in this island was established, and their refinements, luxuries, gorgeous palaces, villas, temples, and amphitheatres, had superseded the barbarism and rudely gigantic edifices of its aborigines, the Britons raised no such stupendous monu ments of any king, as Kit's Coty House, nor its neighbouring circle, which, in Mr. Pryce's own words, "is somewhat in the manner of Stonehenge." The next is simple analogy-Kit's Coti House being precisely similar, as we shall hereafter show, to other cromleches, which still exist both in Britain, Ireland, Gaul, Syria, and Persia, and which are allowed to be such by all real antiquarians. This Cromlech, or altar of human saerifice, is composed of four immense stones; two of them are set in the ground, forming its ends, the third stands in the middle between them, the fourth rests on the upright ones, forming a vast table or altar, considerably sloping towards the front, after the manner that all Druidical altars were, I believe, invariably placed; not only for the blood of the victim to flow off more easily, but also for the people to have a better view of the victim as he fell beneath the sacrificial knife of the priest. The dimensions of the stones which form this altar (we shall now copy Mr. Bryce's own words) are nearly as follow:-that on the south is nearly eight feet high, about seven and a half broad, and two thick; its weight is about eight tons. That on the north is near seven feet in height, rather more in breadth, and about two thick; its weight is about eight tons and a half. The middle stone is very irregular; its medium is more than five feet in length, as well as breadth, and in thickness fourteen inches, weighing about ten tons. The transverse, or impost, is a very irregular hexagon, its greatest breadth from north to south is more than eleven feet, and from east to west near eight feet, and thickness two feet; its weight about ten tons and seven hundreds. None of these stones have the least mark of the chisel, or any workmanship upon them." This last mentioned fact is of itself alone sufficient to prove its design and end. None of the earlier Druidical sacred monuments were ever profaned by any kind of workmanship; and in the bible we read respecting an altar, "Thou shalt not lift up thy tool upon it to defile it." Any one at all acquainted with Druidical antiquities would on the very first sight of this venerable relic of by-gone ages, immediately pronounce it what it really is, -a Celtic altar; unless, indeed, they saw it through Mr. Pryce's wonderful vision, which seems to transformn things into what they really are not, nor ever were. A flat stone, which lies at the distance of seventy yards from the altar, was the great hearth-stone, placed on the ground where it still remains, at which the victim was prepared by fire for a sacrifice, or burnt offering, after being stabbed on the altar or cromlech; and never, as Mr. Pryce asserts, closed the aperture, or the open side of what he is pleased to consider Catigern's tomb, for it neither corresponds with it in size, nor was fitted for such a purpose. This cromlech, or altar-stone of sacrifice, was called by the Britons their Botal or Bethel, having the same signification in the Irish, Hebrew, and Phoenician languages, (the latter being greatly mingled with the ancient British or Celtic,) that is, the House of God.* To this Mr. Pryce has put the following question-"How is it that it has not retained some remains of this name?— Instead of which, its present name of Kit's Coti House, certainly bears a much nearer resemblance to Catigern's House, than the House of God; and there are few instances of any place or ancient memorial in this island, which does not bear some resemblance to the name by which it was known prior to the Norman Conquest." We reply, that the present termination of its name remains still the same in import, while Kit's Coti has no more affinity to Catigern, than Stonehenge has to Choir Gaur, or to Gwaith Emrys; the Celtic names by which that place was known to the Britons. But I beg to inform Mr. Pryce, that it still bears the closest resemblance in sound to its ancient British name, which was Maen Cetti, (Ketti), or the stone of Ketti; and to overthrow at once his groundless theory of its being a funefal monument for Catigern, Gwaith Emrys, (the work of strength, and Maen Ketti, Kit's Coti House, are said in Triad 88, to have been "TWO BOASTED WORKS OF THE BRITONS" "The heap of the like kind of stones," (to use Mr. Pryce's words, in his description of this place,)" at the distance of two fields" from this grand altar of the idolatrous Celta, partly upright, and partly lying on the ground, to the num and now distinguished by the name of Crom techs, or Sloping Stones, were originally called Botal, or the House of God, and they seem to be of the same kind as those mentioned in the Book of Genesis.