Note 274 — Chapter I

For the black stone, consult Dart’s Antiquities of Westminster, vol. II, p. 12; Matthew of Westminster, p. 430.—D. S.

Stones, especially when distinguished by some particular form or colour, were in the most ancient times venerated as the only then possible monuments, consecrated to some respected person, or to some Divinity. Thus the ancient Arabians venerated a square stone as sacred (see Selden de Dis Syris, p. 291, 292). It is known that the Muhammedans bestow a particular veneration upon a black stone, which is attached to the gate of their mosque at Mecca (Herbelot, Bibl. orient. sub voce). It is evident that the followers of Muhammed, who is the prophet of a comparatively recent religion, appropriated to themselves more than one object and place of the most ancient veneration by merely changing its name, and attaching to it a legend in accordance to their own belief.—A. T.