Mr. Clark has rendered incalculable services to the cause of castle preservation in Wales, by his accurate and laborious communications on Caerphilly and Castell Coch-an example to be followed, we hope, by other Archæologists.

The Report of the Annual Meeting at Dolgellau will be found at the end of the Volume, and forms one of its most interesting portions.

We are bound to notice with thanks the following donations towards the cost of the engravings which illustrate this Volume, viz. :

We rejoice to think that the study and preservation of National Antiquities-the great object of the Cambrian Archæological Association-is slowly awakening the zeal of fresh advocates in various parts of the Principality; and we hope that this important result will be found advanced by the publication of the following pages.

Archeologia Cambrensis.

NEW SERIES, No. I.-JANUARY, 1850.

DRUIDIC STONES.

No. I.

THE object of this Paper is simply to furnish the reader of the Archeologia Cambrensis with a digest of the Bardic traditions, with a few passing observations, in reference to the ancient monuments of the Druids, under the impression that they will thus conduce to the better elucidation of points on which antiquaries are too frequently divided in opinion.

THE CIRCLE.

ITS SITE. "The Voice Conventional of the Bards of the Isle of Britain," said to have been extracted from Meyryg of Glamorgan's book, in the sixteenth century, and recently published by the Welsh MSS. Society, thus directs: A Gorsedd of the Bards of the Isle of Britain must be held in a conspicuous place, in full view and hearing of country and aristocracy, and in the face of the sun, and in the eye of light; it being unlawful to hold such meetings either under cover, at night, or under any circumstances otherwise than while the sun shall be visible in the sky: or, as otherwise expressed,-a Chair and Gorsedd of the British Bards shall be held conspicuously, in the face of the sun, in the eye of light, and

ARCH. CAMB., NEW SERIES, VOL. I.

B

under the expansive freedom of the sky, that all may see and hear."(Iolo MSS., p. 432.) And further on we are told:-"It is an institutional usage to form a conventional circle of stones on the summit of some conspicuous ground." (p. 445.) In another document, published in the same collection, we read, in reference to the Chair of Tir Iarll in particular:-" It must be held in the sight and hearing of the country and the chieftain, and in the face of the sun, and the eye of light, and under the protection of God and his peace." Again,-"The place of assembly may be in any open ground, whilst the sun is upon the sky; and it is called the Greensward of Songs." -(Ibid., pp. 626, 627.)

I shall leave to others the task of ascertaining how far the structures of Stonehenge, Abury, &c., correspond, both in a topographical and social point of view, with the requirements laid down in the foregoing extracts. At the same time, I would direct attention to the reason which is so expressly assigned in favour of the conspicuousness of the Gorsedd, viz.-"that all may see and hear," which, when such frequent mention is made of the sun, may not be theologically unimportant.

ITS FORM." It is an institutional usage to form a conventional circle of stones, on the summit of some conspicuous ground, so as to enclose any requisite area of greensward; the stones being so placed as to allow sufficient space for a man to stand between each two of them; except that the two stones of the circle which most directly confront the eastern sun, should be sufficiently apart to allow at least ample space for three men between them; thus affording an easy ingress to the circle. This larger space is called the entrance, or portal; in front of which, at the distance either of three fathoms, or of threetimes-three fathoms, a stone, called station stone, should be so placed as to indicate the eastern cardinal point; to the north of which another stone should be placed, so as to face the eye of the rising sun at the longest summer's day; and to the south of it an additional one, pointing to the position of the rising sun at the shortest winter's

day. These three are called station stones; but, in the centre of the circle, a stone, larger than the others, should be so placed, that diverging lines, drawn from its middle. to the three station stones, may point severally, and directly, to the three particular positions of the rising sun, which they indicate."-(Iolo MSS., p. 445.) "The place of assembly shall be upon the grassy face of the earth, and chairs shall be placed there, namely stones; and where stones cannot be obtained, then in their stead turfs, and the Chair of assembly shall be in the middle of the Gorsedd."-(p. 627.)

The solar principle, according to which the circles of the Bards are here directed to be formed, is extremely curious; and it would be worth while to put it to the test, especially since so many astronomical theories have already been devised, with a view to explain their characteristic features.

In illustration of the probable origin of the three radiating lines, we may record the following singular traditions:

"The announcement of the Divine name is the first event traditionally preserved, and it occurred as follows: -God, in vocalising his NAME, said /\, and with the word all worlds and animations sprang co-instantaneously to being and life from their non-existence, shouting in ecstasy of joy /\, and thus repeating the name of the Deity."(The Roll of Tradition and Chronology, taken from Edward Williams's transcript of Llewelyn Sion's MS., which was copied from Meyryg Davydd's transcript of an old MS. in the library of Raglan Castle.— See Iolo MSS., p. 424.)

In another document we are told:-"Immediately with the utterance was light, and in the light the form of the name in three voices thrice uttered, co-vocally, co-instantaneously, and in the vision three forms, and they were the figure and form of the light, and together with the utterance and the figure and form of that utterance were the three first letters, and from a combination of their three utterances were formed by letter all other

utterances whatsoever."-(From an old Grammar, apud Coelbren y Beirdd, p. 7.)

A third tradition says:-" Einigan Gawr saw three rays of light, on which were inscribed all knowledge and science. And he took three rods of mountain ash, and inscribed all the sciences upon them, as it should seem in imitation of the three rays of light."-(See Coelbren y Beirdd, p. 6.)

It may be remarked that the favourite symbol of the Bards is /11, and that it stands for the name of God, and is regarded further as a representation of the three diverging rays of light, which Einigan Gawr saw descending towards the earth; and it is somewhat curious that these three lines contain all the elements of the bardic alphabet, as there is not a single letter in it that is not formed of some of these lines.

ITS NAME. "The whole circle, formed as described, is called cylch Ambawr (the greensward-enclosing circle), cylch gorsedd (the circle of presidency), cylch gwyngil (the circle of sacred refuge); but it is called trwn (a throne) in some countries. The three stones placed near the entrance are called meini gorsaf (station stones); the stones of the circle are called meini gwynion (sacred stones), and meini crair (stones of testimony); and the centre stone is variously called maen gorsedd (the stone of presidency), crair gorsedd (the token of presidency), maen llog (the stone of compact), and maen armerth (the perfection stone).-(The Voice Conventional apud Iolo MSS., p. 446.)

Ambaur is evidently the original of ambrosial, and it suggests a much more satisfactory meaning than may be discovered in the name of Emrys Wledig or Ambrosius, the patron of Stonehenge; much less in Davies's theory, which professes to find the revolution of the sun in the Greek numerals of which the word may be formed.

Maen llog may be easily recognised in the logan stone; and thus there is reason to infer that all stones popularly known by the latter name, wherever met with, once formed part of a druidical circle.