-Vide Col. Vallency, Reb. Heb. v. 11. All the ancient altars found in Ireland, +From an expression of Tysilio's, that, in the reign of Dyfnwal Moelmund, temples were built, and public roads made in Britain, some prince, celebrated for his just laws. suppose this altar to have been erected by that He reigned 400 years before the Christian era. ber of nineteen or twenty, were not raised, as Mr. Pryce asserts, over the remains of some of Catigern's brave followers, but once formed the sacred circle, or open temple of the sun, Bell or Baal, to which the Cromlech was an indispensable appendage; while the impost, still resting on its pillars, proves it to have been erected after the manner of the magnificent circle of Stonehenge, and other temples of the same kind. No doubt, this impost, with others now fallen, formed Trilithons, high places, or altars of oblation, on which the offerings were lifted up, after having been prepared at the hearth, or fire-stone, near the Cromlech, by the officiating Druids. This impost of itself is a still-existing confutation of the absurd theory which Pryce, and all his host of authors to boot, attempt to maintain, as nó funeral monument of antiquity has ever been found, formed of compasses of stones like these, but are merely single pillars or obelisks, such as we read Jacob set up by the grave of his beloved Rachel. Again, Mr. Pryce asserts, with his usual confidence, that "these stones were originally in such a position, as to have rendered it impossible for a priest to officiate in so small a place, which occupies but a few feet. Now these stones," he continues, are so heaped upon one another, and overgrown with shrubs, that I could not ascertain their exact number." How Mr. Pryce could be certain that these stones were placed in such a position as to render it impossible for any priest to officiate within them, when he confesses they are now in such a confused state, and so overgrown with wood, that he could not even count their number, appears to me not only strange, but quite inexplicable-nor can I understand what he means by a priest officiating. I must tell him that neither in the Adytum, nor within the outer circle, were the victims sacrificed, but on the Cromlech, which -stood sometimes at a considerable distance from the circle, and sometimes in the pillared avenue, as at Aburi. But, granting this circle to have been but a few feet in diameter, it cannot militate against its having been a Celtic place of worship, as we well know that the inner circle at Pokeswell, in Dorsetshire, which no antiquarian has ever yet doubled to have been a British temple, is perhaps of still narrower dimensions than the one at Kit's Coti House. This fine relic of antiquity, this House of Baal, or the sun, perfectly corresponds with other Cromlechs, as I have before observed, scattered throughout the Britishi islands, and many parts of the east. Maundrell, in his account of the ancient Arphad of Scripture, the Ardus of the Greeks and Romans, situated in the country of the early Phoenicians, gives an interesting description of a Syrian altar, strikingly similar to Kit's Coti House; being, as he says, 66 composed of four large stones, two at the sides, one at the back, and another hanging over all at the top." Did I want further confirmation of what I have here advanced, by way of illustration respecting this monument being an altar, or the stone of death, I would refer to King, Rowland, M. Cambry's" Monumens Celtiques,” Aylett, Sammes's “Britannia Antiqua Illustrata," and a host of other authors of equal authority, but I think further quotation in support of my opinion on that point quite unnecessary. It is certain that the Druids sacrificed human victims. One of the maxims of those priests, according to an ancient Burgundian author, is,Prisoners of war are to be slain on the altars, or burnt alive, enclosed in wicker, in honour of the gods." Strabo says, "And other sacrifices of men by them are spoken of, for some they shoot with arrows, and some they crucify in the sacred groves." The Britons hold it right to sacrifice on their altars with the blood of their captives, and to consult the gods by the inspection of the entrails of men.' -Taciti Annales, lib. 14, sec. 30. And thus we read in the Psalms, "They offered their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was defiled with blood." Again, "They joined themselves to Baal Peor, and ate of the sacrifices of the dead." It cannot be doubted that the Druid pries's in some instances did the same, and thus became at their horrid sacrifices detested cannibals! Theutates was also one of the chief deities of the ancient Gauls and Britons, to whom human victims were offered, and thus we read in Lucian, Theutatis." immitis placatum sanguine diro two men were slain as victims with all due xlm, 24. And Augustus, when L. CHARACTER AND HABITS OF THE 66 WE extract the following remarks upon the Turks, from Captain Frankland's interesting narrative of a Journey to and from Constantinople. "The Turks," says our author, are, personally, extremely brave, but so are all barbarians; and this quality is more than counterbalanced by their want of discipline, tactics, and activity. They are generally esteemed for their