It is possible it may be the temple of Anaitis. But it is
also possible that it may be a fortification; or it may be a place of
Christian worship, as the first Christians often chose remote and wild
places, to make an impression on the mind; or, if it was a heathen
temple, it may have been built near a river, for the purpose of
lustration; and there is such a multitude of divinities, to whom it may
have been dedicated, that the chance of its being a temple of _Anaitis_
is hardly any thing. It is like throwing a grain of sand upon the
sea-shore to-day, and thinking you may find it to-morrow. No, Sir, this
temple, like many an ill-built edifice, tumbles down before it is roofed
in.' In his triumph over the reverend antiquarian, he indulged himself
in a _conceit_; for, some vestige of the _altar_ of the goddess being
much insisted on in support of the hypothesis, he said, 'Mr. M'Queen is
fighting _pro_ aris _et focis'_.
It was wonderful how well time passed in a remote castle, and in dreary
weather. After supper, we talked of Pennant. It was objected that he was
superficial. Dr. Johnson defended him warmly[613]. He said, 'Pennant has
greater variety of enquiry than almost any man, and has told us more
than perhaps one in ten thousand could have done, in the time that he
took. He has not said what he was to tell; so you cannot find fault with
him, for what he has not told.
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