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TEMPLE of the SUN, at STENNIS, from the S.W.

or six feet. No entrance can be distinctly recognized; but there is something like the appearance of one both at the east and west points. In the immediate neighbourhood of the temple are several tumuli, or mounds of earth, probably burial places of some great sea kings.

Here

As I approached these monuments of the olden time, my impatience became so great, that I could not help running towards them; nor did I stop, till arrived at the very centre of the circle, I could take a panoramic view of the whole scene. lay the fine expanse of Loch Stennis, and the brown hills of Pomona; there a narrow strait of the sea, and the vast gloomy forms of the mountains of Hoy. The storm-cloud cast its deepening shadows upon the face of the landscape, and the keen wind sighed mournfully, as it passed through the columns and their crevices. Not a human being was discernible, nor a trace of human existence, save the crumbling stones, whose origin is now lost in the murky distance of antiquity.

I contrasted, in imagination, their present desolation and silence, with the triumphal processions of the warriors and heroes, who came hither to celebrate, with their own fierce war-songs, and the shrieks of their human offerings, the victories

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which their god had given them. The conquering, and the conquered, now sleep alike in forgotten tombs-their fame, and their disgrace, have both vanished away-nay, their very creed itself has become a legendary fable!-but these gigantic fragments, which they reared with so much religious care, still survive; and may pass down, even yet, through centuries of time!

As I sat upon one of the great sepulchral mounds, looking towards the circle, and indulging in these meditations, suddenly a bright beam of sunshine fell upon the tall stones with their green grey locks of lichen; and exhibiting them against a back-ground, still shrouded in darkness, imparted to them a brilliancy almost supernatural.

It was, as if the god, invoked by the spell of a magician, had come down to visit his long deserted shrine, and to relume these decaying columns with the glory of his presence.

Oh! thou dazzling and magnificent star, the secondary source of our light and life, cherishing with thy kindly beams the creatures of this inferior globe, I worship thee not, though standing by this thine altar, whence many a prayer of undoubting faith hath ascended to thy sphere-I worship thee not-for a greater day-star than

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