manners, some most remarkable vestiges.
Paganism has been Christianised, but not
exterminated. The pure faith in essentials,
but not. in all popular observances, supplanted
in Britain, Druidism and the Scandanavian
Paganism. In the present, we read the past;
and learn to appreciate how the present is
destined to influence the remote future of our
race.

The topic which, on this occasion, we select
as an illustration of the vestiges of Paganism
in Great Britain, is probably the most
important. It is Fire-worship. Of this there;
still exist, not only traces in the language
and traditions of the island, particularly in
that portion of it to the north of the Humber;
but likewise material remains, hitherto little
understood.

The "vitrified forts" of Scotland are now
supposed to be material remains of British
fire-worship. The May Day observances of
England, and, still more remarkably, the
more primitive Beltane usages of Scotland,
are modified fragments of the ancient creed.
These statements open up interesting fields
of social history.

About eighty years ago, a controvesy arose
among the learned, as to the nature and
history of certain more or less vitrified
stones, found piled in definite forms in Scotland.
Though in some districts they had
previously been objects of local curiosity, yet
it was not till seventeen hundred and seventy-
three, that anything was published regarding
them. In that year, Mr. Williams, a mineral
surveyor of considerable scientific reputation,
suggested that they had been originally
constructed as places of strength and safety. To
this theory they owe their misnomer of
"vitrified forts." a term which in all probability
has withdrawn many from an impartial
study of their character and probable history.
The hypothesis which Mr. Williams
propounded, as to the manner in which the
vitrifaction was produced, was ingenious.
In his day, it was impugned by Pennant and
others, who held that the remains in question
were of volcanic origin. In seventeen
hundred and seventy-six, we find Mr. West,
a member of the Royal Society, addressing a
letter to the secretary of that learned body,
in which he characterises as "lava," some
specimens sent along with his communication.
In a note to the paper, as published in the
Transactions, it is stated that several
members well acquainted with volcanic productions,
expressed concurrence in the author's
opinions, and suggested that the hill of
Craig Phadrick, near Inverness, whence the
supposed lava had been taken, owed its
origin to a volcano. Both the fortress and
the volcano theories are now thoroughly
exploded.

In form and size, " vitrified forts," or fire-
altars, as they ought to be designated, present
great diversity. We can state, however, from
a careful study of published descriptions,
and from personal visits of most of those
known in Scotland, that in respect of situation
they have all a common character. They
are always found upon hills of moderate
height, easy of access, and of commanding
prospect. This fact is erroneously said by
some to be equally in favour of the theory
of their having been beacon-fire places, a
notion first published in Sir John Sinclair's
Statistical Account of Scotland, and
subsequently supported by Sir G. M'Kenzie and
Dr. Hibbert. The vitrified remains have
been discovered most abundantly in the
northern districts of Scotland; but, in the
New Statistical Account, they are noticed as
also occurring in the counties of Berwick,
Roxburgh, and Dumfries. Some of these
remains in the south of Scotland we have
examined. They are fewer in number, and
less distinct, than those in the north. This
is probably explained by the circumstance
that the plough has been able more easily to
sweep over the "high-places" of the south
than over those of the north of Scotland. In
passing, we may parenthetically remark,
that there are many vitrified remains in
Norway; and that the Honourable
Captain Keppel met with them on the banks
of the Caspian. It is also noteworthy, that
the celebrated "round towers" of Ireland
have, with great appearance of reason,
been argued to be fire-temples, or altars of
Bel.

The vitrified remains which we have seen,
or have read descriptions of have been very
various in shape and size. They have been
round, square, or elliptical, occupying, in some
instances, only a few yards, and in others
extending over a whole acre. The walls are
sometimes several feet in height, but in
general they rise very little above the ground,
and modern antiquaries are diligently breaking
up and carrying away the best parts of
not a few of them. Some years ago, we
found a party of ladies and gentlemen working
with hammer and chisel at the fine
remains of a vitrified circular mass on that
eminence on the banks of Loch Etive, in
Argyleshire, called Barregonium, the ancient
capital of Caledonia, by fanciful antiquaries.
The breadth of the walls of vitrified
remains varies between two and twenty feet.
The vitrifaction is, in some cases, irregular
and imperfect; in others, the stones are
fused into masses and joined, so as to show
that they had been molten together in situ.
Generally, the inside of the wall bears the
strongest marks of vitrifaction. The
instances in which there is perfect vitrifaction
on the outside of the walls are not numerous.
The intensity of the vitrifaction seems to
have depended on the prevailing winds, the
character of the stone, and other accidental
circumstances. Dunmore (or the Great Hill)
Castle, or vitrified fort, for it bears both
names, is well known to tourists. It is a
large ring, greatly resembling an equestrian