1' ■7 CRITICAL HISTORY OF THE CELTIC CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE DRUIDS, OR THE PRIESTS AND JUDGES, OF THE VAIDS, OR THE DIVINERS AND PHYSICIANS, '^jOF THE BARDS, OR THE POETS AND HERALDS, OF THE ancCent ©aufe, 98?itons, ftisl), anli ^cots. BY JOHnVoLAND, M.A. VMTH THE HISTORY Ot ABARIS, THE HYPERBOREAN PRIEST OF THE SUN, TO WHICH IS ADDED An Abstract of the Life (f the Author, LONDON: Printed by Macdonald and Son, Cloth Fair, FOR LACKINGTON, ALLEN, & CO. FINSBURY SQUARE. 1815 ABSTRACT OF THE LIFE OF JOHN TOLAND. J OHN TOLAND was bom on the SOth November, 1670, in the most northern Peninsula in Ireland, oa the Isthmus whereof stands Londonderry. That Pen- insula was originally csilledLiiS'Eogan, or Inis-Eogain^ but is now called Enis-Owen. Toland had the name of Janus Junius given him at the font, and was call- ed by that name in the school roll every morning; but the other boys making a jest of it, the master ordered him to be called Jokn^ which name he kept ever after. Mr. Toland, as far as now can be collected, was the $on of a Popish Priest ; and, he hath been abused by Abbot Tilladeff Bishop Huetius and others, on the ground of his alleged illegitimacy: which, were it true, is a most base and ridiculous reproach ; the child, im such a case, being entirely innocent of the guilt of his parents. Had Mr. Toland been really illegitimate, A ^^ Avhich was not the case, no infamy could have at- tached to him on that account, unless he can be sup- posed to have had the power of directing tlie mode of his coming into existence. The following testimonial given him at Prague^ where he w^as residing in 1 708, will however, sufficiently remove so foolish and ground- less an imputation,. It runs thus : Infra- scripti testamur Dom. Joannem Toland, ortum esse ex SLoncsta^ no])i]i et antiquissima familia, quse per plurcs centenos annos, ut Regni Historia et con- tinua nionstrant mcmoria, in Peninsula Iliberniae EniS'Owen dicta prope urbem Lo7idinO'Deriense7/i in Ultonia, perduravit. In cujus rei firmiorem fidem, nos ex eadem patria orrundi propriis manibus subscripsi- mus, Praga^ in Bohemia, hac die 2. Jan. 1708. Joannes O'Niell superior Collegii Ilibernomm.- L. S. Francisus O'Deulin, S. Theologia3 Professor^ Rudolphus O'Niell, S.Theol. Lector. THAXSLATION : " We Subscribers testify, that Mr. John Toland is ^' descended of an honourable, noble, and very ancient " family, which resided several centuries on the Pen- " insula of Ireland, called Enis-Oweiu near the city of " Londonderry in Ulster, w hich the histoi*/ of that -' kingdom, and continual mention of the family " clearly establish. For the surer credence of this, *' we natives of the same countiT have subscribed witfe 3 ** our own hands at Prague in Bohemia, this 2d Jan, ** 1708," The Reader will see from this Certificate of the Irish Franciscans at Prague, that Mr. Toland was lionourablj, nobly and anciently descended. We may however take it for granted, that his rela- tions were Papists; for in his preface to Christianity not Mysterious, he tells us, " that he was educated from ^' the cradle in the grossest Superstition and Idolatry, ** but God was pleased to make his own reason, and ^' such as made use of theirs, the happy instniments " of his Convei*sion." He again informs us, in his Apology, " that he was not sixteen years old when ^* he became tis zealous against Popery, as he has ever ** since continuede" From the school at Eedcastle, near Londonderry, he went in 4687, to the College of Glasgow ; and after three years stay there, visited Edinburgh, where he was created Master of Arts on the 30th of June, 1690, and received the usual Diploma from the Professors, of which the following is ^ copy. Universis et singulis ad quos prsesentes literae pen'e- iiient, NOS universitatis Jacobi Regis Edinburgenae Professores, Salutem in Domino sempiternam compre- eamur : Unaque testamur ingenuum hunc bonae Spei Juvenem Magislrum Joannem Toland Hibernum, mo- libus, diligentia, et laudabiii successu se nobis ita ap- probasse ut post editumPliilosophici profectus examen, Soleuni more Magister in Artibus liberalibus renunti- aretur, in Comitiis nostris Laurcatis anno Salutis Mil- lesimo, Sexcentesimo et Nonagesimo, trigesimo die Junii : Quapropter non dubitamus eiim nunc a Nobis in patriam redeuntem, utegregiumAdolescentem, om- nibus quos adire, vel quibuscum versari contigerit, de meliori nota commendare, sperantes ilium (opitulante divina gratia) LiterishisceTestimonialibus fore abunde responsurum. In quomm fidem inclyta Civitas Edin- burgum Academiae hujus parens et Altrix sigillo suo publico literassyngraphis Nostris porro confirmari jussit. AL Monro, S.S.T.D, Professor Primarius. Jo.'Strachan, S. S. T. D. ejusdemque Professor. D. Gregorie, Math. P, J. Herbertus Kennedy, P. P. L* S. J. Drummond, H. L. P. Tho. Burnet, Ph. P.- Robertus Henderson, B. et Academiae afe Archivis &c. Dabamus in supradicto> Athengeo Regio 22do. I ilie Julii anno -^rae | Christianas 1690. J TRAXSLATIOX. " To all and every one, to whom the present letter ^•' may come, We the Professors of the University of E- '* dinburgh, founded by King James, wish eternal salva- ■■^' tion in the Lord : and at the same time testify, that •* this ingenuous youth, Mr. John Toland of excellent ^^ promise, has sohighly satisfiedusby his good conduct, *^ diligence andlaudable progress, that after ia public ex- " amination of his progress in Philosophy, he was after ^^ the usual manner declared Master of the liberal Arts, " in our Comitia, Laureata, in the year of Redemption " 1690, 30th June : Wherefore we do not hesitate to i e- ^« commend him now returning from us, to his native '^^ country, as an excellent young man, to all persons of " better note, to whom he may have access, or with *• whom he may sojourn, hoping that he (through the " aid of Divine Grace,) will abundantly answer the cha- " racter given him in this Diploma. In testimony of " which, the ancient city of Edinburgh, the Parent and " Benefactress of this Academy has ordered this writ- " ing with our subscriptions, to receive the additional " confirmation of their Public Seal." Given in the aforesaid Royal \ Athenaeum, 22d July, 1690. J I\Ir. John Toland having received his Diploma, xe^ turned to Glasgow, where he resided but a short time* On his departure, the magistrates of that, city gave him the following recommendation. " We the Magistrates of Glasgow under subscribing, " do hereby certifie and declare, to all whom these pre- " sents may concern. That the bearer John Toland, " Master of Arts, did reside here for some yeares, as a ^' student at the Universitie in this City, during wjiich 6 " time he behaved himself as ane trew Protestant, and *« Loyal Subject, as witness our hands at Glasgow, the ** penult day of July one thousand six hundred and nine- " tie yeares, and the common Seal of Office of the said «« City is hereunto affixt. " John Leck. " L. S. George Nisbitt." It is worthy of remark, that Mr. Toland resided at Glasgow during the years 1688 and 1689, the two last of the Bloody Persecution of the Church of Scotland, and must have been an eye %vitness of many tyranni- cal and relentless scenes. It is well known, that the students of Glasgow, as a collective body, repeatedly joined the citizens, in repelling several of the military parties sent against them ; and there can hardly re- main a doubt, that Toland made one of the number. This sufficiently accounts for the Certificate given him by the Magistrates of Glasgow. Mr. Toland dates his conversion, from the 1 6th year of his age, which nearly coincides with his arrival in Glasgow ; for it will be recollected, that he did not complete liis 20th year, till the SOth of November af- ter leaving this city. It is therefore most probable, that he was here converted from Popery, and imbibed these notions of the simplicity and purity of Christiani- ty which he afterwards retained. Instead of returning to Ireland, JMr. Toland went to England, where he lived, (as he informs us in his Apolo- gia J in as good Protestant families as any in the king- dom, till he Avent to the famous university of Leyden, to perfect his studies, under the celebrated Spanhemius, Triglandms^ &c. There he was supported by some eminent Dissenters in England, who had conceived great hopes from his uncommon parts, and might flat- ter themselves, he would one day become the Colossus of the party ; for he himself informs us, in a Pamphlet published at London in 1697, that he had lived in their communion, ever since he quitted Popery. " Mr. To- land (says he, in answer to the imputation of being a rigid Non-conformist) will never deny but the real sim- plicity of the Dissenters' worship ; and the seeming e- quity of their discipline, (into which, being so youngs he could not distinctly penetrate,) did gain extraordi- narily on his afiections, just as he was newly delivered from the insupportable yoke of the most pompous and tyrannical policy that ever enslaved mankind, under the name or shew of religion. But, when greater ex- perience and more years had a little ripened his judg- ment, he easily perceived that the differences were not so wide, as to appear irreconcileable, or at least, that men who were sound Protestants on both sides, should barbarously cut one anothcrs' throats ; or indeed give any disturbance to the society about them. And as soon as he understood the late heats and animosities did not totally, if at all, proceed from a concern for mere religion^ he allowed himself a latitude in seveml 8 things, that would have been matter of scruple to him before. His travels increased, and the study of Ec- clesiastical Histoiy perfected this disposition, wherein he continues to this hour ; for, whatever his own opin- ion of these differences be, yet he finds so essential an agreement between French, Dutch, English, Scottish, and other Protestants, that he is resolved m-ver to lose the benefit of an instructive discourse, in any of their churches> on that score ; and, it must be a civil, not a religious interest that can engage him against any of these parties, not thinking all their private notions wherein they differ, worth endangering, much less sub- verting, the public peace of a nation. If this (pursues he,) makes a man a Non-coiiformist, then IMr. Toland is one unquestionably." In 1692, Mr. Daniel Williams, a Dissenting i\Iinis« ter, published a Book, entitled. Gospel Truth Stated and Vindicated, in opposition to Dr. Crisp, Mr. Tol» and desired the Author of the Bihliotlieque Universelle to give an Abstract of it in that Journal. The Jour- nalist complied ; and, to the Abstract of Mr. William's book, prefixed Mr. Toland's recommendatory letter, and styles him Student in Divinity. Bihliothcque Uni- verselle^ torn 23rd, page 506. Having staid about two years at Ley den, he retunied