---- DRUIDS ----
texts related to Druid culture
in the Miskatonic University Library

The following is an excerpt, in its entirety, from a book published in 1797 in which the Abbot of Tressan researches and sets down the mythologies and legends of Europe including a study into what was known about the Druids.  The except is the complete section on this subject.
While much is written today about the Druids, their religion and rituals, we really know very little about this culture since its entire history was not written but oral, carefully passed from generation to generation by those who were trained to recite.  The appearance of Christianity killed off those bards whose job it was to pass on the stories and religion.  With their passing, the entire history of the people and the religion was lost.  In each culture the Roman Catholic Church wiped out, the Vatican required priests and monks to report on what was known of that culture and deposited in Rome.  In this way, the Vatican could develop a strategy to destroy the religion (by determining it evil) or integrate the culture and religion into the Catholic doctrine.  What is known of Druids and the religion of the Druids is contained in this document. 
     ED NOTE: I tis interesting to note that Bulfinch's Mythology draws almost word for word from this earlier work.

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M Y T H O L O G Y
COMPARED WITH
H I S T O R Y :

OR

AN ENQUIRY INTO THE RELIGION
OF THE
FIRST INHABITANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE
ANCIENT DRUIDS.

DEDICATED TO THE
RIGHT HON. LADY BARBARA PLEYDELL BOUVERIE.

BY M. L'ABBÉ DE TRESSAN;

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY H. NORTH.

Printed for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, in the Strand,
1797

MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY PRESS
ARKHAM - ROCKPORT - BROOKLINE
2002
Copyright © 2002 Miskatonic University Press/ yankeeclass.com, all rights reserved

 
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AN ENQUIRY INTO THE RELIGION OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

In the infancy of ftates, as in the infancy of man, illustrious actions are always rare.  It is not till after the lapfe of ages that the arts and fciences attain any degree of perfection.  It is the fame with hiftorians, they are only to be found in civilized nations; and if fome facts have reached us which took place in the firft ages of the world, they are generally exaggerated, or disfigured by uncertain traditions.
     We have already obferved, that every people affumed for their founder fome imaginary god or hero.  We have feen the Greeks endeavoring to throw a veil over their origin, whilft even their fables (thofe incoherent compounds of their me-mory and imagination) became evidences in favour of truth.  The name of a god, of a city, of a country, of a mountain, of a cuftom which they were ignorant of before, and which they were obliged to exprefs by fome foreign appellation, are the veftiges which Truth leaves behind her, 

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and which all the efforts of vanity and felf love can never totally efface.
     In the general picture which we have endea-voured to draw, for the purpofe of explaining the origin of idolatry and mythology in general, it may be perceived that the eaftern nations were the firft who peopled the earth.  The more atten-tively we examine hiftory, the more convinced we become, that thefe rich and beautiful countries were the original feats of our forefathers, and
the brilliant centre from whence the arts and fciences were diffufed over the reft of the globe.  It would be much more difficult, and perhaps even impossi-ble, to tell at what time and in what manner the Britifh ifles were firft inhabited.  The ftudy of natural hiftory inclines us to believe, that they conftituted formerly part of the continent of Europe, but neither tradition nor any human record can give up the leaft information concerning the period of this feparation.  It is fufficient to extend our remarks to thofe of which we have fome knowledge, without ufelefsly and prefumptuoufly lofing ourfelves in the epochs of imagination.  In vain does human vanity attempt to give greater antiquity to time, its longeft periods will be no more than an imperceptible point in the midft of that eternity which precedes and will follow them. Without pretending to fix the exact time when England was firft peopled, we may with probability 

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fuppofe that the different countries of the Gauls were inhabited before that period.  It is natural to imagine that men would not venture to crofs the fea, and take up their refidence in iflands, till com-pelled by the too great increafe of population.  We know that the Celts were mafters of Europe, from the mouth of the Oby in Ruffia, to Cape Finifterre.  The fame language fpoken by nations feparated from each other by immenfe tracts of land is fufficient proof of this, but it throws no light upon the beginning of their hiftory.
    The moft famous of all the Celtic nations were thofe who inhabited the countries of Gaul, and it is to the hiftorians of the nations with whom they were engaged in frequent wars, that they are in-debted for their celebrity.  Julius Cæsar and Tacitus fay, that Great-Britain was the firft coun-try peopled by the Celtic Gauls.  The fituation or the refpective places renders this opinion probably, and the conformity of language and cuftoms which exifted between the Britons and the Gauls, leaves no doubt concerning this origin.  It may be fup-pofed, that the Gaulifh colony firft fettled in that part of the ifland which was oppofite to their own country, from whence extending themfelves by degrees, they afterwards peopled the whole ifland.  Whatever be the origin of the inhabitants of Great Britain, they were fufficiently numerous, and ef-pecially fufficiently courageous to refift the Ro-

