DRUIDISM is one of the most ancient systems of religion. It is supposed by many to have been derived from Pythagoras, but is certainly of much more remote origin. According to Clemens Alexandrinus, Pythagoras was but an auditor of the Gauls. Valerius Maximus asserts that his opinions were those of the Celts, and Iamblichus says he heard that his learning consisted of the Gallic and Iberian mysteries. Druidism must be a more ancient system than the time of this philosopher, who appears to have borrowed his tenets from it. He was, perhaps, a reformer of a religion that had begun to lose its original simplicity, but it must be borne in mind that there was a near resemblance among ancient systems of religion, as there was an affinity of language and similarity of manners. Eumolpus, the Thracian, introduced the Eleusinian mysteries to the Greeks, who subsequently revered them so deeply. At this period the Athenians were beginning to distinguish themselves from their neighbors, and their fertile genius soon produced, from the simple dogmas of their ancestors, a peculiar system of theology; hence Lucian thought it strange that the barbarians, who introduced those mysteries, should be afterwards excluded from them.

The religious connexions which the Greeks had in the most distant ages formed with the Hyperborei, proves that the primitive mythology was at first universally respected. Those people, who are believed to have been the inhabitants of Britain, were in the practice, from a period before all record, to transmit their first fruits to Delos. Eratosthenes relates that Apollo deposited the arrow with which he slew the Cyclops,

with the Hyperborei; that their high priest Abaris carried it to Greece, and at last presented it to Pythagoras. This story is too mysterious for elucidation; it is probably allegorical, but it shows the veneration which was in those ages paid to one religion.

The secrecy with which the mysteries of ancient religion were preserved is remarkable. The priest and other members concealed their knowledge from the uninitiated with the most scrupulous care, which, in most cases, arose from feelings of real piety. Those who did not value their oaths of secrecy must have been deterred from divulging their secrets by the fear of detection and consequent execration and punishment. The dark allusions to the mysteries of pagan theology occasion a regret that they are now unknown. "I shall not relate what I know," says Pausanias, "from the mysteries of the mother of the gods, concerning Mercury and the Ram;" again, "who the Cabiri are, and what the ceremonies performed in honor of them and the mother of the gods, I must beg those who are desirous of hearing such particulars to suffer me to pass over in silence;" farther he adds, Ceres deposited something with Prometheus, one of the Cabiri. What this deposit was, and the circumstances respecting it, piety forbids me to disclose.* It was the invariable practice of the ancient priests and philosophers to teach by enigmas, lest strangers should be able to understand them.

The Druids committed none of their theological secrets to writing, a principle which has involved their system in peculiar obscurity. The singular practice of committing their doctrinal learning to memory was a severe and tedious probation for a student, but it was well calculated, in the particular state of Celtic society, to preserve in purity their ancient traditions. The care with which this race cultivated the memory has been shown in the previous chapter. The youth spent twenty years in acquiring the knowledge necessary to the Druidic profession, and, it is said, stored their minds with no less than 60,000 verses.

It seems strange that the extensive prevalence of this religion should be denied. It has been inferred from Cæsar, that it was confined to a limited portion of Gaul, but it has been remarked by a zealous antiquary, that, although Cæsar says of the Germans, that they had no Druids, he does not say they were without religion or priests. He mentions some of the gods they revered, and these were the same as the Gauls worshipped. Tacitus also does not appear to have found Druids among the Germans, but he mentions their gods, their sacred groves and altars, their songs and their ceremonies, all which resembled those of the Gauls. The religion of both people was, therefore, alike Druidism, although its ministers may have had different appellations, and its mysteries been somewhat differently solemnized. Druidism is said to have been only partially cultivated in part of South Britain, and perfectly unknown in Ireland these assertions are certainly rash and unwarrantable. This system of religion was cherished in Britain as its most ancient and hal

* Lib. ix. c. 25.

lowed seat, and should the remarkable passage in Diodorus, concerning "the round temple in an island of the Hyperboreans,-opposite Celtica,-where was a magnificent grove, and where the people were harpers," be considered inapplicable to Albion, yet the fact is evident from the express testimony of Cæsar, corroborated by Pliny, that the youth of Gaul resorted to Britain for instruction in the sacred religion, that they spent twenty years in its acquirement, and that it was believed to have originated there. Mela, indeed, describes the Irish as extremely barbarous, and devoid of all religion; but this is too improbable to be credited, especially when he allows them to have had those he calls magicians, whom Ware considers Druids. That they could be no other is evident, for dry is the Gaëlic term for a magician, a philosopher and prophet; and Alfric, in his Saxon glossary, says magi were so called even by the Angles. On the conversion of Edwin, king of Northumberland, he summoned all his counsellors, among whom appeared the high priest Coefi. There is a proverb still in use by the Highlanders, which extols a person as being as dextrous as Coefi, the Arch Druid;" and Doctor Mac Pherson observes, that coifi-dry, is well known to mean a person of extraordinary sense and cunning. Druidh is still used in Gaëlic for wise men, from which is Druithnich or Drui, servants of truth, and the Teutonic Druid or Druthin.† The usual etymon of this word is attended with some difficulty. It is derived from dous, an oak, in Welsh derw, in Gaëlic darach, &c. It is improbable that the Celts should have distinguished their magi by a Greek word, and the Gaëlic derivation is not very plain. Menage believes it came from the old British word drus, a magician, and Keysler says draoi is a magician or enchanter. Mr. Grant, of Corrimony, will have the name Draothian, which shows the root of a series of words. Draoneach is an improver of the soil, and this being the first way in which man exerted his ingenuity, it came to signify an artist or clever person, in which sense the Irish still use it. The rational belief is, therefore, that the name of this celebrated order imported their abilities, and is one of that class of words formed on the D and R, which seem to have conveyed the idea of dexterity and superior qualifications.

