Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

STONF. CIRCLES. 249
Still found in one of the wildest parts of Cornwall. These
are often so small as not to exceed ten or twelve feet in
diameter; consisting, like the others, of separate and
large stones. It is possible that these may be monu-
ments, and the place the scene of some action. But it is
equally likely that they have been folds for cattle or
sheep when the wolf was an inhabitant of this country;
or they may have been dwelling houses, since the circu-
lar method of building these, seems to have been nearly
universal among rude nations. It is easy to conceive
how the interstitial and smaller stones had fallen and dis-
appeared, while the larger ones remained ;
and this view
may possibly be applicable to many more cases to which
the usual fanciful origin has been attributed. The same
district presents numerous examples of circles of enor-
mous diameter, yet differing from the ordinary circular
forts, as being of a much slighter construction. The
position of these would seem to indicate that they had
been posts or defences; but it is scarcely necessary to
dwell on so obvious an application, and one which will
probably be found to apply to many of these hitherto
mysterious structures.
Thus I must conclude that, as far as the Circles are
concerned, I have knocked down the Druidical system
and established my own. I should be wanting in the
most essential quality of an antiquary and a system
maker, if I could not say as Madame la Duchesse de
Ferte said to Madame de Stael, " il n'y a que moi au
monde qui aie toujours raison."
But there is much more in the prevailing belief about
the Druids themselves, as visionary as their temples.
That they were magicians, however, is indubitable;
when they have contrived to cast the " glamour" of their
magic over the eyes and minds of sensible men for a
period of so many centuries since they have all been laid
in the Red Sea. The very sound of the word has iu it at