THE NEW YEAR. In calm and thoughtful mood I stand, Bids scenes long past now re-appear. Gently she brings before my view, Those gay and ever smiling hours; And life was strewed with fairest flowers. My brow was never press'd with care; But let no thoughts of vain regret, And its best pleasures come the last. To the deep treasures of the mind. And if dark sorrows intervene, And clouds across my pathway move; The past, the future, all are bright, H. M. W. THE YOUTHS' MAGAZINE; OR, EVANGELICAL MISCELLANY. FEBRUARY, 1845. DRUIDICAL CIRCLE. THE Cromlechs of the Channel islands are very numerous, and in their construction and arrangement similar to those of other countries. A cromlech is a collection of rude unwrought stones,* the material varying according to the geological peculiarities of the locality where they are found. Various etymologies have been assigned to the word; the most probable of which is that deriving it from the Hebrew terms, signifying a devoted or consecrated stone. The celebrated circle at Abury is supposed by Parkhurst to have obtained its name from the same language-Abiri, signifying "the strong ones." Within the last century or two there were about fifty of these interesting structures remaining in the island of Jersey alone. "It is a painful statement now to make that not more than five or six monuments of this ancient period can be enumerated, including that curious and extraordinary arrangement of stones and cromlechs, which, *Exod. xx. 25. Deut. xxvii. 5. The material heavens, says he, are called by this name in Psalm lxxviii. 25; for what is in that verse expressed by "bread of the strong ones," is called in the preceding sentence, "corn of the heavens." That the Phoenicians or Canaanites worshipped their god, the heavens, under this name or attribute of "the strong ones" is highly probable, from the plain remains of a Phoenician temple at Abiry, in Wiltshire, which still retains the name. D in a moment of enthusiasm and loyalty, was voted and presented to General Conway, then governor of the island.” A print of this last-named structure, published in 1787, forms the original of our engraving: our copy of it is thus endorsed" This temple was removed by General Conway from the isle of Jersey to his seat near Henley on Thames, (now in the possession of Lord Malmsbury) where the stones now stand in the same form." In the immediate neighbourhood of these stones are found rudely-shaped arrow heads of flint, jade, serpentine, or other rocks, and occasionally of syenite, which forms the geological basis of these islands. Sometimes these are accompanied with human remains, and earthern urns or vessels varying considerably in form-the majority resembling those now in common use. Beads of clay and bone, annulets, and other ornaments of a rude people, are also occasionally discovered. These relics sufficiently prove the sepulchral character of such erections, though it is not improbable they had also a religious or superstitious reference. They usually go by the name of 'Druid temples,' though in reality little is known respecting them: the great point of contention, however, as to whether they were tombs or temples, admits of an easy solution. Why should they not have been both? The temple and the tomb are now always associated; and the charm attaching to consecrated ground is by no means a modern fancy. It is therefore a very allowable supposition that they were at once temples and cemeteries-heathen fanes erected, in fact, with special reference to the dead, buried or to be buried within them, or immediately adjacent. The sun and the serpent were the two great divinities of the Druids; and hence, it is supposed, their temples took the forms of these two objects combined, as at Abury and Carnac. The first of these consisted of two long curved avenues of stones merging in a circular centre, and |