to England, and soon after went to Oxford, where, be- sides the conversation of learned men, he had the ad- vantage of the public library. Here he collected ma- 9 terials on various subjects ; and, composed some pieces, among others, a Dissertation, wherein he proves the received history of the tragical death of Atilius Regu- lus, the Roman Consul, to be a fable ; and, with that candour which uniformly characterizes him, owns him-- self indebted for this notion to Pahnerius. In 1695, he left Oxford, and came to London. la 1696, he published his Christianity 7iot Mysterious; or, a Tj-eatise, shewing that there is nothing in the Gospel contrary to reason, nor above it ; and, that no Christian, Doctrine can properly he called a Mystery, Mr. To- land defines, mystery to be, a thing intelligible in it- self, but which could not be known, without special Revelation. And, to prove the assertion, he examines all the passages in the New Testament, where the word MYSTERY occurs; and shews, 1st, That mystery is read for the Gospel ; or, the Christian Religion in gener- al, as it was a future dispensation, totally hid from the Gentiles, and but imperfectly known to the Jews. Secondly, That some peculiar doctrines, occasion- ally revealed by the Apostles, are said to be mani- fested mysteries ; that is, unfolded secrets : and 3dly, that mystery is put for any thing veiled under parables, or enigmatical forms of speech. But, he declares, at the same time, that, if his adversaries think fit to call a mystery, whatever is either absolutely unintelligible to us, or whereof we have but inadequate ideas : he 1^ 10 is ready to adoiit of as many m^jskries in religion aS they please. So far, the caiidid reader will be apt to think there is no great liarm done. If Mr. Toland's adversaries did riot choose to adopt his definition of the word mys- ievTj, he professes himself willing to accede to theirs : and indeed, all that has been advanced on either side of the q.\?estionj is merely a dispute about words. H^ pretends, that he can give as clear and intelligible an explanation, oftherii^jstcrks of ike gospel, cts oftliejjhoe- 7iomena of nature : and, do not our divines do the same thing, bj attempting to give a rational explanation of the T/'kJ/?/, and the Resurrection, the greatest mys- teries of the Christian religion ? Such explanations are the tests of the soundness of their doctrine ; and, what knov/s but Mr. Toland's explanation, had he given one^ might have been orthodox. This Treatise alarmed the public ; and several cler-. gy replied to it. Ivlessrs. Beconsal, Beverley, Norris, and Elys ; Doctors Fain, and Stillingfleet ; the Anthor of the Occasional Papers ; INIessrs. Millar, Gail hard, and Syngc, all entered the lists. It was even presented by the Grand Jury of JMiddlesex ; but, this measure had no other effect, than to promote the sale of the book, mankind being naturally prone to pry into what is forbidden them. This same year, Mr. Toland published a Discourse 11 €11 Coins, by Siguier Bernardo ]Davanzath a gentle- Rian of Florence, delivered in the academy there, anno 158'8 ; translated from Italian by John Toland. Christianilij not Mysterious having found its way in- to Ireland, made some noise there, as 'ivell as in Eng- land ; but, the clamour w-as considerably increased, on the author's an-ival there, in the beginning of 1697. Mr. Molliiieux, in a letter to JMn Locke, dated 10th April, 1697, says, " The Irish clergy v/ere alarmed a- '• gainst him to a mighty degree ; and, that he had his '•' welcome to that cit}'-, by hearing himself harangued " against, from the pulpit, by a Prelate of that ^•' Countiy." Mr. Toland himself tells us, in his Apology, that he was hardly arrived in that country, when he found himselfwarmly attacked from the pulpit, which at first could not but startle the people, vrho till then, were ^qual strangers to him and his book ; but that in a short time, they were so well accustomed to this sub- ject, that it was as much expected, as if it had been prescribed in the Ruhrick. He also informs us, that Jiis own silence respecting the ])ook in question, made •Jiis enemies insinuate that he was not the author of it. When this rough treatment of JMr. Toland from the pulpit proved insignificant, the Grand Jury was solicit- ed to present him, for a Book written and published in Epgland^ T^'C presentment of the Grand Juij of ^lid- 12 dlesex, was printed with an emphatical title, and cried about the streets. I\Ir. Toland was accordingly pre- sented there, the last day of the term, in the Court of King's Bench. At that time, IMr. Peter Brown, Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, published a book against Mr. Toland's Christianity notMysterious, in which he repre- sented him, as an inveterate enemy to all revealed religi- on ; a knight errant ; one who openly affected to be the head of a sect, and designed to be as famous an im- postor as Mahomet. Mr. Brown was afterwards made bishop of Cork ; and Mr, Toland used frequently to say, " That he made him a bishop." This is the same jacobitical gentleman^ who, because he could not bear that any person should drink the health of King Wil- liam, wrote a pamphlet against health-drinking, as being a profanation of the Lord's Supper ! Mr. Mollineux sent Mr. Brown's book to Mr. Locke, and in a letter to him, dated 20th of July, 1697, says, *' IMr. Toland has had his opposers here, as you will " find by a book I have sent you. The author is my *• acquaintance ; but, two things I shall never forgive, *• in his book : the one, is the fovd language and op- " probrious epithets he has ])estowed on Mr. Toland. " The other is, upon several occasions, calling in the " aid of the civil magistrate, and delivering ]Mr. To- " land up to secular punishment. This indeed is a A //- '•' ling argument ; but, may dispose some to think, 13 " that v/here the strength of reason failed him, there " he flies to the strength of the sword," &c. Mr. Toland, it seems, was dreaded in Ireland as a second Goliath, who at the head of the Philistines de- fied the armies of Israel, in so much, that Mr. Han- cock, the Recorder of Dublin, in his congratulatory ha- rangue, to the Loi'ds Justices of that kingdom, in the name of his corporation, begged their Lordships v/ould protect the Church from all its adversaries ; but, parti- cularly from the Tolandists. But to give the last and finishing stroke to Mr. To- land's book, it was brought before the parliament. Se- veral persons eminent for their biith ; good qualities, and fortune, opposed the whole proceedings ; but, finding themselves over-ruled in this, they urged, that the objectionable passages should be read. That Toland should be heard in his defence personally ; or at least, by letter. All these propositions were rejected, and Mr. Toland, unheard and undefended, was ordered to be taken into the custody of the serjant at arms. Mr. Toland made his escape, but his book was burnt by the common hangman, on the 11th September, 1697, before the gate of the parliament-house ; and also, in the open street, before the town-house ; the sheriffs and all the constables attending. Dr. South in the preface to his third volume of Ser- njpns, compliments the Archbishop of Dublin, on his 14 treatment of Toland, whom he calls a IMahometan Christian ; and particularly, that he made the kingdom too hot for him, without the help of afaggoL The fag- got had been kindled in Scotland from the one end to the other, during the twenty-eight years persecution, and innocent and holy menTburnt alive, merely for being mon-confoi'Tiiists t or in other words, for not preferring the dogmas of arbitrary and interested men, to the sa- €i'ed Scriptures. Toland's crimes appear to have been much of the same kind, and it was very consistent in the Doctor to hint at a similar punishment. On Mr. Toland's return to London, he published his Apology, giving an account of his conduct, and vindi- cating himself from the aspersions and persecutions of his enemies. In 1 698, party-disputes ran high. The partizans of the house of Steuart wished to facilitate the Preten- der's return, by keeping up no standing' army at all. Their opponents took different ground. Several pamphlets appeared ; and among the rest, one from the pen of Mr. Toland, wherein he recommends model- ling the militia on such a plan, as to render it adequate to the maintenance of internal tranquillity, and repul- ^sion of foreign invasion. Indeed, on every occasion, we find Mr. Toland a staunch friend to the revolution, and the Protestant succession ; and, though this was not the ^jstensiblc;, still there is everv reason to reckon it 15 l|ie real cause of his persecution ; his enemies, almost^ to a man, entertaining very different sentiments. This same year, he published the life of John Milton^ which was prefixed to his works, in three volumes folio. In the course of Milton's life, Mr. Toland prov- ed that Icon Basilike was not written by Charles Ist, but by Dr. Gauden, and took occasion to remark, that, when this imposition w^as practised on the nation, at no greater distance of time than forty years, he ceased to wonder how so many suppositious pieces, under the name of Christ and his Apostles, should be published, approved, (§c. Had he denied the Trinili/, or blas- phemed the Holi/ Ghost, it would have been nothing in comparison of curtailing the literary fame of the roy- al Martyr of the church of England- Accordingly, Mr Blackail, chaplin to the king, in a Sermon preached before the house of commons, 30th Januar}% 1689, says, " We may cease to wonder, that « he (Mr. Toland,) should have the boldness, w^ithout ** proof, and against proof, to deny the authority of ** this book, who is such an Infidel to doubt, and is '' shameless and impudent enough, even in print, and '* in a Christian countiy, publicly to affront our holy '•' religion, by declaring his doubt, that several pieces « under the name of Christ and his Apostles, (he must " mean those received by tlie whole Christian church, '• for I know of no other,) are supj)osititious." S^c, The 16 reader will here smile, to see that Mr. Blackall rests the whole stress of Mr. Toland's Infidelity, on his own ignorance. Mr. Blackall expressly says, '' Mr. To- " land must mean the Books of the New Testament/' because he knows of no other. Excellent Logician ! In order to vindicate himself, IMr. Toland published Amijntor, in which he re-doubles his arguments, to prove Dr. Gauden the author of Icon Basilike ; and, at the same time, published a list of supposititious pieces, ascribed to Christ, his Apostles, and other emi- nent men, extending to no less than forty-three octavo pages. After having given that catalogue, he proceeds thus : " Here is a long catalogue for Mr. Blackall, who, " it is probable, will not think the more meanly of " himself, for