famed stones of Carnac. The Roche aux Fées is about six leagues S. E. of Rennes, and a mile and half S. of Essé, and is situated in a field which takes its name from the monument, and is called the field of the Roche aux Fées. When perfect it was composed of forty-two stones, thirty-three of which, fixed upright in the ground, formed the sides of the gallery, if we may so call it the other nine formed the roof. Some of the upright stones, from not being sufficiently strong to bear the superincumbent weight of the others, have lost their perpendicularity; some have given way altogether, and the covering stones have in consequence fallen. Three of the stones, which form the southeastern entrance, appear to have been roughly squared on the principal face; the rest have never been touched by any tool. The direction of this curious work is from south-east to northwest. It is divided into two distinct chambers:† the one towards the south-east is small, and covered with a single stone, and is much lower than the others; that towards the north-west is much larger. Conjecture has, of course, been busy to endeavour to ascertain what was the object for which it was erected. Ogée, in his Dictionnaire de Bretagne, supposes it to have been the tomb of a Roman general:-a supposition which has nothing to bear it out. Deric, in his Ecclesiastical History of Britanny, speaks of it as a building which had been dedicated to pagan ceremonies, and thinks that the smaller chamber was a sanctuary. Others ascribe it to the Druids. Either of the latter hypotheses may be true. Formerly a forest surrounded it. It was at one time preserved with great care; but since the revolution, much injury has been done to it by the wanton folly of the peasantry, who imagined that a treasure lay buried under it. But of all parts of Britanny, of France, and we might say of all parts of the world, there is no place so full of objects interesting to the student of Celtic antiquities as the department of Morbihan. Cromlechs, Kistvaens, Menhirs, meet our view at almost every step. And in that department so rich in these remains, the richest spot is in the neighbourhood of Lochmaria There are many monuments of a similar kind in different parts of France ascribed to the same agents, the Fairies. La Cabane des Fées in the department of Creuse, La Tioule de las Fadas in the department of Cantal, La Motte aux Fées in the department of the Maine and Loire, La Tour aux Fées in the wood of Marshain, not far from Le Mans; besides many single stones in Britauny and elsewhere which are called Pierres des Fées. The only rival in the British dominions to the Roche aux Fées is the sepulchral monument at New Grange, near Drogheda. + La Grotte des Fées, about three leagues from Tours, is similar to the Roche aux Fées, but much smaller; it is about the same height, and is covered in the same manner; and there is the like division into a smaller and a larger chamber. Fragments stone have been turned up by the plough in its neighbourhood, though there is no quarry near, as if there had been stone huts about it. ker, within a short distance of which village there are at least thirty objects well deserving the closest examination. But far superior to every thing else, both there and elsewhere, standing without the slightest approach to rivalry, and compared with which all other monuments, not even excepting the pride of our own country, Stonehenge, sink into comparative insignificance, are the Stones of Carnac, as they are called. What shall we say of a remain which can be distinctly traced in its windings for upwards of seven miles, and which almost beyond a doubt extended yet further, which is composed of eleven parallel rows of stones varying in height from five to seventeen feet; the number of which, at no extravagant computation, must have consisted of at least ten thousand,* and the whole width of the avenues varies from two hundred to three hundred and fifty feet. In connection with it, we find two perfect tumuli, one near Crukenho, the other near Kerdescant, with the ruin of a third not far from Kerzerho, besides the very large one near Carnac, on which a chapel is built dedicated to St. Michael; one curvilinear area, near Le Maenec, with traces of a second; two kistvaens, the table stone of one of which is thirteen feet long, and eight feet wide; of the other, fifteen feet long, ten wide, and four feet thick; besides natural mounds, on all which one or more cromlechs are placed. Taking all these things into consideration, we may well join with Godfrey Higgins in saying that this monument "certainly sets all history, and almost (?) all theory at defiance.” From this account of it we can excuse our readers even if they indulge a little incredulity. We ourselves plead guilty to the