LECTURE II.

IN the preceding Lecture our attention was chiefly directed to the Pillars, Altars, and Temples of the Ancient Pagan Britons. We particularly noticed their analogy to the unhewn Pillars and Altars of Palestine in the first ages of the world; and derived their origin, in this country, from the Phenicians, who traded hither for tin; and from the circumstance of tin's being known in Palestine as early as the days of Moses we inferred, that the trading intercourse between Britain and Phenicea must have existed, at least, 1500 years prior to the Christian æra; consequently, that some of the earliest of these British structures are between three and four thousand years old.

We are now to enquire what further evidences of this early intercourse between Britain and Palestine are to be derived from those various Earth-works, which I noticed as forming the second class of the existing vestiges of primeval Britain. These works consist of certain deep furrows and terraces formed on the declivities of all the uncultivated hills in this country, known universally by the name of LINKS, or LINCHETS; the Camps or intrenched hills; and those beautiful conical mounds which are sometimes called by the Latin name Tumuli, but more frequently by the oriental term-Barrows.

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The face or general appearance of a country, in every part of the world, may be considered as a faithful index of the state of that country with regard to civilization and refinement. That portion of the earth which was occupied by the pastoral and itinerant tribes of mankind in the earliest times, would present a very different appearance to that which it exhibited in after ages, in consequence of the attention and industry of a more settled and enlightened population. The wandering Celts and Scythians, who, with their families, removed from place to place, to seek fresh pasturage for their flocks, would leave no vestiges behind them, by which their course could be traced in after ages, except their sepulchres: these consisted of the turf-clad mound; and remain to this day, in some of the most obscure and desert parts of the world, the only memorials that these now dreary solitudes, were ever trodden by the foot of man. But the places that have been occupied by a race of more sedentary, and consequently more refined habits, are distinguished by the vestiges of buildings; particularly of such as were erected for the purposes of religion; by these, the degree of civilization to which the people had attained is clearly indicated; and the several stages of their progress in refinement are distinctly marked by the gradatory advancement of their public works, from that rude and massy grandeur which characterized the subjects of the preceding Lecture, to the superb and richly-sculptured edifices which will be the subject of our concluding one. There are few countries, if any, in which these progressive transitions, from rudeness to refinement, are so accurately marked by the numerous vestiges of each succeeding period as in Britain.

The Earth-works, which we have now to treat of, are principally of the three following kinds :

LINCHETS; CAMPS; and BARROWS.

LINCHETS, or LINKS, are certain lines, furrows, and terraces, formed on the declivities of the hills in almost every part of this kingdom, exhibiting a striking appearance at a very considerable distance. Some of these works are of a form so indefinite and irregular as to set all conjecture respecting them at defiance; others are of a structure far more artificial and regular, consisting of a series of terraces ranged above each other. See Drawing, No. 2.

It has been asserted by some writers, that these terraces were constructed for the purpose of agriculture, but more particularly for the cultivation of the vine, which historians inform us once flourished in this country. On this I would remark, first, that for the common purposes of agriculture the constructing of these terraces was a very unnecessary expence of time and labour; secondly, that as they are as often situated in aspects that are unfavourable, as in those that are favourable to vegetation, (being frequently exposed, elevated and unsheltered, to the chilling blasts of our coldest winds,) they were ill-adapted to the culture of the warmth-loving vine. It appears to me far more probable that these Linchets were of military designation; an opinion in which I was confirmed by the following circumstance. When at Brighton, about three years ago, as I was standing on the edge of the celebrated Dike near that place, two gentlemen, whom I afterwards perceived were of the army, viewing the deep ravine at the entrance of this ancient camp, observed that nature had done wonders in that place. I replied that nature and art, together, had certainly done wonders there. They immediately asked what I meant by art? I then directed their attention to the evidently artificial exactness of the angle of declivity and the corresponding contours of the opposite sides of the ravine-to the trench which encompassed the hill on which we were standing;-and to the Linchets on the hill opposite. They then exclaimed, you are right: here is the scarp; and those works on the opposite hill are the counterscarp.