being unacquainted with these pieces ; '« nor, if that were all, should I be forward to think the <* worse of him on this account : but I think, he is to " blame, for denying that there were any such, be- " cause he knew nothing of them ; much less should " he infer from thence, that I denied the Scriptures ; " which scandal, however, as proceeding from igno- " ranee, I heartily forgive hun, as every good Christian « ought to do." What a calm, dignified. Christian reply to the very man, who, without the least shadow of fact, proclaim- n ed Mr. Toland an impudent and shameless Infidel, be- fore the whole House of Commons. Poor Mr. Blackall was obliged to say something or other in his own de- fence. He published a pamphlet, wherein he labours hard to prove, that Mr. Toland's words were liable to misapprehension ; and says, " I charged Mr. Toland with doubting of the bosks of the New Testament, but he declares, he does not mean those books, there- fore we are now agreed : there can be no dispute be^ tween us oil that subject." ' In the same year, 1699, IMi'. Toland published the Memoirs of DcnziU Lord Hollis, Baron of Ifield in Sussex, from 164<1 to 16 iS. The manuscript was put into his hands, by the Duke of Newcastle, who was one of his patrons and jjenefactors ; and he dedicated the work to his Grace. In 1 700, he published in folio, Harrington's Oceana^ with some other pieces of that ingenious author, not be- fore printed, to which he prefixed the life of the authon From the preface to this work, which is dated 30th November, 1699, we learn Mr. Toland's exact age, for he there informs us, that this very day he was begin- ning his thirtieth year. About the same time, appeared a pamphlet, entitled CUto ; or the force of Eloquence. The printer gave Mr. Toland as the author. This piece, gonsiits of a IS dinloo-ue between Crdo m\d Adeistdcctmn, This is a poetical performance. jMr. Tolaiid is known by the nriine Adeisidiemon, which he translates, nnsnpersti- twits. This was animadverted on, by an anonmyoiis clergy nva,i\ who, after a torrent of Billingsgate abuse, translsies Adelsldcsmon, (in open violation of all the rules of etyniology and common sense,) orte thai fears neither God uw devlL To such pitiful lengths will the rancGur of party-spirit drive men, when they are deter- mined to calumniate with, or without reason. In the beginning of 1701, he published, The Art of Go27erniRg bj Parties^ which he dedicated to King Wilharn the I lid. ; and, about the same time, published a pamphlet. In quarto, entitled Propositmu for imiiing the two Ead'India Companies, In JMarch follovving, the lower and upper house of Convocation, with the concurrence of the bishops, re- solved to proceed against Tvlr. Toland's Ciiuistianity KOT Mysterious, and his Amyntor, with all passible iigour. After passing some resolutions against these books, they found they could not proceed without a license from tiie king. Rather tlian solicit this boon, they dropped their proceedings against Mr. Toland. Can any circumstance speak more strongly in the vin- dication of Mr. Toland ? Can anj^ thing shew the in- nocence of our author, in a clearer jwint of view, than that the whole HDited English hierarchy, durst not so- 10 licit a license from the king: to prosecute film, because they were sure it would be refused ? This civcum- stance affords more than a presumption, that Mr. To- land's principal crimes, in the eyes of his enemies, were his predilection for Presbyterianism ; and, attachment to King William. Be that as it may, when on the death of the Duke of Gloucester, an act was passed in June, 1701, for the better securing the Protestant succession to the crown, Mr. Toland published his Anglia Libera ; or the Li- mitation and Succession of the Crown of England ex- plained and asserted ; as gi*oimded on his Majesty's vSpeech ; the proceedings of Parliament ; the desires of the People ; the safety of our Religion ; the Nature of our Constitution ; the Balance of Europe ; and, the Rights of Mankind, This Treatise, he dedicated to his patron, the duke of Newcastle. The king having sent the earl of jMacclesfield hj Hanover, with the act of succession, ]\Ir, Toland ac- companied him, and presented his Anglia Libera to her Electoral Highness the Princess Sophia ; and was the first who had, the honour of kneeling and ki&sing her hand, on account of the act of succession. The Earl of Macclesfield recommended him VN^armly to her Highness. Mr. Toland staid there five or six %veeks, and at his departure, their Highnesses the Electress Dow- ager, and the Elector presented him with several gold medals, as a princely remuucratioufoifthebookhc had 20 written, about the succession, in defence of their title and family. Her liig-hness condescended to give him likewise, portraits of herself, the Elector, the young Prince, and of her IMajesty the Queen of Prussia, done in oil colours. The Earl of Macclesfield, on his return, waited on the king at London, and presented Mr. To- land, who had the honour of kissing his Majesty's hand. The Parliament was dissolved 1 1th November, and a new one summoned to meet the SOth December. The Toiy party appeared horribly afraid that JVIr. Toland woifld obtain a seat in the ensuing Parliament, and circulated a report that he ^vas to be returned for Blechingley in Surry, a borough in the interest of Sir Robert Clayton, Mr. Toland, who had no intention whatever of this kind, contradicted the report, by an advertisement in the Post-man. Even this harmless act i?ould not pass without censure, but gave occasion to an anonymous author to publisli a pamphlet, entitled ^* Modesty mistaken ; or a Letter to iMr. Toland, up- ** on his declining to appear in the ensuing Parlia- *• ment." On the opening of parliament, IMr. Toland publish- ed his Paradoxes of Stah\ grounded chiefly on his majesty's princely, pious, and most gracious speech. Soon after, he published " Reasons for addres^ng his ^* Majesty to invite into England, the Electress Dow- *' ager, and the Electoral Prince of Hanover ; and for " attainting and abjuring the pretended Prince of 21 " Wales," (§c. This was answered by Mr. Liilcc MiU hum. But, Mr. Toland had the high gratification to see parliament attend to his sug-gestions. An. act was accordingly passed for the attainder of the pretended Prince of Wales ; and another, for the better security of his IMajesty'a Person, and the Protestant succession, S^c, and enjoining ow unknown, the design Vv as dropped, after part of ]Mr. Tuland's answer had been printed. Mr. Harley having found among his manuscripts, a Philippic against France, written in Latin, ])j one Cnrdinal Matthew, in 1514^ gave it to Mr. Toland who edited it, both in English and Latin : along with o- ther violent expressions, it contains the following, Gallorum Ungues noii rcsecandos,sed pciiiius cveUendos esse ; i. e. That the nails of the French were not to be pared, but torn out by the roots. Soon after, he published the Elector Palatine's De- claration, lately published in favour of his Protestant Subjects, Ss^c. This Mr. Toland did, at the particular request of the Elector Palatine's minister. In tlie Spring, Mr. Toland went to Germany, and visited Berlin, Hanover, Dusseldorp, Vienna and Pra- gue in Bohemia. At Dusseldorp, he was most graci- ously received by his Electoral Highness, who, in con- sideration of the English pamphlet, published by him, presented him with a gold chain and medal, besides a hundred ducats. From Prague, lie returned to Hol- land, where he staid till 1710. la Holland;, he published the following Dissertation?. 25 viz. 1st, Adeisidwmon^ sive Titus Livius a SupeJ'Sfitione Vindicatus^ &c* 2do, Origwes Judaicce, &c. In the course of this Dis- sertation, he animadverted on Huetius' Demonstratio Evangelica, He ridicules Huetius for affirming that several eminent persons recotded in the Old Testament are allegorized in the Heathen Mythology; and parti- culary IMoses under the names of Bacchus, Typho, Silenus, Priapus, and Adonis. Though Mr. Toland was unquestionably in the light, Huetius was greatly incensed, and expressed his resentment in a letter, first published in the Journal of Trevoux, and after- wards printed by Abbot Tilladet It will be recollec- ted, that these are the two gentlemen, who endeavoured to convict Mr. Toland of the high and unpardonable crime, of not directing his parents to propagate him legitimately. In 1 709, he published at Amsterdam, a second edi- tion of his Philippic against France. In 1710, he published without his name, a French pamphlet, relating to Dr. SacheverelL Wliile in Holland, he had the good fortune to get acquainted with prince Eugene of Savoy, who gave kiln several marks of his generosity. After his return to England in 17 11^ he published D 26 the ILmnin's of Epsom ; and at the same time, a translation of four of Pliny's Letters, In 1712, he published \mo. a Letter agauist Popery,, written by Sophia Charlotte, late Queen of Prussia.. 2c/o. Her Majesty's reasons for creating the Electoral Prince of Hanovera P^iei^ of that realm. S/zo. Tlie Grand Mystery laid open ; namely, by dividing the Proles- taiits, to weaken the Hanoverian Succession, 8^c, About the same tame, he published a new edition of Cicero's loorkSy an undertaking for which he was emi- nently qualified. This work alone, is sufficient to trans- mit Mr. Toland's name to posterity. It is extremely scarce, he. having printed only a few copies, at his own: charge, to serve his particular friends. In 1713, he published *^ An Appeal to Honest Peo- ple, against wicked Priests," Ss^c. : And much about the same time, a pamphlet on the necessity of de- molishing Dunkirk, In 1 7 1 4-, lie published a pamphlet relative to the res-- toration of Charles the lid. by General iNIonk ; also, a. collection of letters, written by the General relating to- the same subject. The same year, he published the Funeral Elogy of her royal higlmess, the late Princess Sophia, &c. ; and much about the same time, *' Reasons for naturalizing the Jews in Great Britain," S;c. This he dedicated ra- 27 ther ironically, to the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces, In 1 7 1 7, lie piiblished the Slate Anatomy of Great Britain, This was answered by Dr. Fiddes, chaplain to the Earl of Oxford, and by Daniel De Foe. In reply, iMr. Toland published the second part of the State Anatomyo In 1717, he piiblisiied Na^aremrs. In tHs treatise, according to Mr. Toland, the original plan of Chris- tianity v/as this : " that the Jews, though associating with the converted Gentiles, and acknowledging them for brethren, were still to observe their own laws ; and that the Gentiles, v/ho became so far Jews as to ac- knowledge one God, were not, however, to observe the Jewish law : but, that both of them were to be e- ver after, united into one body or