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mans, when mafters of the whole known world befides.  Their government was at that time a mixture of monarchy and ariftocracy.  The chiefs fuperintended the execution of the laws, but the legiflative power was lodged in the hands of the druids.  Thefe priefts, fo celebrated for their own divinations, and that of their wives, for their pre-tended intercourfe with heaven, and for their man-ner of living, which was folitary and auftere, were regarded by the people as the infallible organs of the Divinity.  It was by the command of thefe fovereign pontiffs that the people united under one chief, whofe office, like that of the Roman dictator, lafted no longer that was neceffary to repel danger or terminate a war.
     The druids preferved this extenfive authority a long time among the Celts, particularly in Great Britain, but after the fecond century their credit declined faft.  Wars became frequent, and the nobility carried away by their impetuous courage, were no longer folicitous to enter in this order.  The number of priefts diminifhed, and precepts of religion were quickly corrupted, or nearly forgot-ten in the tumults of a camp.  Victory, by favour-ing thofe chiefs, who were called Vergobrets (a title equal to that of king) rendered them more independent of the druids.
     Tremnor, great grandfather of the celebrated Fingal, having been elected vergobret by the vic-

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torious tribes which he had led to battle, the druids fent a deputation to him, defiring him to lay down his authority.  A refufal on the part of Tremnor brought on a civil war, in which a great number of the druids perifhed.
     Thofe who efcaped the flaughter, fled and con-cealed themfelves in the depth of the forefts and in caverns, where they ufed to retire to purfue their meditations, and the vergobrets, or kings, then took the whole authority into their own hands.  However, the kings and heads of tribes to give ftability to their power, to fhow their refpect for religion, and to have fome to celebrate their ex-ploits, recalled the bards from their folitary retreat.  The office of the inferior clafs of druids was to fing the praifes of gods and heroes.  Conquerors, emulous of immortalizing their names, fpared thefe difpenfers of glory, invited them to their camp, and gratitude animating the poetry of the bards, they defcribed their protectors as heroes poffeffed of every virtue.  Thefe difciples of the druids were admitted to the fcience and myfteries of their preceptors.  Their talents and knowledge gave them a fuperiority over the vulgar.  They em-ployed their poetical abilities in defcribing every virtue and every heroic fentiment.  Kings eagerly endeavoured to imitate the heroes of their favourite poems; chieftains of tribes ftrove to follow their example; and this noble emulation being commu-

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nicated throughout the whole nation, formed that general character of the inhabitants of Great Britain, who, to the noble courage which dignifies a free nation, have ever united the moft engaging virtues of civilized fociety.
     The glory of a great people roufes the genius of the man poffeffed by nature of fenfibility and a lively imagination; he burns with a defire of im-mortalizing his country.  Common language ap-pears unequal to the actions he means to celebrate; metre and harmony he knows will more eafily imprefs his fubject upon the memory.  This un-doubtedly gave the rife to poetry in every nation; and this art conftituted part of the religion of the druids.  The cuftom, common in every nation, of repeat-ing hiftorical poems on folemn occafions, and of teaching them to their children, was fufficient to preferve them for a long time without the affiftance of writing.  The Germans have tranfmitted thefe poetical traditions for eight hundred years; it is not aftonifhing then, that the inhabitants of Great Britain, ever fo much attached to the memory of their anceftors, fhould have handed down from generation to generation the poems of their bards.  It was this cuftom, preferved among the moft diftant inhabitants of the mountains, which enabled Mr. Macpherfon to collect the poetry of the celebrated Offian.
     The bards, after having long been the principal 

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inftructors and hiftorians of their country, defcend-ed from thefe high functions to become the flatterers of thofe who protected them, or the flanderers of thofe whom they regarded as their enemies.
     Little paffions have always the pernicious pro-perty of mifleading and even extinguifhing genius.
     The bards, in forgetting the noble infpirations of their predeceffors, retained no other power than that of amufing or flattering the vain.  They foon loft all their importance with the great, and the multitude alone deigned to receive them favourably.
     No longer poffeffed of the talent which renders virtue engaging, they invented fables of enchanted caftles, of dwarfs, &c.  The fober truths of hiftory gave place to the marvellous fictions of romance.  The abufe of this talent brought the bards into contempt; the people themfelves grew weary of them and they difappeared.  The warlike hero, however, was not forgetful of his valour, he would not renounce the flattering advantage of hearing the celebration of his exploits.  Courage, and the noble defire of fuccouring the oppreffed, and redreffing their wrongs, produced that fpirit of chivalry which gave birth to prodigies of hero-ifm.  Illuftrious actions awakened the genius of a clafs of men who came to replace the bards, under the name of Troubadours.  This appears to be the period from which we muft date the com-

