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XII. Observations on Dracontia; Communicated by the Rev. John Bathurst Deane, M.A., F.S.A., in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S., Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

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Extract

The introductions which you kindly procured for me to the Authorities in Britany having enabled me, through the assistance of Mr. Vicars, a professional surveyor of Exeter, to complete a Plan of the Druidical Temple of Carnac, I have great pleasure in requesting you to lay it before the Society of Antiquaries, together with the following Observations on Dracontia. In these observations there is little of novelty; but I have adopted this method of introducing my remarks upon Carnac, because by it I can convey with greater ease and clearness my sentiments on the figure and dedication of this Sanctuary.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1832

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References

page 191 note a Much ingenuity has been displayed by learned and ardent men on what are called “The Ogham Characters,” but I confess myself to be among those who require more proof that they were not simply hieroglyphics.

page 192 note b Kircher, Pamph. Obel. 399.

page 193 note c Bryant, Anal. 2, passim.

page 194 note d The Rev, George Andrews, Vicar of Sutton, Berks.

page 196 note e Vol. iv. p. 131.

page 199 note f This legend is preserved by Capgrave.

page 200 note g See Mr. Kempe's paper in the Archæologia, vol. XXII.

page 203 note h This plan is upon the scale of fifteen inches to a mile, and measures twelve feet in length by four in breadth.

page 204 note I See the vignette, p. 188.

page 205 note J Comment. 6, s. 14.

page 205 note k vii. 194.

page 210 note l Mr. Vicars, in subsequently walking over this space, did not discover any stones. I leave the question therefore, in the same obscurity as I found it, but the bias of my mind inclines to the opinion of a single Dracontium.

page 215 note m Col. Tod, Rajasthan, i. 536.

page 215 note n Stukeley, Abury, 32.

page 218 note m The circles in Cornwall are called “dawns-maen,” i. e. “dance stones.” Borlase, 194.

page 220 note n Leviticus, xx. 27. Deut. xviii. 11.

page 220 note o Taliessin, translated by Davies. Myth, of the Druids, Appendix, 6.

page 225 note P Since writing the above, I have been favoured by M. de Penhouet with a copy of his Paper on Ophiolatreia, lately read before the Academy of Nantes. He corroborates my opinion respecting the Dracontium of Carnac, by fresh arguments on the adoration of the Serpent in Britany.

page 226 note q This theory was first suggested to me by my friend P. C. Delagarde, esq. of Exeter.

page 228 note r See engraving in Archæologia, vol. VII.

page 229 note s I beg to refer the reader for further information, to my Treatise on “The Worship of the Serpent,” in which I have entered at considerable length into the subject, here necessarily compressed into a mere allusion.