fellowship, in that part of Christianity particularly, whicli, better than all the preparative purgations of the philosophers, requires the sanctification of the Spirit, ^nd the renova- tion of the inward man ; and wherein alone, the Jew and the Gentile; the Civilized and and the Barbarian; the Free-man and the Bond-slave, are all in one Christ, however differing in other circumstances." This trea- tise was animadverted on, by Messrs. Mangeij and Paterson ; and by Dr. Brdt. This year, he also edited a pamphlet, callecl the Destiny of Rome; or, the speedy and final destmctioii 28 of the Pope, founded partly on natural and political reasons, and partly on the famous prophecy of St. Ma- lachy^ Archbishop of Armagh, in the thirteenth century, <|c. In the beginning of 1720, Dr. Hare published the fourth edition of his Visitation Sermon ; and, ani- madv^erted on Christianity not Mysterious ; asserting that Mr. Toland often quoted Mr. Locke, to support notions he never dreamed of. As this assertion was totally groundless, the doctor had Mr. Locke, and Mr. Toland on his back at once. Finding his ground un- tenable, he published the following advertisement in the Daily Courant. " Just published, the fourth Edition of *^ The Dean of Worcester's Visitation Sermon. In ^' the Postscript, line ninth from the end, instead of, is ^ often quoted, read, makes great use of Mr. Locke's " principles. « London, Feb. 1st. 1720." Thus the reverend doctor had the contemptible meanness to shelter a bare-faced falsehood, under the subterfuge of a tj'pograpliical error. This pitiful conduct of Dr. Hare, produced from Mr.Toland, a pamphlet, entitled a SJiort Essay on the Art of Lying; or, a Defence of a Reverend Dignitary^ 29 who suffers under the Persecution of Mr, ToLAND/or a LAPSUS CALAML About this time, he published Pantheisticon ; sivt formula celebrandce Sodalitatis Socraticce, &;c. Some of his enemies pretended this tract was written to ri- dicule the Romish, and Episcopal Liturgies ; and, as it was made up of Responses, Lessons, a Philosophical Canon, and aLitany; and, the whole written both in red and black ink, their opinion is perhaps well founded* Mr. Toland was, at all times, a rigid advocate for the primitive apostolic simplicity of the Christian religion. This tract, instead 0^ being a proof of our author's heterodoxy, is so far the reverse, that had John Knox been alive, I am persuaded, he would have thanked him for it. To this treatise, he prefixed the name of Janus Junius Eoganesius, which, though it was hi$ real Christian name, and the name of his country, was as good a disguise as he could have invented. A Bill having been introduced into the House of Lords, to make the parliament of Ireland more de- pendent on that of Great Britain, Mr. Toland wrote a Treatise in opposition to that measure. Some time after, he published a book, entitled 2V- tradymus : containing 1 mo, Hodegus ; or, the Pillar of cloud and fire that guided tlie Israelites in the wilder- ness, not miraculous, (§e. 2do. CJijdovhorus ; or the Ejcoteriq and Esoteric Philosophy of the antien^s, 30 <^c. 3tio, Hypatia ; or, the History of a most beautiful, most virtuous, most learned, and every way accomplished young Lady, who was torn to pieces by the clergy of Alexandria, to gratify the pride, emula- tion and cruelty of their Archbishop CyrzY, commonly, but, undeservedly styled St. CyriL 4:lo, Mari- g/oneiites ; or, a Defence of Nazarenus, addressed to the right Rev. John Lord, Bishop of London, against his Lordship's Chaplin Dr. Mangey, his dedicator Mr. Faterson, and the Rev. Dr. Brett, once belonging to his Lordship's church. In this last Address to the Bishop of London, Mn Tolaiid, states the injurious treatment he had received from Dr. Hare at considerable length ; and, concludes with the following account of his own conduct, and i§entiments : ** Notwithstanding, says he, the imputa- tions of Heresy and Infidelity, so often published by the clergy, as lately, in the vauntingest manner, by one not unknown to you ; the whifling and the igno- rant, being ever the most arrogant and confident, I as- sure your Lordship, that the purity of religion, and the prosperity of the state have evei' been my chiefest aim. Civil liberty, and religious toleration, as the most desirable things in this world ; the most condu- cing to peace, plenty, knowledge, and every kind of happiness, have been the two main objects of all my writings. But, as by liberty, I did not mean licenti- misness ; so by toleration^ 1 did not mean indijff^erencei 31 and much less an approbation of every religion I could suffer. To be more particular, I 'solemnly profess to your Lordship, that the religion taught by Jesus Christ and his Apostles, but not as since corrupted by the sub- tractions, additions, and other alterations of any par- ticular man, or company of men, is that which I in- finitely prefer before all others. I do over and over a- gain, repeat Christ and his Apostles, exclusive of either oral traditions, or the determinations of synods, adding what I declared before to the world, that religion as it came from their hands, was no less plain and pure, than usefid and instructive ; and that, as being the busi- ness of everj- man, it was equally understood by every body. For, Christ did not institute one Religion for the learned and another for the vulgar/' ^c. In 1721,Dr.Hare published a Book, entitled "Scrip- ture Truth vindicated ; from the misrepresentations of tlie Lord Bishop of Bangor," S^e. ; and, in the Preface, takes occasion to observe, that none are prevented from settling in Carolina, but down-right Atheists, such as Mr.Toland ; and most unjustly asserts, that in some copies of the Pantheistic on, he inserted a prayer to the following effect : Omnipotens ct se??ipiterne Bacche ; qui htimanam societatemmaxinieinhihendo constitidsti ; concede propitiiis, ut istorum capita, qui hesterna com- jyotatione gravantw^ hodierna leventur ; idque fiat per pocida poculorum. Amen. i. e. *' Omnipotent and e- verlasting Bacchus, who foundcdst Iranian society 32 principally by drinking, propitiously grant, that the heads of those, which are made heavy by yesterday's drinking, may be lightened by this day's, and that by bumper after bumper. Amen." M. Mahciiz, a Frenchman, and Mr. Toland's bio- grapher assures us, that JMr. Toland never dreamed of such a matter. He assures us, that he knows the author, but forbears to mention him, on account of his profession. Indeed, there can hardly be a doubt, that Dr. Hare himself was the author. The same year, Mr. Toland published Letters from the Earl of Shaftesbury to the Lord Viscount IMoles- worth ; as also, two Letters written by Sir George Cropsley. Mr. Toland had these four years past lived at Putney, whence he could conveniently go to London, and re- turn the same day. Being in town about the middle of December, he found himself very ill, and an ignorant physician, by his improper prescriptions, very much in- creased his disorder. But, he made a shift to return to Putney, where he grew better, and entertained some hopes of recovery. In the interval, he wrote two Treatises ; the one, entitled, Physic without Physicans ; and the other, The Danger of mercenary Parliaments, This last, he did not live to finish ; for, he died on Sunday the nth March, 1722, about four o'clock in th^ moJ^mng. He behaved himself throughout the 33 whole course of his sickness, with the greatest calm- ness and fortitude ; and, looked on death without the least perturbation of mind ; biding farewell to those about him, and telling them, he xu as going to fall a- ^leep, A few days before his death, he composed the following EPITAPH : H, S, E. JOANNES TO LAND VS. Quii in Hibernia prope Deriam 7iatus, In Scotia et Hibernia Siuduit, Qiiod Oxonii quoqxie fecit Adolescens ; Atqtie Germania plus semel petita^ Virileni circa Londinum tran^egit cetatem. Omnimn Literarum, excultor Ac Linguarum plus decern Scien^. Veritatis Propugnator Liber talis Assertor: NuUiiis autem Sectator, ant Clieyis^ Nee minis, nee malis est inf exits, Qiiin, quam elegit, viam perageref, Utili honestum aiiteferens, Spiritus cum jEthereo Patre, A Quo pj'odiit olim, conjungitur : Corpus item naturce cedens, In Materno grcemio reponitur. Ipse vero ceternum est resurrecturus. At Idemfuturus TOLANDUS nunquam. NatusNov, SO. 1670. CcGtera ex Scrlpils pete. 34 TRANSLATIOX. *« Here lie^ John Toland, born in Ireland, near <• Londonderry, who in his youth studied in Scotland, <^ Ireland, and at Oxford ; and, having repeatedly vi- " sited Germany, spent his manliood about London, **' He was a cultivator of every kind of Learning ; and *' skilled in more than ten languages : the champion " of Truth, and the assertor of Liberty, but the fol- *' lower or client of none ; nor was he ever swayed " either by menaces or misfortunes, from pursuing the '• path, which he chalked out to himself, uniformly ^* preferring his integrity to his interest. His Spirit ^^ is re-united to his heavenly Father, from whom it " formerly proceeded ; his Body yielding to Nature, «' is also re-placed in the Bosom of the Earth. He " himself will undoubtedly arise to Eternal Life, but " will never be the same Toland, Born 30th No- " vember, 1670, Seek the rest from his Writings," Mr. Toland*s belief, that he will never be the same Toland CifteY the resurrection, is not heterodox, tliough his enemies have not failed to represent it in this light. The gospel uniformly declares, that a considerable change will take place in the human body at the re~ surrection ; and, that we shall all be changed. JVIr. Toland must therefore not be considered as here de- nying \\\^ absolute future Identity, but merely as allud- ing to that partial change whicli the vScripturcs so clearly point out. 3 t: Hitherto, I have ahiiost implicity followed M. Maizeuz ; and, as far as the nature of this Abstract would admit, have adopted his own words, being well aware, that by so doingj no body will accuse me of partiality to Mr.Toland. M. IMaizeuz was a French- man, a friend to Popery and arbitrary power,— he did not undertake our Autlior's Biography voluntarily, nor from any motive of respect. On the contrary, when requested by a friend of our author's, (who was at the same time the Frenchman's benefactor,) to undertake the task> he positively declined it. A second request more peremptory than the first had the desired effect. M. Maizeuz has not in one single instance, made the slighest allusion to the complexion of the times in which Mr.Toland lived, without a knowledge of which, it is impossible duely to appreciate either his princi- ples, or the scope of his writings* He seems, however, to have been under great obligations to his benefactor, and knowing him to be a friend of our deceased au- thor, was obliged to confine himself to matters of fact. But, what will