforesaid relation to maintain the same is nothing worth.

They adde moreover, the stones yet remaining are not to be numbred, according as our Noble _Sydney_ in his Sonnet of the wonders of _England_.

_Near_ Wilton _sweet, huge heaps of stone are found, But so confus’d, that neither any eye Can count them just, nor reason reason try, What force brought them to so unlikely ground_.

This, though it scarcely merits an answer, yet, to satisfie those which in this point may be curious, let them but observe the orders of the Circles, as they now appear, and not passe from one to another confusedly (noting neverthelesse where they begin) and they’ll find the just number easie to be taken.

Now, though whether in order to the Place it self where this _Antiquity_ stands, or _Persons_, by whom _Stoneheng_ pretended to be built, enough laid, to wave the reports upon fancy, or common Fame, formerly delivered: to the state of _Time_ neverthelesse, wherein the _British_ Histories would have it erected, because nothing by me hath yet been spoken, I will therefore adde, ’tis not probable such a work as _Stoneheng_ could be then built. For, although our _Britans_, in ancient time possessed, together with the _Roman_ civility, all good _Arts_, it is evident during the reign of _A. Ambrosius_ (about the first coming in of the _Saxons_ here, and towards the later end of the fifth Century, as Historians and Chronologists compute it) in the last declining of the _Roman_ Empire, the _Arts_ of _Design_, of which _Architecture_ chief, were utterly lost even in _Rome_ it self, much more in _Britain_, being then but a Tempest-beaten _Province_, and utterly abandoned by the _Romans_. _Britain_, therefore, being over-run with enemies, and the knowledge of _Arts_ then lost amongst them: none, questionlesse, can reasonably apprehend so notable a work as _Stoneheng_ could in such times be built.

[Sidenote: _Serl. lib. 3._]