veracity; and yet no government THE BURIAL OF THE YOUNG RAJAH. has ever been stained by so many acts of (For the Olio.) [During a truce between Feroze Shah, the Sooltan of the Deckhan, and the powerful Dewul Roy of Beejanuggur, the son of the latter, a brave and handsome youth, was treacherously murdered by two Dervishes, who gained admittance to the Hindoo camp, under pretence of exhibiting their religious dances before the prince.] Borne on the stilly air, the solemn dirge Of hapless women rend the echoing sky, prince, At once his country's and his father's hope, Mourn, hapless Rajah! mourn thy son! perfidy and atrocity as theirs. They are said to be honourable in their dealings; and yet they worship gold, and are sordid and avaricious, and will have recourse to any measures short of actual theft, to obtain this sovereign good. Nay, they have is notorious that corruption has always a proverb, Riches are power;' and it been, and still is, the medium through which almost every thing is transacted in the Divan; that the Pachalicks and great offices are generally sold to the highest bidder, and that each man has his agent at the Porte, to make a golden bridge to all his opponents in the council. Their hos pitality is a thing much talked of, but, I fancy, very little known; for Europeans seldom put themselves in the way of experiencing it. Their humanity to animals is strangely opposed to their cruelty to man; and they would think less of beheading or bastinading a whole province, than they would of ill-treating a horse or a camel. In their exterior, they are re Mourn, childless prince! yes, mourn the markable for a decency and apparent pro while Thy vassals feed the lofty pile; Of him thou lovedst more dear than fame! The solemn rites are done; the weeping throng The expiring embers, glare, or whirls aloft The torture rack'd, until the stubborn heart, throe. B. priety of conduct; but yet we know that in secret they indulge in all sorts of abominable vices. They are apparently frank and cordial in their manners; but are often known to disguise the most atrocious designs beneath the cloak of benevolence, and to be plotting the ruin and destruction of the unsuspecting victim of their duplicity, while lulling him into a false security, by a show of kindness and affection. The Mussulman justice is much vaunted; but yet it is notorious, that in no nation upon earth little of this commodity is dispensed in the courts of the magistrates, where, if Justice be represented holding the scales, it is to weigh, not the merits of the case, but the gold of the conflicting parties; and that although the law punishes false witnesses with death, yet in no country are they so numerous, or so easily obtained, as in Turkey. "If indeed it were a fair maxim to estimate the virtues of a nation by the measure of the acts and influence of its government, and by the effects produced by its policy, one would arrive at this con The morn look'd down wi' sklentin light The snaw-flake drifted o'er the lea, Frae gaun to meet my jo. Fu' dreary pass'd the time alang, Ir is always a source of deep regret, when genius and capriciousness of temper, or eccentricity, are blended together. Some say, that madness and genius, or genius and madness are akin : we know not how this maxim may hold good, but we can enumerate many an ornament and genius of this and other countries, that will set it aside, though we confess we also can mention many who have been called madmen, yet men of genius. The great Dr. Johnson was unquestionably a man of genius, and at the same time he unquestionably was a madman, or as he at all times was called-a bear. Milton was a genius, but we know no act of his life that had any appearance of insanity. And above all, the greatest genins which has ever appeared in any country-Shakspeare, he was no madman, neither was Pope, Dryden, nor Addison. In painting, neither Reynolds nor West, though Fuseli strongly tinctured with the disorder, as was also was Gainsborough, and he was not unaptly called 'Tom-o'-Bedlam.' When these two impedients, genius and eccentricity, are attached, it is unfortunate, both for the individual and the world; whereby the latter is deprived of many a beautiful production, either in literature, the fine arts, or the sciences, which lies enbedded in the mind of the former; and this unhappy trait of character was in part the great barrier against the success' * of the highly talented, but ill-fated, James Barry, R. A. He was a man endowed with great powers of mind, strong enthusiasm, and love of his art; but, his pettishness, his irritability, frustrated every good intention of his dearest and best friends, and they one by one dropped from him, and he died a victim to poverty and most abject wretchedness. Barry's greatest fault was, a false notion of independence, a notion at times carried to the utmost extreme; and when we consider that a mind like his, which could dive, and illustrate by facts and arguments, the progress of causes and effects, that could both defend his art beyond controversy, and lash