place the conduct of M. Maizeuz in a very unfavourable point of view, is, that when Mr. To- land's works were printed at London, in 1 726. M. Maizeuz not only with-held his own name from his life, but also, that of the gentleman, at w hose request it was written. This gentleman, having been guilty of these unpar- donable omissions, I shall endeavour, as concisely as possible, to remedy the defect, and shall principally 36 confine myself to iMi-.Toland's Christianitij notMysUri- ous, which has made so much noise in the world. Previous to the Reformation, the infallibility of the Pope, in spiritual ; and, the divine right of Kings in temporal matters, were carried to the very highest pitch, and the servile, ignorant and debased state, to which mankind v%^ers reduced, by the operation of these abominable doctrines, is too well known to need any comment. At the dawn of the Reformation, a better order of things began. The Scriptures were read and studied, and the monstrous impositions, for more than ten centuries, practised on mankind clearly displayed.. Neither the infallibility of the Pope, nor the divine right of Kings, could stand the criterion eitlier of rea- son, or Revelation ; and, both were discarded. After a long struggle, during more than' a century and a half, our civil and religious liberties were cfTectually secured, hj the glorious Revolution. That the Whig interest placed King William on the throne ; and, that the Tory-party, to a man, were attached to the cause of the abdicated JMonarch, are facts that can admit of no dispute. From the date of the Revolution, the Torys, as far as regarded state affairs, were obliged to alter their tone. To have declaimed in support of the Indefeasiljle, Hereditary right of Kings, would have been a direct insult to King William, who had en- croached on this riglit, and might Iiave been construed high-treason. The Toleration Act secured all deno- minations in the free exerci-e of their religion. This 37 was another source of discontent to the Torys, who had uniformly aimed at religious and exclusive supre- macy. That the Torys thwarted King William's measures, meditated the restoration of the abdicated Monarch ; and, shook the stability of the Protestant succession, for more than half a century, needs no demonstration. Their absurd tenets, respecting civil and religious ty- ut, as this was a charo^e of the same nature, with his 40 amexssaaEa Deism, Atheism, Mahometanism, Pantheism, Illegiti- macy, <§c. I shall not detain the Reader with a confu- tation of it. Mr. TOLAND's CHARACTER. It is difficultr to detennine in what department of Literature this great man most excelled. He seems to have been a kind of universal genius.—- In contro- versy he was inesistible; and, at the very moment when his adversaries thought they had confuted him, they found they had only furnished materials for their own degradation. — He was skilled in more than ten Lan- guages, and the Celtic was his native tongue. — Educat- ed in the grossest superstition of Poper}^ at the early age of sixteen, he became a Convert to Presbyterianism, and remained steadily attached to it, till the hour of his death. — Poper}- , Prelacy, and arbitaiy Power he utter- ly detested ; and, on every occasion, resisted them to to the utmost of his power. To the Revolution in 1689, he was a warm and steady friend. — Real and un- affected piety, and the Church of Scotland, which he thought bore the greatest resemblance to the primitive simplicity of the Apostlic times, always found in him, an able, and inflexible advocate. — Though his pen was his estate, yet he never prostituted it to serve the inter- est of his party, at the expence of tnith. — There was interwoven with his whole frame, a high degree of stub- born and inexorable integrity, which totally unfitted him for the tool of a party ; and^ like poor Yorkh, he 41 invariably called things by their right names, regard- less of the consequences. — There was not in his whole composition, one single grain of that useful quality which Swift calls modern discretion, , Like an impreg- nable rock in the midst of the tempestuous ocean, he stood immoveable, against all his assailants ; and, his calm, dignified answers, in reply to their most viru- lent and unmerited calumnies, equally characterize the Hero, the Philosopher, and the Christian. — To his trans- cendant literary abilities even the most inveterate of his enemies have paid the most ample tribute of re- spect. — His Latin compositions, in point of classical purity, have not been excelled, even by Cicero him- self. To him the Celtic tribes are highly indebted for that unequalled production, the History of the Druids. — Pinkerton, as often as his Gothic Mania led him to controvert any of Toland's positions, respecting the Druids and Celts, is obliged to shrink from the con- test. — Dr. Smith with a non-candour, for which, even his best friends must blush, has borrowed the whole of Toland's materials, for his History of the Druids ; not only without making any acknowledgement, but, with a studied and deliberate design to conceal the pla- giarism. Wherever My. Toland enters into detail. Dr. Smith is concise ; and, wherever Mr. Toland is concise. Dr. Smith enters into detail. The important history of Aharis, the Hyperborean Priest of the Sun, is dis- missed by Dr. Smith in a few words ; whereas, in Mr. Toland's history, it takes up several pages.—— -In the F 4'2 space Of twenty-five years, IMr. Toland published about one hundred different works ; some of them on the most intricate subjects; but, the far greater part, on con- troversial matters, in opposition to those, w^lio wished ta restore the abdicated IMonarch, and re-esta])lish arbitra- ry power, and religious intolerance. As it was the first, so it was the last effortof his pen, to render Civil Govern- ment consistent with the unalienable rights of mankind; and, to reduce Christianity to tiiat pure, simple, andun- pompous s-ysteiiTy. whick Christ and hrs Apostles c- stablished. It has often been objected to John Knox^ as W'Cll as Mr. Toland, that lis was a stubborn, ill- bred fellow. But, when the Aiigczan Slahle of Civil and Religious corniptions is to be cleansed, the Her- culean labour,^ requires Herculean instruments. Per- hnps tlie delicacy and refinement of the present day, might have shrunk from the arduous task^ and left the desireable w^ork not only unfinished^ but unattempted, Toland's fame has triumphed over all opposition ; and., will be transmitted to the latest posterity. That very party which branded him, when alive, Avith the Epithets of Atheist, T/ifidel, Deist, Mahometan, &c. have noAV discovered, that he was only tinctured with Socinian^ ism ;■ and, in less than fifty years, the same party w^ill discover, that he was a rigid Presbyterian, — peace to his Manes. It w^erc ardently to biC welshed, that the British Empire, in all great and critical emergencies, may possess iv^any Christians, like John Toland. THE FIRST • LETTER, TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD VISCOUNT IMOLESWORTIL V^*' oOME men, my Lord, from a natural greatness of soul, and others from a sense of the want of learning in themselves, or the advantages of it in others, have many times liberally contributed towards the ad- vancement of letters. But when they, whose ex- cellent natural parts are richly cultivated by sound literature, vmdeilake the protection of the JMiises, wri- ters feel a double encouragement ; both as they are hap- pily enabled to perfect their studies, and as their Pa- trons are true judges of their performances, 'Tis front, this consideration alone (abstracted, My Lord, from all that you have already done, or may hereafter deseiTe from your country, by an unshaken lovo of liberty) that i presume to acquaint your Lordsliip with a design, which I form'd several years ago at Oxford, and which I have ever since kept in view ; collecting, as occasion presented, whatever might any way tend to tlie advan- tage or perfection of it. 'Tis to write ihe History of the Druids, containing an account of the ancient Ceh iic Religion and Literature ; and concerning which I heg your patience for a little while, Tho' this be 9. 4^ THE HISTORY subject, that will be naturally entertaining to the curi- ous in every place ; yet it does more particularly con- cern the inhabitants of antient Gaule, (now France, Flanders, the Alpine regions, and Lombardy) and of all the British Islands, whose antiquities are here part- ly explain'd and illustrated, partly vindicated and re- stor'd. It will sound somewhat oddly, at first hear- ing, that a man born in the most northern (1) Peninsula (1) This peninsula is Tnis-Eogam, vulgarly Efiis-oicen, in whose Isthmus stands the city of Londonderry, itself a peninsula, and, if the tradition be true, originally a famous Grove and School of the Druids. Hence comes the very name Doire, corruptly pronounced Derry, which in Irish signifies a Grove, particularly of Oaks. The great Colum- JBA changed it into a College for Monks (who in his time %vere retired Laymen, that lived by the labour of their hands) as most commonly the sacred places of the Hea- thens, if pleasant or commodious, were converted to the like use by the Christians after their own manner. This Derry is the Roboretum or * Campus roborum, mentioned by Bede in his Ecclesiastical History : but not Ardmacha, now Armagh, m the same province of Ulster, as many have erroneously conceived ; nor yet Durramh, now Durrougk^ in that of Leinster, as some have no less groundlesly fan- cied, among whom Archbishop Usher. Dearmach is com- pounded of Dair an oak and the ancient word Mack (now Machaire) afield. They who did not know so much, have imagined it from the mere sound to be Armagh, which, far from Campus roborinn^?i\gmfies theheight jrmountofMACH a , (surnamed Mongruadh orredhair'd) a Queen of Ireland, and the only woman that ever sway'd the sovereign sceptre of that kingdom. But Armagh never v/as a monastery found- ed by CoLUMBA, who in Bede's time was called f Co- X.UIM-CILLE, as he*s by the Irish to this dd-y. whereas it was from the monasteries of Derry and LcolmkiU (which * Fecerat autem (Cor.XJMBA) prius quam in Britanniam veniret mouastoriuRi nobile in Hibernia, quod a copia roborum Dearmach lingua Scotorum, hoc est campus ro- borumy vocatur. Hist. FcHe's, lib. 3. cap. 4. ^ t Qui, videlicet Columba, mmc a nounullis, composito a Cella c?- Calumba no- ■'jtnn-i CoLUMCELLi vocatHi-, Ibid, tib, 5. cap. 10. OF THE DRUIDS. 