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It appears to me that the principal Celtic deity was the sun, Belus, Belenus, or Baal. Herodian says, the Aquileians worshipped this god, whom they considered the same as Apollo, whence we see why the Hyperborei especially venerated him, for he was the personification of that luminary. The Caledonians worshipped this deity under the name of Baal, or Beil, and to his honour they lighted fires on Midsummer-day, or the 1st of May. This festival, which is not even yet discontinued, was called Baal-tein, or Beltain, signifying the fire of Baal, and was formerly commemorated so generally that it became a term in Scots law, which is yet in use. This practice of lighting fires on Midsummer, arose from the circumstance of the Druids having at that time caused all fires to be extinguished, to be re-kindled from the sacred fire that was never allowed to expire. It is surprising that this sacred flame, like that in the temple of Vesta, should be preserved for ages after the extinction of the religion, by Christian priests. It was no earlier than 1220, that Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, extinguished the perpetual fire, which was kept in a small cell near the church of Kildare; but so firmly rooted was the veneration for this fire, that it was relighted in a few years, and actually kept burning until the suppression of monasteries!" This fire was attended by virgins, often women of quality, called Inghean an Dagha, daughters of fire, and Breochuidh, or the fire-keepers, from which they have been confounded with the nuns of St. Brigid. A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1795, says, being in Ireland the day before Midsummer, he was told that in the evening he should see "the lighting of the fires in honour of the sun" at midnight; and Riche describes the preparation for the festival

m Lib. viii.

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" Archdall's Mon. Hib. ap. Anth. Hib. iii. 240.

in these words: "What watching, what rattling, what tinkling upon pannes and candlesticks, what strewing of hearbes, what clamors, and other ceremonies are used," and all this apparently in Dublin itself. Spenser says, on kindling a fire, the Irish always made a prayer. A practice of the cooks at Newcastle, who light bonfires on Midsummer-day, may be derived from the Beltain rites; and the

chimney-sweeps of London and other parts who go in procession and dance in grotesque dresses, appear to represent the ancient fire worshippers at their holiday amusements.

Graine, Grein, or Grannus, was a term for this god among the Caledonians, and an inscription to him was found in the ruins of Antonine's wall. The word is gre-thein, the t being quiescent, and it signifies the essence or natural source of fire. Camden says, Grannus is of similar import with Gruagach, a supernatural being, latterly distinguished among the Scots as Brownie; and he quotes Isodore to shew that the long hair of the Goths was called granni, which it is apparent is neither more nor less than the Gaëlic word. The sun, distinguished as the source of fire, became known by a natural change, as the yellow, or golden haired, and the libations of milk were always offered on the granni, or gruagach stone, of which there was one in every village, on days consecrated to the sun. The singular method of raising the tein-egin, or needfire, has been described, and the virtues which it is supposed to possess, in page 68. The Highlanders passed through the fire to Baal, as the ancient Gentiles did; and they thought it a religious duty to walk round their fields and flocks with burning matter in their right hands, a practice once universal throughout the country. The Northern nations had an equal veneration for fire, preserving it continually on their altars.

VOL. II.

• Mac Pherson's Diss. xvii.

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Piorun was the chief god of the Poles, and two places where he was worshipped are known. At Walna, where one of them was situated, the altar is still preserved in the cathedral; and it is related that his image stood under an oak with a fire constantly burning before it. The Poles became Christians only in the end of the fourteenth century."

It appears to have been in imitation of the sun's course that the Gaël religiously observed, in their rites and common occupations, to make the deisal, or turn to the right hand. Pliny, it is to be observed, says that the Gauls, in worshipping, contrary to the practice of other nations, always turned to the left, but Possidonius and others expressly say to the right, a reconciliation of which apparent inconsistency is attempted by D. Martin, in his Religion des Gauls.

Between Badenach and Strathspey is Slia-grannus, the heath of grannus, called by the inhabitants griantachd,* which has undoubtedly been a magh-aoraidh, or field where Druidical worship was performed. The sun was believed to be propitious to the high minded warrior. In the work of Dr. Smith, Grian is thus addressed: "Thou delightest to shed thy beams on the clouds which enrobe the brave, and to spread thy rays around the tombs of the valiant." It was also a belief that the world should be consumed by this deity: and la bhrath, the day of burning,†

P Letters from Poland.

* The original, probably, of the name of Clan Grant. In Gaelic Grann daich. ED.

†La bhrāth—the day of burning; the day of judgment. Gu bràth—for ever; literally, till the burning. The phrase is probably no older than the early Christian age, and seems to be founded on the well known and terribly grand verse in the Second Epistle of Peter, ch. 3. v. 10—“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt

now understood of the last judgment, came, from the improbability or remoteness of the catastrophe, to be translated "never." Connected with this belief seems the clachan bhrath, a globular stone, still viewed with superstitious feelings in the Islands of Iona and Garveloch.

with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." This passage also suggested the fine old Latin hymn, the

"Dies Irae."

Dies irae, dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favilla,
Jeste David cum Sybilla.

Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.
Oro supplex et inclinis,

Cor contritum quasi cinis,

Gere curam mei finis.

The day of wrath, that dreadful Day,

Shall the whole age in ashes lay,

As David and the Sybil say.

When the condemned are put to shame,

And cast to the devouring flame,

Oh! with the blessed call my name.
With prostrate soul my head I bend,
My broken heart before Thee rend,

Be Thine the care to guard my end!

Scott's magnificent hymn-finer even than the Latin one, must be familiar to most of our readers.

"That day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
When shrivelling like a parched scroll,
The flaming heavens together roll,
While louder yet, and yet more dread,
Swells the high trump that wakes the dead!

Oh! on that day, that wrathful day,
When man to judgment wakes from clay,
Be Thou the trembling sinner's stay,
Though heaven and earth shall pass away.

("Lay of the Last Minstrel.") ED.

A fire having originated among the Iuhones, and consumed the woods to the walls of Cologne, the people collected and attacked the devouring element, first with stones at a distance, which appearing to check its rage, they ventured closer, and, using clubs, they ultimately repulsed and subdued it. Finally, we are told, they smothered it entirely by means of their clothes. All this apparent madness must have arisen from their belief that they were contending with supernatural beings, and it is not more absurd than many actions of the old Highlanders.

Cæsar has said that the Gauls paid their highest veneration to Mercury; to which opinion he may have been led by having a better opportunity of observing his worship, for his attributes being numerous, he must have had many devotees, as the Virgin Mary, among the ignorant catholics, receives often more attention than the Saviour himself. The god whom Cæsar calls Mercury, was Teut, or Theuth, Dhu taith, or Teutates, i. e., the god Taute, who was no other than the Taatus of the Phoenicians. The word bears a strong resemblance to the Armoric Tad, or Tat, a father. The Gallo-Belgic name for Teutates, Schoepflin says, was Wodan, who was worshipped by the Saxons. They also adored Hermes, or Mercury, under the name of Irmin, or Ermensul, a statue of whom was found at Eresburg, by Charlemagne.

The Gauls derived their origin from Dis, a god that has been assimilated with Pluto, but who is with more reason believed to have been the earth, or its elements, and the same being as the German Tuisto, or Tuitos, from whom that people alleged themselves to be sprung.

We learn from Tacitus, that the Aviones, Angles, Varinians, Eudoses, &c., universally worshipped Herthum, Hertæ, or Mother Earth; believing she visited countries, and interposed in human affairs. In an island of the ocean

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