The Druidic religion does not appear to have been either “ a late invention, or confined to the South of Britain and North of Gaul," but is maintained to have been observed and taught throughout the Island, contrary to the assertion of Pinkerton, who charges those who say there were Druids in Scotland, with speaking "utter nonsense."

The Druids taught their disciples, and performed their religious rites in the deep recesses of woods and in caves. The Germans consecrated whole groves and woods, which were named from the gods, and amid the gloom and quiet of this seclusion, they contemplated their divinities in deep reverence.‡ Within these groves, which were generally on * Waldron's History of the Isle of Man.

t Doctors Smith and Mac Pherson. + Tacitus.

REPRESENTATIONS OF GODS.

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conspicuous situations, were raised their rude but impressive temples, where, on festivals, the people met in great numbers.* The practice of surrounding places of worship with trees was usual among all pagan nations, hence the Jews were particularly enjoined not to plant a grove of any kind near unto the altar of the Lord.† In 2nd Kings we find mention of the "women who wove hangings for the groves.' They were the places where the statues of the gods were set up. Pausanias mentions the sacred grove of Apollo, called Carneus, and many others; part of which were inclosed by a bulwark of stones, being the most sacred spot where the statues of the divinities were placed, and which is always distinguished from the "uncovered part.' There was a grove

and temple at Pergamos; and that of Jupiter Ammon was surrounded by trees.‡

There seems to have prevailed among all rude nations a predilection for circular formed temples, and it is difficult to say whether the upright stones which composed them were simply viewed as the boundary of the sacred precinct, or were considered representations of gods. From the following observation of Pausanias, and other passages in ancient authors, it would appear that there was a peculiar sanctity attached to them. "Near Pharæ are thirty quadrangular stones, which the Pharenses venerate." It was anciently held unbecoming by the Celts to represent the gods under any other form than that of a rude and shapeless obelisk, and this feeling was common to the early Grecians, it being formerly the custom with all the Greeks to reverence rude stones, in place of statues of the gods. The Thespians preserved an ancient statue of Love, that was but a rude block.§ A square unpolished stone was also a symbol of Bacchus, and a round one that of the earth.

and

The Celts did not presume to represent any of their deities under the human form, but typified them by various articles. The images of wild beasts and other animals, as well as inanimate objects, the symbols of their gods, they were accustomed to bring from their sacred groves, use as insignia during war. After their subjugation to Rome they apparently imitated their conquerors, and allowed their gods to be represented under terrestrial forms;-those Gallic and other statues that have been discovered being referable to an era subsequent to that event. Gildas speaks of some of the statues of the British deities being to be seen in the sixth century, when he wrote. That of Isis, the tutelary goddess of Paris, remained in the Abbey of St. Germain des Priz until 1514, when it was removed by the order of the Bishop of Meaux.¶

The circular form of the Celtic temples was probably typical of eternity, and of the deity. It was religiously adhered to as the general plan, and has given rise to names by which places of worship have been distinguished even to our own times. The Gaëlic cearcal is evidently the origin of the Latin circus, the old English chirch, and the Scot*Florus, iii. 10.

† Deuter. xvi. 21.

|| Beloe.

+ Diod. xvii. 5. Religion des Gauls,

§ Pausanias, lib. vii. 22. ix. 27.

ish kirk, which is spelt according to its pronunciation. In like manner, as the primitive temple was composed of large stones, it was termed clachan by the Gaël, from which the Latin ecclesia is apparently derived; and the Highlanders to this day use the expression, calling the church" the stones!"

The most astonishing temple, in point of magnitude, in Britain is that of ABURY, or Avebury, in Wiltshire. The area of this astonishing work contained upwards of 28 acres, and was surrounded by a wide and deep ditch, and rampart measuring about 70 feet in height from the bottom. One hundred stones of amazing size formed an outer circle, within which were two others not concentric, formed of double rows of stones. Of these the outer contained thirty, and the inner twelve. In the centre of one were three stones, and in the other was a single obelisk which measured twenty-one feet in length, and eight feet nine inches in breadth. Besides the circles, which we thus see contained the number of 188 stones, there were two extended avenues which are supposed to have contained 462 more, making a total of 650!

STONEHENGE, in the same county, must yield in magnificence to Abury, but if much less in size, it is greatly superior in the architectural science which it displays. This wonderful structure, as shown in the vignette, where it is represented as it is supposed to have appeared when in its pristine grandeur, was circular, but much smaller and of much more ingenious construction, than Abury. A consideration of this has given rise to an opinion first, I believe, expressed by Mr. Warner, that the latter being the rudest and apparently the most ancient, was the grand temple of the original Celts, whilst Stonehenge was erected by the Belgians, when they obtained possession of the Southern parts of the Island, and was intended as a rival to the other; the deep ditch called Wansdike, supposed to be the line of demarcation between the two people, passing between these two astonishing monuments. This is very ingenious, but it is, of course, entirely suppositious. We do not find that the Belgians were better able to raise such a temple than the Celts, and we do not find that the two people had different forms of their places of worship. It is, besides, conjectured, with much probability, that Stonehenge was reared at different periods, the outward circle and the inner oval of trilithons being one erection, and the smaller circle and oval of inferior stones being another. This opinion is borne out by the fact that the latter are granite whilst the others are not; but antiquaries have come to opposite conclusions respecting the priority of erection, some believing that the outward circle was the original work, and others that the inner, and more simple design, must have been the first formed. This last idea appears reasonable; and although the granite stones must have been brought from a considerable distance, with such a people it was no obstacle to their adoption at any era. It is against the hypothesis of Stonehenge having been erected by a nation in hostility with the Celts, that the outward stones must have been brought from the