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mencement of thofe books of chivalry fo extraor-dinary and yet fo full of charms, that even now they excite our admiration.  In reading them it is neceffary to recollect, that to pleafe they muft poffefs probability, for it is only by imitating na-ture that art can pleafe.  What idea then ought we to entertain of thofe knights they were intended to defcribe?  In the romance of the round table, of St. Greal, of Amadis, &C. reafon will ever teach us to refcind what appears to be merely mar-vellous, but the noble and the brave will never call in queftion the prodigies atchieved by valour.  It is remarkable that England is generally made the theatre of chivalry by the Troubadours, and ancient writers of that defcription.  We muft likewife take notice that all hiftorians, after defcribing the druids as priefts much fuperior to thofe of all other nations,
agree in giving the druids of England a fuperiority over all others.  They extol thofe of the college of Chartres, thofe of the foreft of Mar-feilles, thofe in the environs of Thouloufe, but they all add, that when any in thefe colleges were found to poffefs great talents, they were fent to finifh their inftruction among the druids of Britain. The refult of thefe obfervations is, that from the moft diftant periods, the inhabitants of Great Bri-tain have ever excited the admiration of furround-ing nations, by their wifdom, learning and courage.

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RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OF THE FIRST INHABI-TANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

It appears certain that the original Bri-tons erected no temple to the Divinity.  Nay we find in the poems of Offian, that fublime bard ex-preffing his contempt for the temples and worfhip of Odin, god of the Scandinavians, whom he calls Loda.  Offian reprefents thefe people as invoking their god round a ftatue, which he calls the ftone of power.  He reprobates this worfhip, and con-fiders it as impious.  The druids, bards, and the people whom they inftructed, regarded all nature as the temple of the divinity.  That they had notions of a Supreme Being cannot be doubted, fince they believed in the immortality of the foul, and in the rewards and punifhments of the future life.  Their opinion was, that the clouds were the habitation of fouls after their feparation from the body.  The brave and virtuous were received with joy into the aërial palaces of their fathers, whilft the wicked, the cowardly and the cruel, were excluded the abode of heroes, and con-demned to wander, the fport of every wind.  There were different manfions in the palaces of the clouds; the principal of which were affigned to merit and courage; and this idea was a great incitement to the emulation of their warriors.  The 

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foul always preferved the fame paffions which it poffeffed during life; thefe aërial palaces offered no other enjoyment than what they had preferred when living.  They fuppofed that winds and ftorms were under the direction of departed fpirits, but their power never extended over men.  A hero could not be admitted into the palace of his fathers, unlefs the bards had fung his funeral hymn.  This hymn appears to have been the only effential cere-mony of their funerals.  The body was extended on a bed of clay, at the bottom of a grave fix or eight feet deep.  At the head of a warrior they placed his fword and twelve arrows; the corpfe was covered with a fecond body of clay, and upon this they laid the horns of a ftag, of fome other wild beaft.  Sometimes they killed his favourite dog, to lay on this fecond body of clay; the whole was then covered with fine mould, and four ftones marked the extend of the tomb. 
    None but a bard could open the gates of the aërial palaces, which he did by chanting the funeral hymn.  Neglect of this ceremony left the foul in the exhalations of the lake Lego, of from
other, and to thefe unhappy fouls they attributed the diforders arifing from the vapour of lakes or marfhes, which are fo frequent and fometimes even mortal.  We may fee with what care the druids encouraged opinions which rendered their miniftry fo confoling and fo neceffary.  Death was not fuppofed to have 

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the power of diffolving the ties of blood.  The fhades of the dead took part in the happy or unfortunate events of their friends.  No nation had fo implicit a belief in apparitions.  The moun-taineers, in particular, feeming to take pleafure in their gloomy ideas, frequently paffed whole nights upon a heath; the whiftling of the wind, or the noife of torrents, made them imagine they heard the voice of the dead, and if furprifed by fleep in the midft of thefe reveries, they regarded their dreams as certain prognoftics of futurity.  Good and bad fpirits did not appear in the fame manner, the good fhowed themfelves to their friends during the day in retired pleafant valleys, the bad were never feen but at night in the midft of winds and tempefts.  Neither did death deftroy the charms of the fair.  The fhades of thefe preferved their original form and beauty.  No terror accompanied them; when they traverfed the air, all their motions were graceful, and the gentle noife of their ap-proach had fomething in it pleafing and encourag-ing.  At the moment of executing any great enterprize, the imagined that the fouls of their fathers defcended from the clouds to fortel their good and ill fuccefs: and when they did not appear, gave them notice at leaft by fome omen.  Every man thought he had his tutelar fhade, who always attended him.  When death approached, this guar-dian fpirit fhowed itfelf to him in the pofition in which 