4^ of Ireland, shou'd undertake to set the airti'iullies ©i Gaule in a clearer light tlian any one hns Irithoito done. But vvhen 'tis consider'd, that, over and a- bove what he knows in common, relatinq- to t]\el)r2tids, with the learned of the French nation, (whose A^'orks lie constantly reads with uncommon esteem) he has rJso certain other advantages, which none of those writers have ever had : when this, I say, is consider'd, tlien all the w^onder about this affair vvdll instantly cease. Yet let it l)e still remember'd, that whatever accom- plishment may consist in the knowledge of languages, 110 language is really valuable, but as far as it serves to converse with the living", or to learn from the dead ; and therefore were that knowledge of times and things contain'd in Lapponian, v/hich we drawfrom the Greec, and that this last were as barren as the first : I shou'd then study Lspponian, and neglect Greec ; for all its superiority over most tongues, in respect of sonorous pronunciation, copiousness of words, and variety of ex- pression. But as the profovmd ignorance and slaveiy of the present Greecs does not hinder, but that their an- cestors were the most learned, polite, and free of all European nations ; so no revolution that has bcKilIen any or all of the Celtic colonies, can be a just preju- last, though the second erecterl, became the first in vligni- ty) that all the other monasteries dedicated to Columba, wliether in Scotland or Ireland, were so tnany coionies. This is attested by the just mentioned ij: Bede, no h^^s than by all the Irish Annalists since their several fbundations. * Ex quo utroque monasterio perplurlma e:sin(^« moTinfgnini.9 effnsioue cementaret : non fiiit, qui facer et hoc honurn', nori fti/t usque ad unum, Topograpi^ Rih^rn. l^^tinct, ^. riip, y^^. THE HISTORY said of any other country in the v/orld. Glrald on the contrary (as in his days they were wont to over-rate Martyrdom, Celibacy, and the like, much above the positive duties of religion) thinks it a reproach to the Irish, That none of their Saints cemented the founda- lions of the growing Church ivith their blood, all cfthem being Confessors , (says he,) and not one able to boast of the croiun of Martyrdom,. But wiio sees not the vanity and absurdity of this charge ? It is blaming the princes and people for their reasonableness, moderation and humanity ; as it is taxing the new Converts for not seditiously provoking them to persecute, and for not madly running themselves to a voluntary death, which was the unjustifiable conduct of many elsewhere in the primitive times of Christianity. *Tis on much better grounds, tho' with a childish and nauseous jingle, that he accuses the Irish Clergy of his own time : and so far am I from being an enemy to the clergy, that I heartily wish the like could not be said of any clergy, IV hether there, or here, or elsewhere, from that time to this. Weil then : what is it ? Tltcy are Pastors, (says he) (7), who seek not to feed, bid to be fed : Prelates, 2vho desire not to profit, but to preside : Bishops, tvho embrace not the nature, bid the name ; not the burden. Cut the bravery of their profession. This, My Lord, I TGckon to be no digression from my subject, since wliat jittlc opposition there happen'd to be in Ireland to (7) Sunt enhn pastores, qui non pascerc quaerunty sed pa* sci : sunt praelati, qui non prodesse cupiunt, sed prcresse : sunt episcopi, qui non omen^ sed nomen ; non onus, sed hono^ rein ampleetuntur. Id. Ibid. OF THE DRUIDS. 53 Christianity, was wholly made by the Druids, or at their instignation : and that when they perceiv'd this Rew religion like to prevail, none came into it speedier, •r made a more advantageous figure in it, than they. The Irish however have their 3Iartyrologics (lest this shou'd be objected by some trifler) but they are of such ©f their nation as suffered in other countries, or under the Heathen Danes in their own country, some hund- reds of years after the total conversion of it to Chris- tianity. V. Those advantages we have nam'd in the two last Sections, and many the like articles, with the Dmids pretences to work miracles, to foretel events by augury and otherwise, to have familiar intercourse with the gods (highly confirm'd by calculating Ec- lipses) and a thousand impostures of the same (8) na- ture, I can by irrefragable authorities set in such a light, that all of the like kind may to every one ap- pear in as evident a view ; which, as I hinted before, cannot but be very serviceable both to religion and morality. For true religion does not consist in cun- ningly devis'd fables, in authority, dominion, or pomp ; but in spirit and in truth, in simplicity and social vir- tue, in a filial love and reverence, not in a servile dread and terror of the Divinity. As the fundamental Law of a Historian is, daring to say whatever is true, and (S) The heads of the two last Sections, with these here mentioned (though conceived in few words) will vet each make a separate chapter in the History ; this present Spe- 'men being chiefly intended for modern instances, as bv lie sequel will appear. 54, THE HISTORY not daring to Vv^rite any falsehood ; neither being sway- ed by love or hatred, nor gain'd by favour or interest : 90 lie ought of course to be as a man of no time or country, of no sect or party ; v/hich I hope the se- reral nations concern'd in this enquiry, will fmd to be |)articularly true of me. But if in clearing up antient lites and customs, with the origin and institution of certain religious or civil societies (long since extinct,) any communities or orders of men, now in being, should think themselves touched ; they ought not to impute it to design in the author, but to the conformity of things, if indeed there be any real resemblance : and, in case there be none at all, they should not make people apt to suspect there is, by crying out tho' they are not hurtc I remember, wiien complaint was made against an honourable person (9), that, in treat- ing of the Heathen Priests, he had whipt some Christian Priests on their backs ; all the answer he made, was only asking, What made them get iqy there f The benefit of which answer I claim before-hand to myself, without making or needing any other apology. Yet if the correspondence of any Priests with heaven be as slenderly grounded as that of the Druids, if their miracles be as fictitious and fraudulent, if their love of riches be as immoderate, if their thirst after power be as insatiable, and their exercise of it be as partial and ty- rannical over the Laity : then, I am not ojily content they should be touched, whether I thought of them or ?i«t : but.tliatthey shouldbe blastedtoo, without the pos- t<)) SirRoB£KT Howard. OF THE DRUIDS. 55 sibility of ever sprouting up again. For truth will but shine the brighter, the better its counterfeits are shewn : and all that I can do to shew my candour, is to leave the reader to nuike such applications himself, seldom making any for him ; since he that is neitlier clear- sighted, nor quick enough of conception to do so, may to as good purpose read the Fairy-talcs as this history. VL Besides tliis impa-rtial disposition, the com- petent knowledge I have of the Northern languages^ dead and living (though I shall prove, that no Druids^ except such as towards their latter end fled thither for refuge, or that went before with Celtic invaders or co- lonies, were ever among the Gothic nations) I say;^ these languages will not a little contribute to the per- fection of my work, for a reason that may with more advantage appear in the book itself. But the know- ledge of the ancient Irish, ^vhicli I learnt from my cliildhood, and of the other Celtic dialects, m all v\^hich 1 have printed Ijooks or manuscripts (not to speak of their vulgar Traditions) is absolutely necessary ; these iiavmg preserved numberless monuments concerning the Druids, that never hitherto have come to the hands of the learned. For as tlie Institutions of the Druids were formerly better learnt in Britain, by CisSAR said to be the native seat of this superstitious race, than in Gaule where yet it exceedingly flourished : so their memory is still best preserved in Ireland and the High- lands of Scotland, comprehending the Hehridce, Hehru c?eerochen, heaiiton d' hjpciirenein hoti hyitereke : tonde terphthenta thylaki )« aitesai chrysiou, kai ripsai auto paratrechonti ; anfilomeuoa de ekeinou palm hyrauein, leg'onta, dlo kai ta id me tes g'es (eph' hes harmatelatei) chryson ks eaer£;e£ias anthropois pharei. Edit. Lugd. Lib. 4. Fag. 152- OF THE DRUID5^. 65 men, whose licentious panegyrics or satyrs have not a little contributed to breed confusion in the Irish his- tory. There were often at a tiiRC, a theusand Ollaws (28) or graduate Poets, besides a proportionable num- ber of inferior Rhymers, who ail of 'em liv'd most of the year on free cost : and, what out of fear of their Tailing, or love of their flattery, no body durst deny them any thing, be it armour, fevvel, horse, mantle, or the like ; which grew into a general custom, whereof the Poets did not fail to tak« the advantage. The great men, out of self-love and interest, encourag'd no other kind of learning, especially after they profes- sed Christianity : the good regulation, under which they were in the time of Druidism, as then in some manner belonging to the temples, having been destroy- ed with that religion. In a small time they became such a grievance, that several attempts were made to tid the nation of them : smd, which is something comi- cal, what at least our present Poets would not extra- drdinarly like, the orders for banishing them v/ere al- ways to the Highlands of Scotland ; while they were as often harbou/d in Ulster, till upon promise of a- mendment of their m.anners I mean and not of their poetry^ they were permitted to return to the other provinces. At last, in a general national assembly, or parliament, at Drumcat, (29) in the country v/e now call the county of Londonderry, under [30] Aidus Anmireus, Xlth. Christian king, in the year 597, where (^J8) Oilamh is a Professor cr Doctor hi any faculty. ("39) Druim-ceat alias Druimcheat, . [SO] AODUMUAC AlNxMMfRE. ei5 THE HISTORY was also present (31) Adius king of Scotland and the great (32) Columha, it was decreed : that for the better preservation of their histoiy, genealogies, and the purity of their language, the supreme monarch, and the subordinate kings, with eveiy lord of a can- tred, should entertain a Poet of his own, no more be- ing allowed by the antient law in the iland ; and that upon each of these and their posterity a portion of land, free from all duties, shou'd be settl'd for ever ; that, for encouraging the learning these Poets and Antiquaries profest, public Schools shou'd be appoint- ed and endow'd, under the national inspection ; and that the Monarch's own Bard should be Arch-poet (33), and have super-intendency over the rest. 