Note CX — PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF 1814 (continued 2)
Reading edition
Stonehenge. Old legends gave it a mythic origin. Geoffrey of Monmouth attributed it to Merlin, the stones having been brought over from Ireland by magic. It was not a Druid Temple, but a Saxon ring, set up—after the Romans had left Britain—for parliamentary and coronation purposes. "Roman pottery and coins have been found under the stones, and they are fitted with mortice and tenon, an art unknown in Britain till it was taught by the Romans." Compare Dryden's Epistle to Dr. Charleton (Ep. II.)
Stonehenge, once thought a temple, you have found A throne, where kings, our earthly Gods, were crown'd.
and Henry Crabb Robinson's account of a visit to Stonehenge, in the second volume of his Diary and Correspondence, p. 230.—ED.