It will be well at this point to make brief reference to the interpretation placed on Stonehenge by various writers.  Henry of Huntingdon (1150) calls it Stanhenges, and terms it the second wonder of England, but professes entire ignorance of its purpose and marvels at the method of its construction.  Geoffrey of Monmouth (1150) ascribes its origin to the magic of Merlin who, at the instance of Aurelius Ambrosius, directed the invasion of Ireland under Uther Pendragon to obtain possession of the standing stones called the “Giants’ Dance at Killaraus.”  Victory being with the invaders, the stones were taken and transported across the seas with the greatest ease with Merlin’s help, and placed on Salisbury Plain as a memorial to the dead of Britain fallen in battle.  Giraldus Cambrensis, Robert of Gloucester and Leland all give a similar explanation.  About 1550, in Speed’s History of Britain and Stow’s Annals, Merlin and the invasion of Ireland are dropped and sole credit given to Ambrosius for the erection.  Thomas Fuller (1645) ridicules tradition and consider the stones to be artificial and probably made of sand (!) on the spot.  Inigo Jones about the same time attributes the erection to the Romans.  His master, James I, having taken a philosophic interest in the Stones, had desired him to make some pronouncement upon them.  This monarch’s grandson, in his flight, is said to have stopped and essayed to count the stones, with the usual result on the second trial.  Pepys a short time after went “single to Stonehenge, over the Plain and some great hills even to fright us.  Come thither and find them as prodigious as any tales I ever heard of them, and worth going this journey to see, God knows what their use was! they are hard to tell but may yet be told.”

About the middle of the eighteenth century the Druid temple legend began to gain ground and many great men gave support to their interpretation; it is not yet an exploded idea.  Stukely, the archaeological writer, gives a definite date—­460 B.C.—­as that of their erection, and Dr. Johnson, writing to Mrs. Thrale, says:—­“It is, in my opinion, to be referred to the earliest habitations of the island as a druidical monument of, at least, two thousand years, probably the most ancient work of man upon the island.”  In the last part of this sentence the great doctor either forgets, or shows his ignorance of, the antiquities at Avebury.  Sir Richard Hoare, at the close of the century, is equally convinced that this explanation is the right one.  Other theories current about this time were—­that it was a monument to four hundred British princes slain by Hengist (472); the grave of Queen Boadicea; or a Phoenician temple; even a Danish origin was ascribed to Stonehenge.  Perhaps the most curious fact connected with the literary history of Stonehenge is that it is not mentioned in the Roman itineraries or by Bede or any other Saxon writer.

In 1824 the following interesting article by H. Wansey appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine.