consists in forming a filter, by placing in an empty flower pot a wicker frame horizontally, over which four or five inches thick of pounded charcoal are to be laid, and on that a bed of sand, and over all a paper pierced with holes, to prevent the water, on being poured in, from forming pits in the sand. The filter is to be renewed at the end of some time.

This simple, and cheap method will enable even the poorest man to procure pure and wholesome water, which is a circumstance of great consequence in many foreign countries, and even in some parts of England.

ANTIQUITIES.

are still remaining in Wales, Cornwall, Cumberland, Scotland, Ire. land, and other parts of the British islands; also in Brittany, Denmark, &c. but the most considerable in size, and popular in estimation, are those of Stonehenge, and Avebury, in Wiltshire. The former has ob. tained extraordinary celebrity; but the temple at the latter place, though upon a much more stupendous scale, and surprising plan, is seldom alluded to by antiquaries, and scarcely known even to Englishmen.*. Its centre consisted of a circular range of immense stones, one hundred in number, with four other circles within the area. The whole was environed with a deep ditch, and high bank. Diverging from this were two avenues, or double rows of upright stones, which extended a mile each way from the centre, and at the extremity of one of these avenues, were two oval ranges of upright stones.

It was, and still is, the custom of many nations to worship the sun, the moon, fire, or some other visible object, in the open air; either on the summit of a mountain,+ or within the area of a raised bank, &c. for, with more sublime, than

rational ideas, they deemed it improper to confine their devotions within stone walls. The roof of their temple was the immense concave of the heavens, and the field of vision embraced the whole circled horizon. The Persians, Scythians, Numidians, Bithynians, Celta,§ &c. according to the testimonies of most writers, adopted this grand system of worship. In the southern regions, and in temperate climates, such custom was easily persisted in ; but in the northern countries, where storms, and snows, and frosts, often prevailed, it was found necessary to guard against the inclemency of seasons, by resorting to caves, or erecting appropriate buildings.

The first regular sacred structures, according to the opinions of Herodotus and Strabo, were erected by the Egyptians; but the most ancient temples and tabernables that we find described, are those of the tabernacle in the wilderness, made by Moses, and the splendid temple of Solomon. Forbearing any further observations on temples in general, I will now briefly notice a few of those only, which are built on a circular plan. I Though we may fairly suppose that Greece, in the

the effulgence of her architectural splendour exhibited many fine specimens of these buildings, yet we know but of one round building in Athens, the capital city of that country.

This is called the Choragic monument of Lysicrates; and though a very small structure (only six feet diameter within,) is beautiful in its proportions and ornaments. It is of the Corinthian order, and is said to have been erected above three hundred years before the christian era; in the time of Demosthenes, Apelles, and Alexander the Great.* The tower of the Winds, in the same city, is an octangular building.

The Romans, who were mere imitators of the Greeks, built numerous temples, both in their capital and in the provinces; but it was not till after the revolution under Julius Cæsar that they produced any thing admirable in the arts. Among their circular temples we may notice the following.

On the banks of the Tiber is a round building, which, according to general opinion, says Palladio (B. IV. Ch. 14.) was built by Numa Pompilius, and dedicated to the goddess Vesta. Without the walls of Rome, near the Porta Viminialis, (now called the gate of St. Agnes,) is a circular building, dedicated to St. Agnes, and supposed to have been a temple of Bacchus. + On the Appian Way, near the Porta

*Stuart's Antiquities of Athens, vol. I.

Appia, (now called the gate of St. Sebastian,) are the remains of a circular building.‡

The temples dedicated to Vesta were generally, if not always, circular. Plutarch remarks that Numa erected a round temple to contain the sacred fire, which he intended as a symbol of the whole universe. This temple of Vesta had an atrium, and a grove, near the fountain of Juterna, and in the inmost part of it was kept the sacred fire, which was attended by the Vestal virgins. Near the palace of Augustus was also another similar building, called the temple of Vesta Palatina.§ Near the celebrated cascade of the Anio, at Tivoli, is another circular temple, sacred to the goddess Vesta. It is sometimes called the temple of Sibylla Tiburtina, is of the Corinthian order, and is much celebrated by travellers. Upon the Celian Mount, at Rome, was a large circular temple, which, according to some writers, was built by Claudius, and dedicated to Faunus. It con sisted of a circular wall, which included two colonnades, one within the other. It is now called St. Stephen the Round, and measures about 190 feet in diameter. The most popular of these circular temples is the pantheon at Rome, which is commonly supposed to have been erected by M. Agrippa, in his third consulate, though Palladio is of opinion

Palladio, B. IV. Ch. 22.

See Desgodetz's Antiquities.

rc

opinion that the body, or circular part, was built in the time of the republic, and the portico only added by Agrippa. It was paired A. D. 607, and dedicated to the blessed virgin, by pope Boniface IV. and, in three years after, it was again dedicated to all the saints, by pope Gregory IV.*

We must recollect, that all the preceding temples were originally erected and consecrated to Pagan worship; though some of them, with several other similar edifices, were afterwards converted into Christian churches. As this new doctrine extended its benign influence, it was found necessary to provide its ministers and disciples with appropriate places of devotion. These now assumed the names of Ecclesia, Basilica, and Church; and as Constantine the Great, who was the most powerful advocate in the cause, became more and more confirmed in the Christian tenets, he extended his liberality and influence towards the Christians, and their sacred structures. "The Christian temples of Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Constantinople, &c. displayed the ostentatious piety of a prince, ambitious, in a declining age, to equal the perfect labours of antiquity." In the course of two

*See Desgodetz's Antiquities,

centuries, from the reign of Constantine to that of Justinian, eighteen hundred churches of the empire were established and endowed.§

Let us now turn our eyes to the small islands of Britain, where we shall perceive a few glimmering rays of Christian light breaking through the mists of Paganism. In the beginning of the seventh century, Austin, or Augustin, with forty other monks, were deputed by Gregory the great, from the papal see at Rome, to visit England. They were particularly instructed, by the zealous and sagacious pope, ❝ not to destroy the heathen temples of the English, but only to remove the images of the gods, to wash the walls with holy water, to erect altars, and deposit relics in them, and so convert them into Christian churches." What was the exact shape and size of these temples, we are not well informed, though it is generally admitted that the first Saxon churches had semicircular east ends. Dr. Stukeley, speaking of round churches, very strangely says

"I suspect these are the most ancient churches in England, and probably built in the later, times of the Romans, for Christian service,

at least in the early Saxon reigns." As this remark is scarcely entitled

§ Ibid.

tory of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. IV.

Itinerarium Curiosum, p. 35.