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he was to die, and fent forth plaintive cries of forrow.  On the death of a great perfonage, they were perfuaded that the fouls o departed bards fung round his phantom during three whole nights.  It was a received opinion among them, that the moment a warrior ceafed to exift, the arms in his houfe were covered with blood; that his fpectre went to vifit the place of his birth, and that it ap-peared to his dogs, which fet up difmal yells at the fight of it.
     It was to thefe fpirits they attributed the major part of natural effects.  If echo ftruck the ear, it was the fpirit of the mountain they heard.  The hollow found of the tempeft, was the roaring of the fpirit of the hill.  Did the harp of the bard re-ceive a vibration from the wind, it was the fhades, who by this gentle touch announced the death of fome diftinguifhed character.  No king nor chief refigned his breath, but this prophetic found was rendered by the harps of the bards belonging to his family.  We feel how confoling it muft have appeared to people all nature with the fhades of their friends and anceftors, by whom they fuppofed themfelves conftantly furrounded.  Notwithftand-ing all the melancholy which muft accompany fuch an idea, we are fenfible how interefting and pleafing it muft have been.
     It was fufficient to engage and fill the imagina-tion; and it is undoubtedly to this caufe we muft

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attribute the fmall number of divinities which were honoured among the ancient Britons; it appears even certain that they only acquired a knowledge of Elus, Dis, Pluto, Samothes, Teutates and other deities, by means of their intercourfe with foreign nations.  The Picts and Saxons introduced among them their Andate, goddefs of victory.  The Romans likewife made them acquainted with fome of their divinities.
     We are affured by Tacitus and Dion Caffius, that the Gauls firft brought into England the horrid cuftom of facrificing human victims.  By ex-tending our refearches farther, we might difcover likewife veftiges of the Phœnician worfhip; for every thing leads us to conclude, that in the ear-lieft ages of the world, thefe firft of navigators known brought their merchandize into Britain, which they exchanged for tin.  But we fhall enter no farther into particulars concerning thofe reli-gious ceremonies which they derived from foreign nations, fince every hiftory, tradition and cuftom proves, in the moft convincing manner, that the religion of the Druids alone was univerfally adopted.
     We fhall now lay before our readers the moft authentic information concerning thefe celebrated men, which we can collect from hiftory or tradition.

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OF THE DRUIDS.

The accounts of Cæsar and Tacitus con-tradict each other; the former faying, that the religion of the Druids had its birth in England; and the latter, that the Gauls when they peopled this ifland introduced it amongft them. "To reconcile thefe two authors (fays the Abbé Banier) we may fuppofe, that the Gauls when they came into Britain brought with them their religion, but that the iflanders, more ftudious and lefs engaged in foreign wars than the Gauls were, preferved it in its greateft purity; this (he adds) was the reafon of that profound refpect in which the Druids of Gaul held thofe of Britain, whom they regarded as confiderably their fuperiors in knowledge.  The world (continued Mr. l' Abbé Banier) originally formed but one family, and had only one faith, but when they became difperfed they corrupted the purity of their primitive reli-gion: fome directing their courfe by land towards the north, under the names of Scythians, Celto-Scythians and Celts, peopled thofe vaft countries which feparate us from Afia; others more bold, braved all the dangers of the ocean.
     "Hiftory proves that the Phœnicians and Carth-ginians penetrated into the moft remote parts of the weft; hence no doubt, that refemblance be-

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tween the religions of nations divided by fo many feas and countries."
     This account of Mr. l'Abbé Banier clearly ex-plains the parallel which had been fo often drawn between the Magi and the Druids; it proves that the Gauls derived their religion from the Perfians, or at leaft from thofe nations which approached their country towards the north.  The Magi and the Druids, both equally refpected in their diffe-rent countries, were always confulted in matters of great importance.  They were their only religious minifters.  The Magi rejected the opinion which attributes to the gods a human origin; nor did they diftinguifh them into gods and goddeffes; it was exactly the fame with the Druids.  Both governed the ftate, and were confulted even by forvereigns.  Their white vests refembled each other, and both were equally forbid the ufe of ornaments of gold.  The difpenfers and protectors of Juftice, they pro-nounced fentence, and carefully infpected the con-duct of thofe whom they appointed to affift them in the difcharge of this important function.  The immortality of the foul was the principal point of belief among both the Perfians and Gauls; nei-ther of them erected either temples or ftatues.  The Perfians worfhipped fire; the Druids main-tained a perpetual fire in their forefts.  The Per-fians paid their adoration to water; the Gauls ren-dered divine honours to the fame element.  From 

