With regard to sepulchral stones, we may observe, that when cases occurred with the Hebrews, that it became necessary to inter distinguished persons at a distance from the resting-places of their fathers, the rude pillar was then set up to mark the place. It was under circumstances of this nature that Jacob set up a stone over his beloved Rachel. (Gen. xxxv. 20.)—Among some of the nations of antiquity, the custom was very general; the Greeks, for instance, had for ages no other funeral monuments than a rough unhewn stone, set upon the top of a tumulus. In the “Iliad” we find Paris, whilst in the act of using the bow against the enemy, bending behind the pillar placed on the tumulus that contained the ashes of Ilus, the son of Dardanus, the ancient king of Troy. Minutely corresponding with this monument is the one at Castle More, near Tullagh, Ireland. It consists of a tumulus 30 feet in perpendicular height, with a square stone on the top, about 5 feet in height. We have one positive and interesting case on record of the erection of a vast monument of this kind. Harold, the son of Gormon, employed his whole army to draw a stone of enormous size from the shores of Jutland, to be placed over the grave of his mother. We may observe that our own churchyards, to this day, present but a modification of the usages we have described—in the mound and headstone we still see the tumulus and pillar of ancient times. To this origin, doubtless, may be referred many, if not all, of the large stones isolated from Druidical remains, and dispersed in different parts of the county. The _maen hir_, or long stone, is very common in this Island. There is nothing, however, in its name which would indicate its original use, or the object for which it was raised, unless, indeed, we give the word _hir_, the sense of longing or regret, as being the root of _hiraeth_; in that case it might imply that the stone was a memorial of the dead. There is no doubt that, in some instances, it was used as a monument to point out the grave of a particular person.