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THE accompanying sketch will give some idea of the curiously poised stone, situated in Meend Wood, about two miles eastward from the town of Monmouth, and about two hundred yards from the boundary of the county. It stands in, and most probably gives name to, the parish of Stanton, in the county of Gloucester, and is usually known by the name of BUCKSTONE. In the same parish, on the opposite side of the village, is a large Maen Hir. The size of the Buckstone is about twenty-two feet extreme length, as seen in the sketch; on the top it is nineteen feet long by thirteen feet wide, and about fifty-three feet in circumference. Its height is thirteen feet, and in figure is somewhat of an inverted pyramid poised on its apex, which is about three feet in diameter, where it touches the pedestal.

It is called a druidical monument, by which term most ARCHEOL. CAMB. VOL. I.]

UU

people perhaps think that it was placed in its present situation by the Druids, or at least owes its appearance, and vibrating property, to their art. That the ancient Britons looked upon this, and similar rocks, with a degree of awe and veneration, as the work of some superior being, and perhaps as the seat of the divinity, and paid their adorations accordingly, is not improbable. In this they did not go much farther than their successors, the ignorant peasantry of the present day, who consider that the Buckstone was there placed by the Prince of Darkness, or by the Fairies, and that it is still the favourite resort of one or the other, whose vengeance would fall heavily upon any one who should presume to attempt its overthrow. There is, however, scarcely room to doubt but that this stone stands now, where it always has been since the creation, or at least since its component parts became consolidated, and formed into stone, although at some remote period, it was probably surrounded by earth, or other more perishable material than itself, which has gradually given way to the action of the atmosphere, and left it exposed as it now is.

If the weight and size of the mass were the only objections to its being the work of human hands, it is readily conceded that the ancient Britons were very well able to have executed it. The practical uses of the lever, wedge, and inclined plane were no doubt well known to them. Those who were capable of constructing wheeled chariots, cannot be supposed to have been ignorant of the use of the wheel and axle, or windlas; nor, looking at Stonehenge, and similar works, can it be supposed that they were unacquainted with the pulley. With these uses, therefore, it was certainly possible to move the rock into any position they thought proper. The very great folly of the attempt however is evident, if the indispensable conditions are considered, without which the mass would not be in equilibrio, and support itself a moment, when placed upon an apex; viz., that its centre of gravity must be directly perpendicular with the point on which it rests, and not very high above it either, or else a very slight force would be sufficient to overthrow it. Now it cannot be imagined, that in such a huge mis-shapen rock as this is, even supposing it homogeneous, which probably it is not, that they had any means of ascertaining, previously to undertaking, the work, that these conditions were complied with.

The same objections hold good, whether the rock was brought from a distance, and then set up, or that they adopted the less laborious process of hewing away the under part of the stone by degrees, until it was left supported as it now is; for the least mistake in the situation of the point, would have put an end to the enterprize, by causing it to roll down the hill. It cannot be believed that the Druids, or others, ever undertook so foolish a work, with the chances of success so very great against them.

There is a peculiarity in the Buckstone that renders it still more an object of curiosity, which is, that the rock or stone which supports it, declines very considerably from an horizontal position, so that looking at it in a certain direction, one would suppose a very slight force would cause it to slide off. It appears to be retained in its place merely by the roughness of the surfaces, which nevertheless do not seem to be in very close contact, as the light may be seen between them. People mount to the top of it without apprehension; and the weight of an individual, does not appear to make any perceptible alteration in it, even when at the extreme edge. It is therefore concluded that the density of the lower part is much greater than the upper.

W.

MANNERS OF THE WELSH IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

OUR Cambrian ancestors, amidst all their martial avocations and national calamities, exhibited virtues and accomplishments of no common kind in the routine of domestic life. Giraldus Cambrensis bears honourable testimony to their hospitable manners in the twelfth century. They seem to have had a code of civility, by which every one who laid claim to the character of a gentleman was to regulate his conduct and address. Sixty-four "Triads of Politeness" are inserted in the Myvyrian Archaiology, which contain some of the rules and principles of social behaviour. They purport to have been "extracted out of the book of old Sir Edward Stradlin of Castell San-Dunwyd, by Thomas ab Ivan of Tre Bryn," who flourished between A.D. 1660 and 1700. Their contents evidently refer to the period when the Welsh

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