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thefe refemblances we may reafonably conclude, that the religion of the Magi and that of the Druids had both the fame origin.  The difference we find between them may have arifen from the different caufes of war, diftance and time.  The religion of the Gauls appears to have always been more pure than that of other nations; their ideas of the divinity were more juft, and more rational than thofe of the Greeks and Romans.  Tacitus, Maximus of Tyre, and other hiftorians inform us, that the Druids were perfuaded that the Supreme Being muft be adored in filence, and with veneration as well as with facrifices.  But this original fimplicity no longer exifted, even before the Roman conqueft.  The Druids forgetting their former wifdom, addicted themfelves to divinations and magic, tolerating the horrid practice of facrificing hu-man victims to Æfus and Teutates.  Tacitus, Lactantius, and Lucan atteft this barbarous de-pravity.
     The conqueft of Julius Cæsar introduced new divinities among the Gauls, and they then firft erected temples, whilft the Druids of Britain continued the exercife of their ancient religion in the heart of their forefts, whofe folemn fhades infpired religious awe.  So facred were woods among them, that it was forbid to cut them down; they could not be approached but with veneration, and for the purpofe of crowning 

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them with garlands and trophies.  There were certain trees which could not be applied to com-mon ufes, even though they fell with age.  This refpect arofe from the fublime idea they enter-tained of the divinity; they were perfuaded, that temples could not contain him, nor ftatues repre-fent him.  The Gauls likewife had the higheft ve-neration for lakes and marfhes, becaufe they fup-pofed them the favourite abode of the divinity.  The moft celebrated of thefe lakes was that of Thouloufe, into which they threw gold and filver which had been taken from the enemy.  They likewife worfhipped rivers, rivulets, fountains, and fire.  The Gauls had in the middle of their forefts void fpaces, confecrated to religion and religious ceremonies.  It was here they buried the treafures taken from the enemy, and here they facrificed their prifoners; fometimes they enclofed them in a coloffal ftatue of willow, and furrounding them with combuftible matter, confumed them with fire.  Cæsar caufed thefe retreats to be pillaged by his troops, from whence ill-informed hiftorians have concluded that the ancient Gauls had temples.  "The only temple of thefe people (says Tacitus) if a foreft, where they performed the duties of their religion."  None can enter thefe woods unlefs he wear a chain, the fymbol of his dependence on the Almighty, and of the fupreme power which the divinity has over him.  Nothing is more celebrated 

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in the hiftory of the ancient Gauls than the forefts of the country of Chartres.  The forefts of Thouloufe and Marfeilles were almoft equally famous.
     In thefe folitary retirements were held the fchools of the Gaulifh Druids.  Chartres was in fome manner the metropolis of the Gauls; but thefe three colleges all agreed in acknow-ledging their inferiority to the Druids of Britain in fcience and wifdom.

THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF THE DRUIDS, THEIR MANNERS OF LIVING, THEIR DRESS AND FUNCTIONS.

The word Druid is undoubtedly derived from the Celtic word deru, which fignifies an oak. 
     The minifters were divided into different claffes.  The Druids compofed the firft; they were the fupreme chiefs, and fo much were thofe that followed them their inferiors, and fo great the refpect which the latter paid them, that they were obliged to depart when the Druids ap-peared, and till they had obtained permiffion could not remain in their prefence.  The inferior minifters were the Bards, Sarronides, and Eubages, or Vates.
     The Bards (whofe name in the Celtic lan-guage fignifies a finger) celebrated the actions of the heroes in verfes, which they fung and accompanied 

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upon the harp.  In fuch high eftimation were their verfes held, that they were fufficient to immorta-lize.  Thefe Bards, though inferior to the Druids in power, enjoyed fo great a reputation, that if they prefented themfelves at the moment two ar-mies were upon the point of engaging, or even if the action was already begun, each party laid down their arms to liften to their propofitions.  They did not confine themfelves to pronouncing the eulogium of heroes; they had likewife the right to cenfuring the actions of individuals who fwerved from their duty.
     The Sarronides inftructed the youth, and in-fpired them with virtuous fentiments.  The Eubages or Vates had the care of facrifices, and applied themfelves to the contemplation of nature; but afterwards the Druids referved to themfelves alone all religious functions, and the fubaltern minifters had then no employ but what they practifed by permiffion of the Druids.  The origin of thefe pontiffs is loft in the remote periods of antiquity. 
    By Ariftotle, Solon, and many others before them, the Druids are defcribed as the wifeft and moft enlightened of men in matters of religion.  So great was the idea entertained of their know-
ledge, that Cicero ftyles them the firft inventors of Mythology.  The Druids concealed in forefts, there led the moft auftere lives.  It was here na-