'Tis a com- mon mistake, into which father Pezron has fallen a- inong others, that the Bards belonged to the body of the Druids : but this is not the place to rectify it. They made hymns for the use of the temples, 'tis true, and manag'd the music there ; but they were the Druids that officiated as Priests, and no sacrifices were offer'd but by their ministry. X. In the History likewise shall be fully explained the third order of the Celtic Lilerati, by the Greecs call- ed OuATEis, and by the Romans Vates ; which, yet is neither Greec nor Roman, but a mere Celtic word, viz, Paidii, which signifies to this day a prophet in all Irish books, and in the common language, particularly m the ['5\\ AoD}iA^^^J]IAC Gauiiain, (33) COLUIM-CILLE. (33) Ard^Otlamk. OF THE DRUIDS. 67 Irish translation of the Bible ; where Dniids (34) are also commonly put for Inchanters, as those of Egypt, and especially for the Mages, or as we translate, the wise men {S5) that came from the East, to visit Jesus in his cradle. So easily do men convey their own ideas into other men's books, or find 'em there ; which has been the source of infinite mistal es, not oncly in Divi- nity, but also in Philosophy and Philology. The Cel- tic {S6) Vaids were Physicians and Diviners, great proficients in natural Philosophy, as were likewise the Druids, who had the particular inspection of Morals, but Cicero, who was well acquainted v/ith one of the prime Dntids, remarks, that their predictions were as much grounded on (37) conjecture, as on the rules of Augury : both equally fortuitous and fallacious. For the saymg of Euripides will ever hold tme, that (38) (34) Draoithe. Exod. 7. 11. Anoi^^ Oraoithe na Hegipte doriniiedursanfosH aMmodh2:cepdnal nandroigheachtuibho (35) Mat. 2. 1. Feucli Tangadar Draoithe o naird shoic go Hiarusalem. (36) The word is Faidh (or Valt by the usual conversion of the Letters F into K and D into Tj whence the Latins made Vates ; and their Critics acknowledge, that they took njany words from the Gauls. The Euckages and Euba^es, in some copies of Ammianus Marcellinus, are false readings, as in time will appear. So are J^rnsi, Drusides, and Drusiades for Druides : as likewise Vardi, from the Brittish and Irish oblique cases o^Bard. (57) ^i^iiidem ^ in Gallia Druides sunt, e quihus ipse Dr^ viTiACu^vi Aeduumjwspitem tuum laudatoremque, cognovi (inquit Quintus) q?u S^ naturae rationem, quam physiologi- am Graeci appellant, notam esse sihi projitebatur ; S^partim Auzuriis, partim conjee tura, quae essent Jutura dicebat De Divinat. lib. 1. cap. 41. (28) Psiantis aristos, hostis eikazei kalos. 65 THE HISTORY the best guesser u the best Prophet. He that is nearly- acquainted with the state of affairs, that understands the springs of human actions, and, that, judiciously al-^ lowing for circumstances, compares the present time With the past : he, I say, will make a shrew^d guess at the future. By this time. My Lord, you begin to per- ceive Vrhat is to be the subject of the Historij I intend to write ; which, tho' a piece of general learning and great cui'iositj, yet I shall make it my business* so ta digest : as to render it no less intertaining than instruc- tive to all sorJ^s &f readers, without excepting the la- dies, who are pretty much coneern'd in this matter ; tlirowing, as I told you before, all my Critical observa- vations, and Disquisitions about words, into the mar- gin, or the Dissertation annext to the History. As ley what I say of th« ladies being coneern'd in this His^ torij, there were not only Drmdesses ; but some even of tlie highest rank, and Princesses themselves were educated by the Druids: for in our own Annals we read, that the two daughters of king (39) Laogirins, in whose reign Patric preach'd Christianity, were educated by them ; and we have the particulars of a long dispute those young ladies maintained against this new^ Re- ligion, very natural but very subtil. Several other la- dies bred under the Druids became famous for their writings and proficiency in learning, of some of whom- ■we shall occasionally give an account : but lest I shou'd be thought in every thing to flatter the Sex, how mucli soever I respect them, I refer the reader to a story in my third Letter. But, in order to complete my design,. '39] Laogmlaip-f. OF THE DRUIDS^. eg ssaimRB«?«ngBKRBBBi 50" as to leave no room for any to write on this subject after me ; and also to procure several valuable Manu- scripts, or authentic copies of them, well knowing where they ly, I purpose towards the Spring to take a journey for at least six months : which, at our next meeting, 1 shall do myself the honour to impart to jour Lordship very particularly. XI. The Irish, a few Scandinavian and Danish Vv^ords excepted, being not only a Dialect of the antient Cel- tic or Gallic, but being also liker the mother than her o- ther daughter the British ; and the Irish Manuscripts being more numerous and much antienter than the Welsh, sliow^s beyond all contradiction the necessity of this language for retrieving the knov/ledge of the Cel- tic Religion and Learning. Camden and others have long since taken notice of the agreement between the present British and those old Gallic words collected by learned men out of Greec and Boman authors : and the industrious Mr. Edward Lhuyd, late keeper of the JMusetim at Oxford, perceived this affinity between the same words and the Irish, even before he study'd that language, by the demonstration I gave him of the same in all the said instances. Nor does he deny this agree- ment in the comparative Etymologicon he afterwards made of those languages, where he quotes Camden and BoxHOBNius affirming it about the Gallic and British; hut there being, says he (40), no Vocabulary extant, mean- ing no doubt in print, of the Irish, or antient Scottish^ they cou'd not collate that language therewith, which the (40) In the preface to his Archccohgia Brilannica, pag. !• THR HISTORY czcrious in these studies luill now Jhid to agree leather more than ours, with the Gaulish. That it does so, is absolute fact, as will be seen by hundreds of instances in this present vvork. I am av/are that what I am go- in'^ to :^Ciy v/iii sound very oddly, and seem more than a paradox ; but I deserve. My Lord, and shall be con- tent with your severest censure, if, before you have finished reading these sheets, you be not firmly of the same mind 3/our3elf : namely, that, without the know- ledge of the Irish language and books, the Gallic Anti- quities, not meaning the Francic, can never be set in any tolerable light, with regard either to words or to things'; and numerons occasions there will occur in this HlstGrirni OF llIE DRUIDS. *rB of Ogum, or the Irish A]])habet, meaning that he in- vented the first letters, in imitation of which the Al- phabets of those Nations Avere made. Oguvi is also taken in this sense by the best modem writers : as WiUiam (.56) O Donelly afterwards Archbishop of Tuam, in his preface to the Irish Netv Testament, de- dicated to King James the First, and printed at Dub- lin in the Year 1 602, speaking of one of his assistants^ says, that Ae enjoin d liim to ivrite the other j}f^rt ac- cording to Vie Ogum and propriety of the Irish tojigue; where Ogum must necessarily signify the Alphabet, Orthography, and true manner of writing Irish. From all this it is clear, wh}^ among the Gauls, of whom the Irish had their Language and Religion, Hercules, as the protector of Learning, shou d be calld Ogmius, the termination alone being Greee. Nor is this all. Og- ma was not only a known propername in Ireland, but also one of the most antient ; since Ogma Grianann, the father of King (57) Dalhoetius, was one of the first of the Danannan race, many ages before Luicans time. 'He was a very learned man, marry'd to Eathna, a fa^ mous Poetess, who bore, besides the fore-rnention'd jMonarch, Cairbre likewise a Poet : insomuch that Og- ma was deservedly surnamed (.58) Grianann, which is Crxcorum, Latinorum, et Bethluisnion an Oghuiim, co?j*po- suif. Ex FoiicHERNi libro, octingcDtis retro annis Larine redd' to. (.5(3) William ODomii^^cill. \^r)7) Dealeiiaoith. (.)S) Grla7i\s the Sun, and Grianann Sun Itk?, or belong in IT to the 'S'xu^ 7^ THE HISTORY to say Phehean, where you may observe Learning still attending this name. The Celtic Language being now almost extinct in Gaule, except onely in lower Britanny, and such Galic words as remain scatter'd among the French ; subsists however intire in the se- veral (59) dialects of the Celtic Colonies, as do the words Ogum and Ogina particularly in Irish. Nor is there any thing better known to the learned, or will appear more undeniable in the sequel of this work, than that words lost in one dialect of the same common lan- guage, are often found in another : as a Saxon word, for example, grown obsolete in Germany, but remain- ing yet in England, may be also usd in Switzerland; or another word grown out of date in England, and florishing still in Denmark, continues likewise in Ice- land. So most of the antiquated English words are more or less corruptly extant in Friezland, Jutland, and the other Northern countries ; with not a few in the Lowlands of Scotland, and in the old English Pale in Ireland. XIL Now, from the name o" Hercules let's come to his person, or at least to the person acknowledg'd to have been one of the Heros worship'd by the Gauls, and suppos'd by the Greecs and Romans to be Her- cules. On this occasion I cannot but reflect on the opposite conduct, which the learned and the unlearned formerly observ'd, with respect to the Gods and divine matters. If, thro' the ignorance or superstition of the (59) These are British, Welsh, Cornish^ Irish, Ma.nks, OF THE DRUIDS. '77 people, any fable, tho' ever so gross, was generally re- ceiv'd in a Religion ; the learned being asham'd of such an absurdity, yet not daring openly to explode any thing wherein the Priests found their account, explain- ed it away by emblems and allegories importing a rea- sonable meaning, of which the first authors never thought : and if the learned on the other hand, either to procure the greater veneration for their dictates, or the better to conceal their sentiments from the profane vulgar, did poetically discourse cf the elements and qualities of matter, of the constellations or the planets, and the like effects of nature, veiling them as persons; the common sort immediately took them for so many persons in good earnest, and rendered 'em divine wor- ship under such forms, as the Priests judg'd fittest to represent them. Objects of divine worship have been coin'd out of the rhetorical flights of Orators, or the flattering addresses of Panegyrists: even metaphors and epithets have been transform'd into Gods, which procur'd mony for the Priests as well as the best ; and this by so much the more, as such objects were multi- ply'd. 