charge; for when Monsieur Loroy was describing it with all the enthusiasm of a Frenchman, we could not help thinking that the obliging and gentlemanly prefect was at least painting it somewhat poetically. But on visiting the monument, all doubt and misgiving was swallowed up in surprise and astonishment. Those of our readers who may wish for a very detailed account of the whole of this monument, may consult volume xxv. of the Archeologia, where a beautiful plan is given by the Rev. J. B. Deane, from a survey made under his own inspection. From this paper we shall make two extracts, one describing the view from a mound about three quarters of a mile from Kerzerho, the other, This is according to the computation of M. Sauvagére, a French engineer, who estimated the number of stones between Le Maneac and Kerdescant at four thousand, the distance between the two places being 24 miles; if then the stones were uniformly disposed, the whole number would be above ten thousand. Many have been used to build the chateaus of Kergonant, Plouharmel and Du Lac. Cottages and walls, and perhaps the village of Carnac, have been formed from its stores. Mr. Deane was told by a man at Auray, the master of the Hotel-en-bas, that from 1500 to 2000 had been removed between Carnac and St. Barbe. the description of a stone, the fourteenth of the monument situated on the road from Erdeven to Carnac.* Speaking of the former, Mr. Deane, says, "I cannot imagine a scene more interesting. A heathen temple surviving the storms of at least two thousand years, retaining for the space of eleven furlongs almost its original unity, and the whole spread out like a picture at the spectator's feet, while each extremity points to a distant Christian church (those of Erdeven and Carnac), built perhaps out of the ruins of some portion of this once magnificent temple: a lake below, the sea beyond, barren plains and rocky hills, form a combination of art, nature, and religion, which cannot be regarded by a contemplative mind without feelings of peculiar pleasure. "- Archaeologia, vol. xxv. p. 217. Upon the sloping surface of the stone, to which we have alluded "There is an artificial cavity, having every appearance of being designed to receive the body of a human victim preparatory to sacrifice. There is, however, another stone exactly similar, and more distinctly marked, and perfect upon a rock altar, on the east side of the Lake of La Trinité, at a short distance from the path leading from the ferry to Lockmariaker. Lying down upon the stone, I found that the shoulders were received by a cavity just sufficient to contain them; while the neck reclining in a narrow trench, was bent over a small ridge, and the head descended into a deep, circular groove beyond it. From the narrow trench which received the neck, was chisselled a small channel down the inclined plane of the stone. This being on the left side of the recumbent victim, was well adapted to carry off the blood which flowed from the jugular vein. A person lying in these cavities is quite helpless, and in such a position a child may sacrifice the strongest man. Cæsar and Strabot both speak of the homicidal sacrifices of the Celtic nations. The latter describes with pictorial effect the chief Druidess cutting the throats of the victims one after the other, and receiving the trickling blood in basins, and pronouncing omens according to the manner in which the stream flowed." Extraordinary and immense as the monument at Carnac is, no record whatever exists to show its object and design. The Breton peasants preserve a tradition, taught perhaps by the first preachers of Christianity among them, that these stones represent a heathen army which pursued St. Cornelius, because he had renounced paganism, and that being hemmed in and unable to escape, he had recourse to prayer, upon which they all were turned into stones. Others have ascribed it to the work of super Among the stones of the monument near Carnac, the botanist may find the Lobelia urens in great abundance. † Strabo, tom. 1, p. 451, B. Casaubon, Amstel. 1707. natural dwarfs, who to show their own strength, compared with the feebleness of ordinary men, brought the stones from the neighbouring quarries, and fixed them where they are. With others Cæsar was the architect. Some who view all ancient monuments, the object of which is buried in oblivion, as connected with astronomy, believe that the parallelitha represent the eleven signs of the primitive zodiac. Mr. Deane, in an extremely interesting book on the Divine worship of the Serpent, is of opinion that it was a Dracontium, or Temple dedicated to the serpent; and supposes its windings to represent the sinuosities of the reptile's path. He remarks in the paper in the Archæologia already quoted, "The sinuosities are