Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

CIRCLE OF CLASSERNISH. 239
Putting' aside the rhapsodies of the Druids at present,
as I have dismissed Abaris and Apollo, it is not a monu-
ment which could well be referred to a high antiquity,
on account of the feebleness of its construction. The
stones are not deeply rooted in the ground : and many
more, if not the whole, must have fallen, like the rest,
had its date been so remote. That they have fallen, and
not been taken down for economical purposes, seems
clear ;
as even the fallen stones have not been removed
while we know that the reverence which the High-
landers paid to these ancient monuments, prevents them
now from destroying, out of wantonness, that which they
Latfebeen accustomed, in former days, to respect.
Some philosopher of the Druidical fraternity, who is
inclined to go to Egypt or the East, for this work, may
here find a new argument in its magnetic bearing-, and
prove that this instrument was used in its erection before
it was known to our navigators. If he disclaims Toland
and his rudder, or does not choose to admit that there
are fourteen signs in the Zodiac, he may still shew how
the central stone of the circle represented the sun, if
the Druids were Coperuicans, and the circle itself the
planets : a slight error having only been made in their
numbers :
or, if they followed Ptolemy, he may place the
earth in the middle. Then the long- line of the cross
will represent the axis of the earth, or the chief meridian,
and the short one will be the ecliptic or the equinoctial,
and so forth. Such a theory has in fact, been pro-
posed, on account of the present magnetic bearings of
this structure. Dr. Stukeley, who is the troublesome
parent of Druid temples, and the principal hero of Stone-
henge, thinks that celebrated work was erected by the
magnetic wisdom of the Druids, because the variation of
Its meridian is six degrees east. It is certain that we do
not know during what period the Druids might have
;