each. Its general form was that of a snake, in
by gone ages, the symbol of eternity and omniscience. "To make the
form still more elegant and picture-like, the head of the snake is
carried up the southern promontory of _Hack_pen Hill--and the very
name of the hill is derived from this circumstance."[1]

[1] Dr. Stukely, who says, that _acan_ in the Chaldee signifies
a serpent, and _hac_ is no other than a snake. In Yorkshire
they still call snakes _hags_; and in the British language
_pen_ denotes a head.

The whole figure thus represented the circle, snake, and wings. By
this the founders meant to picture out the nature of the Divinity;
the circle meant the supreme fountain of all being, the Father; the
serpent, that divine emanation from him, which was called the Son; the
wings imported that other divine emanation from them, which was called
the Spirit, the _Anima Mundi_. That the Temple was of a _religious_,
and not of a warlike nature, is proved by its ditch being withinside
the agger of earth, contrary to the mode adopted in works of defence.

Of the devastation and decay of Abury, the following data will afford
some idea:

The grand total of stones, included in the temples and avenues, was
650; in the original temples, 188.

In Aubrey's time, A.D. 1663 73 stones
In Dr. Stukeley's time, A.D. 1722 29 --
In 1815 17 --

Of very late years, says Sir Richard Colt Hoare, I do not imagine the
dilapidations of the temple have been very great.

It should, however, be mentioned, that the tracing of the _snake form_
is due to Dr. Stukeley; for his predecessor Aubrey mentions the avenue
as "a solemn walk leading to a monument upon the top of the hill,
without any allusion to the supposed design or its connexion with the
Grand Temple at Abury."

It is a matter of greater speculation than we can here enter into,
as to the _date and founders of Abury_; and their history is as
dislocated as are the masses of its ruins. Antiquarians agree on the
purpose for which it was founded, viz. for the performance of the
religious ceremonies of the Druids. Sir R. Colt Hoare illustrates this
point by supposing the flat ledge projecting from the vallum, to have
been intended for the accommodation of sitting, to the spectators who
resorted hither to the public festivals; and adds he, what a grand and
imposing spectacle must so extensive and elevated an a