The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-03-23
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SAVING STONEHENGE.
The Unique Remains.

CNelypouy WHO mas time to take ever
O mild interest IN our past will be glad
to learn from LORD Edmond Fitzmau-
rice that definite steps are at last being
taken to insure the preservation of
Stonehenge. Sir Thomas Browne who
was too amiabie a man to have any
conception of the vandalism that exists
in the world did not foresee the need
or any particular precautions to this
end "These mountainous monu-
ments," he observed, may stand, and
are like to have the same period with
the earth" But the last two or three
centuries have done more damage to
our finest megalithic monuments than
perhaps all the ages since they were
built by strange and forgotten race
The glorious temple of Avebury once
the finest thing of the kind in the whole
of Europe, has suffered most of all
Some ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS lucky people,
as the Syracusan lady says in Theo-
crituS, to know all that!--are of opin-
Ion that Hectataeus referred to Ave-
bury when he went into classical rap
lures about the magnificent circular
temple that stood in the Island Of the
Hyperboreans, over against Celtica.
1t Is certain that old Aubrey thought
that Avebury, in it's fair and unpoluted
days, did as much exceed Stonehenge
as cathedral does parish church"
Now it has all but persisted. Out of six
hundred and fifty great stones that once
formed its circles, not more than twen-
ty are standing. Lord Avebury, who
very appropriately took his title from
tI1 rfx, @hot h.
er Englishman Of our days to illustrate,
mourns that unfortunately for us, the
pretty little village of Avebury, like
some beautiful parasite, has grown up
at the expense and in the midst of the
ancient temple" 1t is natural ten
dency Of the uncultivated human mind
to utilize the relics of even pre-histor-
&c past as the quarry for modern castles
or pigcties. The medieval Romans
happened to build castles out of the
Coliseum, and one is less angry with
them, perhaps, than with the Wiltshire
farmers who turned so much of Ave-
bury into cottages and pigsties. After
all, we can pride ourselves on never
having done anything quite so bad as
the Roman builders who fed their lime
kilns with the sculptured spoils of
Greece. We may be an inartistic race,
but for thorough vandalism we have to
look to Italy, the home and stepmother
of the fine arts. One cannot be used to
send a cart to Stongehenge, as Aubrey !
and Stukely tell us, when they needed I
stone for their bridges or mill dams. |
But the time has come to stop that |
kind Of enterprise for ever. The Willis
nj NJ yerI, Of
Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, announce
that they are in communication with
the owner of Stongehenge and with the
Society of Antiquaries, and propose to
put forward suggestions as to the res
toration, future custody and preserva-
ton of that megalithic monument.
We hope that the public will have an
opportunity Of considering the ultimate
decision in this important matter AS
they will probably be asked to contrib
ute to its cost, that may be taken for
granted. We have rather terror of
restoration" thanks to Mr.. Ruskin's
energetic exposure of the crimes that
have been committed in its name on
some of the finest of ancient churches,
and 1t is restoration as we'll as safe
keeping that some demand for Stonge-
henge. There Is no longer any fear of
the whole thing being shipped off bodi-
Iy to America, as we believe wealthy
dealer in curiosties once proposed; our
own dealings with the Elgin Marbles
and Cleopatra's Needle left us little
right to affect indignation at this, but it
would not be allowed. Nor is there
much fear Of the tourist who loves to !
carve his name In the most inappropri- G
ate places or to remove specimens of re- ,
monuments. 1.-THE stone is so +
hard" wrote John Evelyn, +
who tried 1t, that all my strength with f
1 hammer could not break fragment; 7
which hardness I attribute to their so t
ong exposure" Only a determined +
can do any deliberate dam q
lge, and he is warned off for all time L
3ut there is the weather to reckon with b
The fall Of stones at the end of the last r
ooinciding with the $
CENTENARY of the previous fall, which To- r
al Tories attributed to some occult
with the excuses of the C
french Revolution-suggested that it b
night be needful to take steps for saw r
ng the remaining stones, if not to re- G
rect those that were already PROSTATE. s.
IN the latter point we are convinced ii
hat any such attempt would be as r,
ross an error as those into which the ly
o-called restorers of churches have SO tt
ften fallen. lingo Jones thought Of re- IL
toring Stongehenge to it's original plan, el
nd we are all thankful that he aban- G.
oned the idea. Posterity might not II
hink any better of our antiquarian Il
than we do of his. Flinders al
'etrie, who has sent home from Egypt Ir
ne most interesting contribution that In
as yet been made to the discussion, hi
avs with great justice that "to trim up ii
ne place, by re-erecting every stone
lat has fallen, would be no benefit ii
Their to it's appearance or to archaeol- is
yy The real effort should be to in
I've those now gradually yielding over, fiC
specially the largest stone of ALL of
urely resources of modern science are pl
lite adequate to preserve Stongehenge, Ill
,actly as it is now, for the next twenty m
INJURIES; otherwise, when we think of tn
lr namelesS ancestors who swung pr
ese blocks Of sixty or seventy tons eV
,ieoe into place, with merely their
imitive muscles and a few bronze co
OILS and hide ropes to help them, we O1
uld hardly feel the proper pride in OF
ans advance through the ages. tr'
o+c41 y1no San nIyc wit 10 L