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Article ON THE VITRIFIED FORTS IN NORTH BRITAIN. ← Page 5 of 5
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On The Vitrified Forts In North Britain.
their origin , to a period of time in fact earlier than that usually ascribed to the Druids or the Celtte . And when we consider further , that the only real analogy is to be found on the banks of the Euphrates , it would seem to lead us to the conclusion , that shortly after the dispersion of mankind , a tribe or family penetrated westward as far as the British Isles , carrying with them that knowledge of practical masonry which had been acquired on the plains of Shinar , and extending even to
Ultima Thule , the early lights of science and civilization . And this is not an unreasonable supposition—The primitive race may have been swept away by the subsequent invasion of barbaric hordes , leaving no trace of its previous existence , except those vitrified remains which have so long excited our curiosity . One thing is unquestionable , that in Britain and the sister isle , there are traces of a much higher state of civilization having existed in periods long anterior to the Christian era ,
than would appear from records to have existed at the Roman Conquest ; and this , to the enquiring mind , is as evident as that in ancient Mexico a people formerly existed whose stupendous edifices and style of building assimilated to those of the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans , so that the arts of the land of the Pharaohs must have reached the transatlantic world ages before that world itself is generally supposed to have been discovered by the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere . Greece and Rome have left us a literature from which we can judge , by contemporaneous evidence of their former grandeur , wealth , and
power , as well as the intellectual superiority they attained ; but of the earlier nations of antiquity , no chronicles exist except those architectural remains whose magnificence occasionally excites the wonder of the traveller ; and yet those nations supplied the founts of wisdom and knowledge which afterwards poured such copious streams over Greece and Rome , and they probably exceeded the latter in wealth , and power , and grandeur ; but their literature is lost—their records are in the dust , and it is only by researches similar to those which have been detailed , that we can partially uplift the veil of obscurity which spreads the pall of its dark shadow over the early nations of the earth , and admit perhaps a feeble glimmering of light upon a state of things once in active exist '
ence , even like the events of the present time , but now buried in the omb of oblivion , and lost in the darkness of by-gone ages . These , indeed , are questions of deep and absorbing interest , and I am thoroughly convinced that a knowledge of Masonic antiquities alone , pursued with a true spirit of Masonic perseverance , will assist in bringing these hidden things of the past to light , and explain those anomalies in the early history of the human racewhich will otherwise remain dark
, and incomprehensible . Let me , therefore , in conclusion , earnestly exhort my Brethren to devote more attention to the philosophy of Freemasonry , and less to its convivialities ; the result cannot fail to add dignity to our time-honoured institution , and supply the truly speculative Mason with that mental food which constitutes the genuine sustenance of intellectual life .
VOL . iv . 3 II
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Vitrified Forts In North Britain.
their origin , to a period of time in fact earlier than that usually ascribed to the Druids or the Celtte . And when we consider further , that the only real analogy is to be found on the banks of the Euphrates , it would seem to lead us to the conclusion , that shortly after the dispersion of mankind , a tribe or family penetrated westward as far as the British Isles , carrying with them that knowledge of practical masonry which had been acquired on the plains of Shinar , and extending even to
Ultima Thule , the early lights of science and civilization . And this is not an unreasonable supposition—The primitive race may have been swept away by the subsequent invasion of barbaric hordes , leaving no trace of its previous existence , except those vitrified remains which have so long excited our curiosity . One thing is unquestionable , that in Britain and the sister isle , there are traces of a much higher state of civilization having existed in periods long anterior to the Christian era ,
than would appear from records to have existed at the Roman Conquest ; and this , to the enquiring mind , is as evident as that in ancient Mexico a people formerly existed whose stupendous edifices and style of building assimilated to those of the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans , so that the arts of the land of the Pharaohs must have reached the transatlantic world ages before that world itself is generally supposed to have been discovered by the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere . Greece and Rome have left us a literature from which we can judge , by contemporaneous evidence of their former grandeur , wealth , and
power , as well as the intellectual superiority they attained ; but of the earlier nations of antiquity , no chronicles exist except those architectural remains whose magnificence occasionally excites the wonder of the traveller ; and yet those nations supplied the founts of wisdom and knowledge which afterwards poured such copious streams over Greece and Rome , and they probably exceeded the latter in wealth , and power , and grandeur ; but their literature is lost—their records are in the dust , and it is only by researches similar to those which have been detailed , that we can partially uplift the veil of obscurity which spreads the pall of its dark shadow over the early nations of the earth , and admit perhaps a feeble glimmering of light upon a state of things once in active exist '
ence , even like the events of the present time , but now buried in the omb of oblivion , and lost in the darkness of by-gone ages . These , indeed , are questions of deep and absorbing interest , and I am thoroughly convinced that a knowledge of Masonic antiquities alone , pursued with a true spirit of Masonic perseverance , will assist in bringing these hidden things of the past to light , and explain those anomalies in the early history of the human racewhich will otherwise remain dark
, and incomprehensible . Let me , therefore , in conclusion , earnestly exhort my Brethren to devote more attention to the philosophy of Freemasonry , and less to its convivialities ; the result cannot fail to add dignity to our time-honoured institution , and supply the truly speculative Mason with that mental food which constitutes the genuine sustenance of intellectual life .
VOL . iv . 3 II