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tions came to confult them; and Julius Cæsar, who in general admired only the fplendid vir-tues, could not refufe them the tribute of his efteem, fo much was he aftonifhed at their man-ner of living and their knowledge.  There were feveral colleges of the Druids in the different countries of the Gauls, and we have already faid, that the moft celebrated of all was that in the country of Chartres.  The chief of this college was fovereign pontiff of all the Gauls.  It was in the forefts of this country that they performed the moft folemn facrifices, and here affembled the grandees of the country, and the legiflative bodies.  Next to the college of Chartres, that of Marfeilles was the moft confiderable.  Nothing was more famous than the foreft of that country, and Lucan infpires a fort of religious terror when he defcribes the manner in which it was cut down by order of Cæsar.  The Druids, both young and old, had the fame privileges, and obferved the fame rules.  Their drefs, however, varied in fome refpects, according to their different pro-vinces and the rank they occupied.
     The ceremony of being admitted into this order confifted in receiving the embrace of the old Druids.  The candidate, after this, quitted the common drefs to inveft himfelf with that of the Druids, which was a coat reaching to the middle of the leg.  This drefs was the mark of prieft-

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hood, to which women could never be admitted.  The authority of the Druids was fo extenfive, that no affair of importance was undertaken without confulting them.  They prefided over the national councils, directed war or peace as they pleafed, punifhed the guilty, and could even depofe kings and magiftrates when they acted contrary to the laws of the country.  Their rank was fuperior to that of the nobles.  To their power every thing yielded.  It was they who were entrufted with the education of the moft illuftrious youth, fo that fentiments of veneration for the Druids were in-ftilled into them from their earlieft infancy.  To thefe priefts belonged the right of annually ap-pointing the magiftrates who were to prefide over the cities; they could raife one of thefe magif-trates to the dignity of vergobret, which was equal to that of king.  But this pretended king could do nothing without the confent of the Druids; they alone could convoke the national council, fo that the vergobrets were in reality only the principal fubjects of the Druids.  Supreme arbiters of all the differences, of all the interefts of the people, juftice was only to be obtained through their miniftry.  They decided equally in public and in private affairs.  When in a face before them, they adjudged the difputed property to him whom they deemed the lawful proprietor, his advefary was obliged to fubmit, or he was 

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loaded with Anathemas, and from that time could offer no facrifice; the whole nation regarded him as a monfter of impiety, with whom it was forbid to hold any communication.
     To the Druids was entrufted whatever concerned religion, and this gave them an unlimited power.  Sacrifice, offerings, prayers publick and private, the fcience of predicting futurity, the care of confulting the gods, of anfwering in their name, of ftudying nature, the right of eftablifhing new ceremonies and laws, and of enforcing the execution of thofe already eftablifhed, or of re-forming them, fuch were the functions, and fuch the unbounded authority which thefe priefts en-joyed without controul.  Their duty exempted them from ferving in war, or paying any publick impofts.  The number who afpired to this order was prodigious, and it was open to all ranks and profeffions, but great difficulties attended their admiffion from the length of the noviciate, and the indifpenfable obligation they were under to learn and retain by memory, the amazing number of verfes which contained their maxims of religion and political Government.  The Gaulifh women could formerly be admitted to the rank of Druid-effes, and they then enjoyed all the prerogatives of the order, but they exercifed their functions fe-parately from the men.  Their divinations ren-

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dered them more famous even than the Druids themfelves.
     When Hannibal paffed through their country they ftill enjoyed the moft diftinguifhed employ-ments, for it was ftipulated in a treaty which he made with the Gauls, that, if a Carthaginian fhould in any refpect injure a Gaul, the caufe fhould be tried and determined by the Gaulifh women.  They were afterwards deprived of this authority by the Druids, but the period when they were firft al-lowed to practife it is unknown.

DOCTRINE OF THE DRUIDS, THEIR SUPERSTITION, CEREMONY OF THE MISLETOE OF THE OAK.

All the doctrine of the Druids tended to render men wife, juft, valiant, and religious.  The fundamental points of this doctrine were reduced to three, adore the gods, do injury to none, be brave.  "The object of their fcience (fays Pompo-nius Mela) was to attain a knowledge of the form and majefty of the Divine Being, and the courfe and revolutions of the ftars; they pretended to be ac-quainted with the conftruction of the whole univerfe. and the retirement in which they lived certainly left them at full liberty to purfue their enquiries.  That the Druid and Gauls confidered the foul as immortal admits of no doubt, it was their per-fuafion of this dogma alone, which made them 

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regard death as the certain means of arriving at a more happy ftate.  They made a great diftinction between thofe who died peaceably furrounded by their friends and relations, and thofe who nobly died in the fervice of their country.  The former were interred without ceremony, without eulogium, without the fongs compofed in honour of the dead: but warriors were believed to furvive them-felves; their names were tranfmitted to future generations, and they were received into the bofoms of the Divinity, there to tafte a never-ceafing hap-pinefs: they alone were honoured with tombs and epitaphs; but the dogma of the immortality of the foul was not on that account lefs general; this opinion can never admit of a divifion, and that the Druids profeffed it is evident; they only re-garded as condemned to perpetual oblivion thofe whofe lives had been rendered illuftrious by no brilliant or warlike action, nor by any act of pub-lick utility.  This cuftom was founded on the martial genius of the Gauls, and other Celtic nations, who efteemed nothing fo much as the pro-feffion of arms.  The Druids taught, that all things would one day be deftroyed by fire or water.  They believed in tranfmigration, which they could never have learned from Pythagoras, as it confti-tuted part of their doctrine before philofophy found its way into the Gauls.  From time immemorial they had adopted the cuftom of burying the dead,