his enemies with the bitterness of a Pope, it certainly is a matter of wonder, that such a philosophic mind should not have been conscious, how in a certain degree we are dependant upon one another, no man need be a continual suppliant or sycophant, yet there are favours and assistances, which we cannot do without, and those who should attempt it will meet with the same fate as Barry's, let him be ever so great a genius. Man cannot stand alone. He must through life be more or less dependant upon his fellow men. It is when a man, to obtain riches, praise and every worldly advantage, descends to cringe and flatter, and receive favours from those, perhaps, whom he detests, to "bow" and turn up the "white of his een," like Sir Pertinax; it is then that every honest heart must despise so weak and so mean a creature, and glory in their independence. But there never was any occasion for Barry to degrade himself in this manner: he refused the smallest tokens of friend ship, which it is common to our nature in every state and stage of life to receive, and which men of riches and good feeling consider their bounden duty to bestow upon the unprotected and pennyless genius. His first appearance in the world as an artist occurred in a remark * Success, so far as regards pecuniary advantages, but as to his profession, he was eminently successful. able way, in a manner which at once demonstrated his character. Barry was born in the city of Cork, where he received a very liberal educa tion, but that city had no school of painting, and nothing beyond a house-painter was known; and yet in despite of every disadvantage naturally arising from a want of any direct instructions, he designed and painted a picture, which immediately proclaimed him to be possessed of no common abilities, and also procured him the patronage and support of several of the leading men of Ireland. As he could derive little or no benefit from the exhibition of his picture at Cork; he, accompanied by a friend and schoolfellow, proceeded to Dublin, where he arrived on the eve of an exhibition of a society, the mother of our Society of Arts, at the Adelphi, and going to their rooms without even a solitary letter of recommendation, and in company only of his friend, he at once obtained his request to have his picture placed for exhibition. When the exhibition opened, all eyes were fixed upon the Baptism of the King of Cashell, for that was the name of his painting. The applause was general, and the company were at a loss who could be the artist, never having heard of Barry before, and when he proclaimed himself as the painter, he was treated with derision, and considered as an impostor; for his youth, being then no more than nineteen, and boyish appearance, indicated no such capabilities. The society at whose exhibition he had thus suddenly shone so conspicuously, voted him the sum of £20, and three eminent members of the Irish Commons bought the picture, and presented it to the House as an honour to Ireland; but unfortunately, it is now no longer in existence, having been consumed by the fire that destroyed the Dublin House of Parliament. From this time also must be dated the commencement of that friendship between Barry and Burke, which so much 'redounds to the honor of the latter.Burke immediately offered all the assistance in his power to enable him to reach London, and it was on this occasion that Barry first showed that obstinacy and independence, by refusing assistance of any kind, and he did not come to London till he had earned a sufficiency by his own exertions, which was nearly a twelvemonth. Burke also induced him to visit Italy, where the vast powers of Barry's genius were fully developed by the study and contemplation of those relics of antiquity, and the remains of those specimens of Italy's golden days, which still renders that classic country To be continued. The Note Book. THE MARINER'S COMPASS. The mariner's compass is thought to have been made use of by the Christians in the crusade in 1248, in which St. Louis, King of France, was engaged. It is expressly mentioned and described by Cardinal James of Vitri, in 1220, and by Goyot of Provence, in 1200, under the name of the magnetic needle. The French pretend, from the flower de luce marked upon it, that it was their invention. This symbol might be added, and its use rendered general by the French in these crusades, though it was discovered a little before, not by John Goias of Melfi, in the 14th age (as some have mistaken), but by Flavius Gioias of Malfi, in 1013, as is proved by others. This Amalfi, or Malfi, is an archiepiscopal city on the sea coast, sixteen miles from Salerno : it has been confounded with Melfi, a town situate between Naples and Tarento, ninety miles from each. The variation or declination of the needle from its true meridian was noticed by Columbus, in his voyage to America; and that the variation itself fluctuated, was discovered by Muir, in 1612. The dip, or inclination of the needle to point below the horizon, was first noticed by Norman in 1581. H.B. |