_Forms of the Cross--Ancient Maltese Cross--Phallic Character of some Crosses--Offensive Forms of the Cross in Etruscan and Pompeian Monuments--Thor's Battle-axe--The Buddhist Cross--Indian Crosses--The Fylfot or Four-footed Cross--Danish Poem of the Thors of Asgard--Legend of Thor's Loss of his Golden Hammer--Original Meaning of these Crosses--Reception of Christianity amongst the Britons--Plato and the Cross--The Mexican Tree of Life--Rain Makers--The Winds--Various Meanings attributed to the Cross--The Crux Ansata--Phallic Attributes--Coins, Gaulish and Jewish--Roman Coins--The Lake Dwellings--The Cross in the Patriarchal Age._ In studying the origin and signification of the pre-Christian cross, we, naturally of course, turn our attention to the forms in which it is delineated; these are both numerous and varied--so varied indeed that a writer, some years ago, in the _Edinburgh Review_ stated that his commonplace-book contained nearly two hundred representations, which he had found combined as often as not with other emblems of a sacred character, and which had been collected from all parts of the world. We may notice a few of the principal which are really, generally speaking, types of all. Most people are familiar with the Maltese cross--that consisting of four triangles meeting in a central circle, or as it is generally described, the cross with the four delta-like arms conjoined to or issuing from the nave of a wheel or a diminutive circle. It derives its name from its discovery on the island of Malta, and from its adoption by the Knights of St. John for their coat-of-arms. There is no doubt it is one of the most ancient forms of the cross we are acquainted with, as it is found, as we have already stated, on the sculptures of the Assyrian monarchs long before the Christian era, and may be seen on the sculptures in the British Museum. In some of the Nineveh monuments representing subject-people bringing tribute to the king, it occurs in the form of ear-rings. In Assyria, it is believed to have been the emblem of royalty, as it is found on the breasts of the most powerful of the rulers. As it was known originally in Malta, it was of a very different character to the ornament worn either by the Assyrian monarch or by the modern inhabitants of civilised nations. It was indeed of so gross a character, that the Knights of St. John soon set to work to make something more decent of it--something which while not altogether discarding the old form, should yet be inoffensive to the eye of the more modest onlooker. It was made up, in fact, of four gigantic phalli carved out of the solid granite, similar to the form in which it is found in the island of Gozyo, and on some of the Etruscan and Pompeian monuments.