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or of preferving their afhes in urns.  They depofited in the tombs the arms of the dead, their valuable furniture, and an account of the money which was due to them.  They even wrote letters to their friends after their deceafe; they firmly believed that all letters thrown into the tombs of the dead would arrive at their place of deftination. 
    The Druids communicated verbally their fcience and doctrines to the candidates for that office, whofe noviciate was extremely long.  Thefe maxims and fciences were never reduced to writing, they were delivered in verfe, and it was neceffary to retain them by memory; thefe verfes were fo numerous, that fif-teen and even twenty years were required to learn and retain them.  "This (fays Julius Cæsar) rendered the doctrine of the Druids fo myfterious, that it was im-poffible to attain a knowledge of it."  The Druids likewife cultivated the fcience of medicine, and the moft implicit confidence was placed in their judgement, as the people were perfuaded they knew the influence of the ftars, and could look forward into futurity.  Thefe fages, at firft fo re-puted, and fo worthy of that refpect, concluded by giving into aftrology, magic and divination, hoping by thefe means to encreafe their credit and authority, as they had perceived that the people were more delighted with the marvellous than with the truth.  They had fome knowledge of botany, but they mixed fo many fuperfitious practices with their manner of collecting plants, that it was eaf

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to perceive they were acquainted with a very fmall number of them.
     Pliny relates their method of collecting the plant called in Latin felago; it muft be plucked up with-out the ufe of an inftrument, and with the right hand covered with part of the robe; the plant was then to be fhifted rapidly into the left hand, as if it had been ftolen: the perfon col-lecting it muft be cloathed in white, have the feet bare, and have previoufly offered a facrifice of bread and wine.  Vervain was collected before the rifing of the fun, on the firft of the dog days, after having offered to the earth an expiating facrifice, in which fruit and honey were employed.  This plant, when gathered in the manner mentioned, they pretended poffeffed every virtue, and was a fovereign re-medy for all diforders.  It was only neceffary to rub themfelves with this to obtain whatever they defired.  It had the power of reconfiling thofe who were at enmity.  Whoever could but touch this plant, felt their hears inftantly enlivened with peace and joy.  We muft likewife rank among their fuperftitions a perfuafion they entertained, that on the death of illuftrious perfons their fouls raifed up ftorms and tempefts.  The rolling of thunder, all the extraordinary and violent move-ments of nature, all meteors announced, according to them, the death of fome diftinguifhed character.  The Druids took pride in fuffering the opinion to 

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prevail, that they could at pleafure change their forms, or tranfport themfelves into the regions of the air; but the moft cruel of all their fuperftitious practices, was that of facrificing human victims.  This barbarous cuftom could only be abolifhed by the extirpation of druidism itfelf.  That it exifted, the numerous edicts of the Roman emperors to prevent it clearly prove.
    The moft folemn of all their ceremonies was that of gathering the mifletoe of the oak.  This parafitical plant grows alfo upon other trees, but the Druids thought that the Divinity had  principal-ly confided fo precious a thing to the oak.  They traverfed the forefts with the greateft care in fearch of it, and congratulated each other when, after painful refearches, they had been able to difcover a certain quantity of it.  This plant could only be collected in the month of December, and the fixth day of the moon.  This month and the num-ber fix were facred among the Druids.  It was always the fixth day of the moon that they per-formed their principal acts of religion.  On the day appointed for the ceremony of gathering of the mifletoe, they affembled
themfelves in the moft folemn manner, and went in proceffion towards the place where the plant was to be found.  Two divines walked in front, finging hymns and fongs of praife.  A herald carrying a caduceus followed thefe; then came three Druids bearing the inftru-

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ments neceffary for the facrifice, and laftly, the proceffion was clofed by the high priefts, clothed in white, followed by an immense concourfe of people.  When they arrived at the foot of the tree, it was afcended by the chief of the Druids, who cropped the mifletoe with a fmall golden fcythe, when it was received by the Druids with the moft profound veneration in the fagum (a fort of white garment); on receiving it they facri-ficed two white bulls, and this was followed by a feaft, at the conclufion of which they offered up prayers to the Divinity that he would be pleafed to attach to this plant a good fortune which fhould diffufe itfelf through all thofe to whom it fhould be diftributed.
     It was the firft day of the year that they bleffed the mifletoe, and diftributed it to the people.

OF THE DRUIDESSES.

