f this mysterious relic, though few know that many
other Druidical circles of minor importance are scattered over various
parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In Scotland they are especially
numerous. One but little known, and not mentioned by the Duke of Argyll
in his book on the remarkable island of which he is the proprietor, is
situated between the ruins of the cathedral of Iona and the sea shore,
and is well worthy of a visit from the thousands of tourists who
annually make the voyage round the noble Isle of Mull, on purpose to
visit Iona and Staffa. There is another Druidic circle on the mainland
of Mull, and a large and more remarkable one at Lochnell, near Oban, in
Argyllshire, which promises to become as celebrated as Stonehenge
itself, combining as it does not only the mystic circle, but a
representation, clearly defined, of the mysterious serpent, the worship
of which entered so largely into all the Oriental religions of remote
antiquity. There are other circles in Lewis and the various islands of
the Hebrides, and as far north as Orkney and Shetland. It was, as we
learn from various authorities, the practice of the Druidical priests
and bards to march in procession round the inner circle of their rude
temples, chanting religious hymns in honour of the sunrise, the noon, or
the sunset; hymns which have not been wholly lost to posterity, though
posterity has failed to understand them, or imagined that their
burdens--their sole relics--are but unmeaning words, invented for
musical purposes alone, and divested of all intellectual signification.

The best known of these choruses is "_Down, down, derry down_," which
may either be derived from the words _dun_, a hill; and _darag_ or
_darach_, an oak tree; or from _duine_, a man; and _doire_, a wood; and
may either signify an invitation to proceed to the hill of the oak trees
for the purposes of worship, or an invocation to the men of the woods to
join in the Druidical march and chant, as the priests walked in
procession from the interior of the stone circle to some neighbouring
grove upon a down or hill. This chorus survives in many hundreds of
English popular songs, but notably in the beautiful ballad "The Three
Ravens," preserved in Melismata (1611):--

There were three ravens sat on a tree,
_Down-a-down! hey down, hey down_.
They were as black as black might be,
With a down!
Then one of them said to his mate,
Where shall we now