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RUDE STONE MONUMENTS
IN
ALL COUNTRIES;
THEIR AGE AND USES.
V.P.R.A.S., F.R.I.B.A., &c.
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1872.The right of Translation is reserved.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
AND CHARING CROSS.
PREFACE
When, in the year 1854, I was arranging the scheme for the 'Handbookof Architecture,' one chapter of about fifty pages was allotted tothe Rude Stone Monuments then known. When, however, I came seriouslyto consult the authorities I had marked out, and to arrange my ideaspreparatory to writing it, I found the whole subject in such a stateof confusion and uncertainty as to be wholly unsuited for introductioninto a work, the main object of which was to give a clear but succinctaccount of what was known and admitted with regard to the architecturalstyles of the world. Again, ten years afterwards, while engaged inre-writing this 'Handbook' as a 'History of Architecture,' the samedifficulties presented themselves. It is true that in the intervalthe Druids, with their Dracontia, had lost much of the hold theypossessed on the mind of the public; but, to a great extent, they hadbeen replaced by prehistoric myths, which, though free from theirabsurdity, were hardly less perplexing. The consequence was