We have already faid, that the whole morality of the Druids was reduced to three prin-cipal points.  Honour the gods, injure none, and be courageous.  How can thefe fublime maxims be reconciled with the opinion entertained by many, that they had the right of life and death over their wives, children and flaves"  "Paternal and domeftic authority (fays Mr. l' Abbé Banier) was formed up-on no pofitive law, but only upon refpect and love." 

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    Julius Cæsar and Tacitus dwell much upon the refpect which the Gauls and Germans entertained for their wives.  Thofe of the Druids participated in the authority of their hufbands.  They were confulted in queftions concerning politics or reli-gion.  Even fince the conquefts of the Romans, there were temples erected among the Gauls where women only officiated, and which men were forbid to enter.  The Celts and Gauls (fays Mr. Mallet, in his excellent introduction to the hiftory of Denmark) fhowed themfelves much fuperior to the eaftern nations, who pafs from adoration to contempt, from fentiments of idolatrous love to that of inhuman jealoufy, or of an indifference more infulting than jealoufy.
     The Celts confidered their wives as equals and companions, whofe efteem and tendernefs could only be nobly acquired by attention, generous con-duct, and acts of courage and virtue.
     The poems of Offian prove, that the inhabitants of Britain have ever carried that refpect and atten-tion as far as any nation in the world.  Conftant to the firft object of their choice, they never addicted themfelves to polygamy, and the tender partner of their love frequently followed them in difguife to the war.
     During the brilliant ages of chivalry we con-ftantly meet the fame manners and the fame refpect for the female fex; this was increafed by grati-

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tude; for as foon as a knight was wounded, the ladies eagerly preffed forwards to lend him their affiftance, and almoft all were acquainted with the art of healing.  However, their attentions were not confined to this alone; during the time of convalefcence, the charms of their converfation ferved to moderate the impetuous courage of the knights, and the better to remind them of their duty they read to them poems and romances, in which whatever heroifm could effect was reduced to action.  We think then there is great reafon to doubt the truth of that opinion which gives the druids the horrible right of abufing their power, and of oppreffing or even facrificing the innocent and defenflefs.  Thefe pontiffs were certainly jealous of their authority, but it was fo great, and fo perfectly eftablifhed, that there was no occafion to act with cruelty in their families to maintain it.
     Their empire was abfolute over the people; none were fuperior to them; why then wantonly fill with terror the companions who alone could give charms to their folitude, the infants who were to tranfmit their names to pofterity, and the flaves whofe bufinefs it was to forefee and pro-vide for their neceffities?  This opinion, if at all true, can only allude to thofe times when the Druids and Gauls were in their moft degraded ftate.
     There exifted three forts of female Druids.  The firft lived in a ftate of celibacy; the fecond, though 

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married, refided in the temples, where they offi-ciated, and faw their hufbands only one day in the year; the third and laft lived conftantly with their hufbands, and fuperintended the concerns of their families.
     Notwithftanding thefe diftinctions, the Druideffes in reality formed but two claffes.
     The firft was compofed of priefteffes, and the fecond of women who were fubordinate to them, and executed their orders.  The general refidence of the Druideffes was in the iflands which border the coast of England and Gaul.  The Druids likewife inhabited fome of thefe, but never fuch as were occupied by the female Druids.  It was in thefe ifles that they exercifed themfelves moft in magical practice.  The opinion that they could raife ftorms and tem-pefts at pleafure, was common to both Gauls and Britons.
     The reftlefs curiofity of man efteems the art of feeing into futurity, fuperior to every other.  The Druids, after having perfuaded the people that they were acquainted with the influence of the ftars, and had the gift of prophecy, abandoned almoft entirely this part of their miniftry to their wives.  Having feen the refpect, bordering on idolatry, with which the Gauls and Germans treated the female fex, they perceived that the perfuafions and predictions of their wives would obtain much 

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more credit and confidence than their own.  To them they referred all queftions concerning futurity, and their anfwers were fo fatifactory, that their reputation fpread over the whole world; they were confulted by people from every nation, and a more implicit faith was placed in their decifions than thofe of the Grecian and Italian oracles.  They were frequently confulted by the emperors when mafters of the Gauls.
     Hiftory had preferved feveral of their anfwers, but makes no particular mention of thofe of the Druids.
     We fhall conclude this article by giving the moft certain information we can collect of the pe-riod when the office of both Druid and Druidefs was entirely abolifhed.
    Suetonius, Aurelius Victor, and Seneca, main-tain, that it was under the emperor Claudius; but as it fubfifted long after that period, it fhould feem that they only fpoke of human facrifices, which were abfolutely interdicted by that emperor.
     Druids and Druideffes were ftill found in the country of Chartres till the middle of the fifth century, and it appears certain that this order was not entirely extinct till the time when Christianity completely triumphed over the fuperftition of the Gauls, which in fome provinces did not happen till very late.

FINIS.

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