CHAP. II. _Of the origin of temples more particularly, the meaning of the name. The manner of them, round and open. The_ Mosaic _tabernacle a temple square and cover’d, in opposition to the former desecrated into idolatry. Another reason, covered with skins, because typical of Messiah. So the patriarchal or Druid temples made in those forms, that were symbols of the deity, and the divine personalities thereof. When become idolatrous generally dedicated to the sun, by reason of their round form. The most ancient symbolic figure of the deity was the circle, snake and wings, which we see frequently on_ Egyptian _and other Monuments. The patriarchal temples made in representations thereof; therefore of three kinds._ I. _A circle only._ II. _A circle and snake._ III. _A circle and wings. This Volume treats of a temple of each of these kinds in_ Britain. _The temple of_ ROWLDRICH _in_ Oxfordshire _being of the first sort, described. The Evidence of its being a work of the Druids, drawn up in a kind of order, as a specimen._ 1. _Its high situation, on an open heath by the heads of rivers._ 2. _An open circle of stones set upright, taken from the surface of the ground._ 3. _The appearance of the weather on them._ 4. _From the name, the_ Gilgal _of_ Joshua _explain’d._ 5. _From the measure, the Druid cubit._ 6. _From the barrows all round it. A Druid’s court. The king’s_ tumulus. _The archdruid’s_ tumulus, _the founder._ 7. _From old reports concerning these works._ 8. _Sepulchres frequently the occasion of founding temples in all ages, from a hope of the body’s resurrection, and one occasion of deifying heroes, and introducing idolatry, the first species of it._ Temple is a word deriv’d from the _greek_ Τεμενος, a place cut off, inclosed, dedicated to sacred use, whether an area, a circle of stones, a field, or a grove. This matter, as all others, advanced from simplicity, by degrees, till it became what we now call a temple. Thus we read in _Iliad_ II, of _Ceres_’s field. _Iliad_ VIII, of _Jupiter_’s field and altar. In XXIII, another at the fountain of _Sperchius_. In _Odyss._ VIII, that of _Venus Paphia_. _Pausanias_ mentions many of these. _Cicero_ too among the _Thebans_, _de nat. deor._ III. In _Odyss._ XVII, a grove perfectly round by _Ithaca_. And these were encompass’d by a ditch which _Pollux_ calls _peribolus_. _Pausanias_ makes this particular remark in _Achaic_, of the grove of _Diana servatrix_. They were kept by priests who dwelt there for that purpose, as _Maron_ in _Odyss._ IX. _Tempe_ signifies a grove or temple, which is the same thing. _Strabo_ writes, that the poets, for ornament sake, call all temples groves. This was in affectation of antiquity. _Est nemus Æmoniæ, prærupta quod undique claudit Sylva, vocant Tempe._——