evidently designed, and not accidental. In many places the ground is so level that it might easily have been carried on in a straight line, bad straight lines only been required. But even in the levels, the deviations are frequent; and in other places hills are ascended which not only might have been avoided, but which are actually out of course. The last hypothesis which we shall mention is that of Godfrey Higgins. "I take the liberty of suggesting, whether it may not have been used as an instrument to mark the passing years, like the Etrurian nails. May it not have been made when the Bull with his horn opened the vernal year, and the instrument itself have been formed at first of a number of stones, equal to what the Druids suppose to be the number of years, which had passed from the creation or any other grand epoch, as tradition says (?) they annually added a stone to it." "'* Whatever may have been its object, there it now stands, the wonder of the world. And we feel some, we hope, pardonable pride, that Mr. Deane, an Englishman, should have been the first to survey it as it deserves, and to hand down to posterity a full and correct plan of it. We think that even in this brief notice we have said enough to satisfy our readers that Britanny is well worthy of the full investigation of the Celtic antiquary. And we wish that some zealous, well informed, but not visionary traveller, would devote the same attention to the other parts of Morbihan, which Mr. Deane has given to Carnac, and to the neighbourhood of Locmariaker. Å little inconvenience he must A make up his mind to bear, from a want of some of those things which he has been accustomed perhaps to consider as necessary to his comfort; but he will find a people, kind, simple-hearted, reserved indeed, but perfectly willing to render him any service in their power; while from the authorities he will meet with the greatest attention, and the promptest readiness to assist him in his researches. Time is of course gradually working his slow *Higgin's Celtic Druids, LXXXVIII; Anacalypsis, vol. i., p. 340. VOL. XXVII. NO. LIII. M progress of decay with these monuments, but the wanton hand of man is far more destructive. As the only records of the earliest traces of civilization in Europe, and of the earliest worship of our common ancestors, it would be matter of great regret not to possess the most accurate accounts, the most minute details of them, and glad should we be if any remarks of ours should lead to so desirable and to so good a result. ART. VIII.-Industrie Française. Rapports sur l'Exposition de 1839. (French Manufactures. Reports on the Exhibition of 1839.) By J. B. A. M. Jobard. Paris, 1841. M. JOBARD commences his labours with a flattering dedication to the King of the Belgians on the immense progress of art in Belgium, and especially her railroads. These encomiums certainly appear well merited by the nation; but the king has in reality very little to do with the matter. This writer, in an introduction of great merit, next proceeds to contrast ancient and modern inventions, in which his tendencies naturally lead him to immensely exaggerated statements of the power of the latter; and an enumeration of the progress of manufactures in France then follows. We shall proceed step by step with these stages of the introduction, and then lay before our readers such topics from his review of the Exposition of 1839 in Paris as may command general interest. It is with us matter of deep regret that something similar and equally comprehensive in its objects with the Exposition in France does not exist in England and Belgium, for the Society of Arts is, alas, a poor approximation to it, and is nearly unknown to the country at large. Such an exhibition of the entire progress in arts and manufactures of the country, opening the eyes of the public to the value of an article, possessing them with right notions on the important question of its production, either at a lower rate, or of superior quality or duration, constituting a check on the extortionate tradesman, encouraging the industry of our artizans also by proportionate rewards, would at least be as edifying a spectacle as the Smithfield show of fat oxen, sheep, and pigs. The intimate knowledge acquired of the value and improved process of manufacture, the close inspection into the gradual progress of art, the ingenious devices to attain particular objects, the immense impetus given to the thinking principle, and the resources which chemistry especially is everywhere displaying, could not but produce amongst our countrymen results of the highest importance to civilization. But we must not hope, we fear, especially under present circumstances, that England will receive any intuition towards bettering her social condition from |