'This is the unavoidable consequence of deviat- ing ever so little from plain Truth, which is never so heartily and highly reverenc'd, as when appearing in her native simplicity; for as soon as her genuine beauties are indeavour'd to be heightn'd by borrow'd ornaments, and that she's put under a disguise in gorgeous ap- parel : she quickly becomes, like others affecting such a dress, a mercenaiy prostitute, wholly acting by vani- ty, artifice, or interest, and never speaking but in am- 78 THE HISTORY bigiioiis or unintelligible terms ; while the admiration of her lovers is first turn'd into amazement, as it com- monly ends in contemt and hatred. But over and above tlie difficulty, which these proceedings have occasion- ed in the history of antient time, there arises a greater from time itself destroying infinite circumstances, the want whereof causes that to seem aftenvards obscure, which at the beginning v/as very clear and easy. To this we may join tlie preposterous emulation of nations, ill ascribing to their own Gods or Heros, whatever qua- lities were pre-eminent in those of others. That most judicious writer (60) about the nature of the Gods, commonly call'd Phurnutus, tho' his true name w^as CoRNUTUs, a Stoic Philosopher, whom I shall have fre- quent occasion to quote hereafter, " Owns the great *^ (61) variety, and consequently the perplexedness and *' obscurity, that occurs in the history of Hercules ; " whereby it is diflicult to know certainly what were •* his real atchievments, or what were fabulously father- *' ed upon him: but having been an excellent General, " wiio had in diverse countries signaliz'd his valor, he (00) Phoarnoutou throria peri tes ten theon phy.seo.", rulgo : sed, ut Ravii cadex 4" Vaiicanus legunt (notante dnrtissimo G&leo) terns titulus est Kornoutt>a ep:drora£ ton kjita teu Heiieniken theoriau paradidonaeuon. (61) To de dvrdiakrita .'^pg'onenai ta ton theou idia, apo ton peri ton He- roos historoumenon. Taclia (i'aa he leonte kai to ropalon ek tes palaias the- ologias epi touton meteneneg'aiena eie ; strateg-on gar auton genoraenon agathon, kai polla mere tt-s ges meta (l3'nameos epelthonta ouch' hoion te gynonon edox- an perielolythenai xylo raono hoplismenon : alia tois * episemojs tou tlieou, meta ton apatlianatismon, hypo ton euergetoiimeaon kekosmesthai ; symbaloQ gar hekateron eie rorarrs kai gcnaaiotetop, Scc^ * ALU piSyaois, OF THE DRUIDS. " thinks it not probable, that lie went onely arm*d <* with a Lion's skin and a Club ; but that he was re- " presented after his death with these, as symbols of " generosity and fortitude, for which reason he was " pictur'd with a bow and arrows." To this let me add, that several valiant men in several nations having, in imitation of some one man any where, been called or rather surnam'd Hercules ; not only the works of many, as subduing of Tyrants, exterminating of wild beasts, promoting or exercising of commerce, and pro- tecting or improving of learning have been ascrib'd to one : but that also wherever any robust person was found represented with a skin and a club, a bow and arrows, hewas straight deem'd to beHERCULEs; whence the Egyptian, the Indian, the Tyrian, the Cretan, the Grecian or Theban, and the Gallic Hercules. This was a constant way with the Greecs and Romans, who, for example, from certain resemblances perfectly acci- dental, conjectur'd that Isis was honour'd by the (62) Germans, and Bacchus worship'd by the (63) Jews, which last notion is refuted even by their enemy (64) (()2) Pars Suevorum ^- I.^idi sacnficat. Uncle causa et orig!j pcregrino sacro parum com peri; nisi quod signum ip-^ su?n, in modum Liburnae Jiguratura^ ducet adcectam Religi- ontm. "^f ACiT. de mor. Geiniau. cap. 9. (,63) Plutarch. Symposiac. lib. 4. quem proUxlus dia^ sercntcm otiosus consulaSy hctoi . (64) Qida sacerdotes eorum tibia tympamsque concinebant^ hedera mnciebantur ^ vitisque aureu templo reperta, Liberum patrem coli, domitorem Orient.is, qiddam arbitrati sunt, jie- quaquajii cor/irruentibus instiintis: quippe Liber festos lae^ tosque tUus posuity Judivorum mos absurdas sordidasoue^ Lib. 6. cap. 5. 80 THE HISTORY Tacitus. Such superficial discoveries about the Cel- tic Divinities I shall abundantly expose. Yet that Ogmius might be really the Grecian Hercules, well known in Gauie, it wiR be no valid exception that he was by the Druids Theologically made the symboll of the Force of Eloquence, for which that country has been ever distinguish'd and esteem'd : since even in Greece he was, as Phurnutus assures us, mystically accounted (65) that Reason which is diffused thro" all things, according to which nature is vigorous and strong, invincible and ever generating \ being the power that communicates virtue and Jirmness to every part of thijigs. The Scholiast of Apollonius affirms, that the natural Philosopliers understood by Hercules, the (66) inteU ligence and permanence of bei?igs : as the Egyptians held him to be (67) that Reason^ luhich is in the tvhole of things, and in every part. Thus the learned allego- riz'd away among others, as I said before, the fabulous atchievments and miraculous birth of this Hero, on which we shall however touch again, v/hen we come to explain the Heathen humor of making all extraor- dinary persons the Sons of Gods, and commonly begot on Virgins ; tho' this last is not the case of Hercules, who was feign'd to be the Son of Jupiter by Alc?7iena, (65) Heracles de estin ho en tois holois log-os, kath* hon he physls ischyra lai krataia estin, aniketos kai apevigenniitos ousa : metadotikos ischyos, kai tes para ineros alkes hyparchon. {66) Para tois Physikois hojleracles synesis ka; alke lambanetai. (67) Ton en pasi, kjii dia panton, lo^ou ; 7ion H.'lion, ut :'ormpte legi cuvi Ga^eo suspicar in Macrobio, Sit»iruiil, lib. 1. cap. 20. OF THE DRUIDS. 81 another man's wife. This wou d be reckon d immoral among men, but Jupiter, said the Priests, can do with his own what he pleases : which reason, if it contented the husbands, cou d not displease the batchelors, who might chance to be sometimes Jupiter s substitutes. The Druidical allegory of Ogmius, or the Gallic Her- cules, which in its proper place I shall give you at large, is extremely beautiful : and as it concerns that Eloquence ^v hereof you are so consummate a master, cannot but powerfully charm you. XIII. In the mean time 'tis probable your Lord- ship will be desireous to know, whether, besides the language and traditions of the Irish, or the monuments of stone and other materials which the country affords, there yet remain any Literary records truly antient and unadulterated, whereby the History of the Druids, with such other points 6f antiquity, may be retriev'd, or at least illustrated ? This is a material question, to which I return a clear and direct answer; that not onely there remain very many antient Manuscripts undoubtedly genuine, besides such as are forgd, and greater num- bers (68) interpolated, several whereof are in Ireland itself, some here in England, and others in the Irish Monasteries abroad: btit that, notwithstanding the long state of barbarity m which that nation hath lain, and (68) As the Uraictacht na neigios^ i. e. the AccideiKe of the Artists, or the Poets; which being the work of For- CHERN before-nam'd, was interpolated, and fitted to his own time, by Ceann faoladii the Son of Oilioll, ia the Year of C'A? ist G28. I 8<3 THR HIS;T0RY after all the rebellions and wars with which the king- dom has been harrass'd ; they have incomparably more antient materials of that kind for their history, to which even their Mythology is not imserviceable, than either the English, or the French, or any other European na- tion^ with whose Manuscripts I have any acquaintance. Of tliese I shall one day give a catalogue, marking the places where they now ly, as many as I know of them ; but not meaning every Transcript of the same IManu- script, which wou'd be endless, if not impossible. In all conditions the Irish have been strangely sollicitous, if not in some degree superstitious, about preserving their books and parchments ; even those of them which are so old, as to be now partly or v/holly unintelligible^ Abundance thro' over care have perished under ground, the concealer not having skill, or wanting searcloth and other proper materials for preserving them. The most valuable pieces, both in verse and prose, w^ere written hj their Heathen ancestors ; whereof some indeed have been interpolated after the prevailing of Christianity, which additions or alterations are nevertheless easily distinguish d : and in tliese books the rites and formu- laries of the Druids, together with their Divinity and Philosophy ; especially their two grand doctrines of t\\e eternity and incorruptibility of the universe, and the incessant Revolution of all beings and forms, are very Gpecially, tho' sometimes very figuratively express d. Hence their AUanimation and Transmigration. Why none of the natives have hitherto m.ade any better use of these treasures ; or wliy both thcv, and such other:-^ OF THE DRUIDS. SS taw pMM— — — <— — i^— 11— — B— ■— w ill ■iiiBii M-- in — — as have written concerning the Histoiy of Ireland, have onely entertain d the world with the fables of it, as no country wants a fabulous account of its original, or the succession of its Princes, why the modern Irish His- torians, I say, give us such a medley of relations, un- pick'd and unchosen, I had rather any man else shcu d tell: The matter is certainly ready, there wants but will or skill for working of it ; separating the Dross from the pure Ore, and distinguishing counterfeit from sterling coin. This in the meantime is undeniable, that learned men in other places, perceiving the same dishes to be eternally serv'd up at eveiy meal, are of opinion that there is no better fare in the country ; while those things have been conceald from them by the ignorant or the lazy, that would have added no small ornament even to their ^classical studies. Of this I hope to con- vince the world by the lustre, which, in this work, I shall impart to the Antiquities not only of Gaule and Britain, but likewise to numerous passages of the Greec and Latin authors. How many noble discoveries of the like kind might be made in all countries, where the use of Letters has long subsisted ! Such things in the mean time are as if they were not : for Paulum sepvltce distat inertice Celaia virtus, HoRAT. lib. 4. Od. 9, The use of letters has been very antient in Ireland, which at first were cut on the bark Of trees (69), pre- par'd for that purpose ; or on smooth tables of birch » {69) Oraium* 84 THE HISTORY wood, which v/ere call'd [70] Poet3 tables ; as their characters were in general namd [71] twigs and branch-letters, from their shape. Their Alphabet was call d Beth-luis-niouy from the three first letters of the same, B, L, N, Beth, Luis, Nion [72] : for the parti- cular name of every letter was, for memory-sake, from some tree or other vegetable ; which, in the infancy of writing on barks and boards, was very natm*al. They had also many characters signifying whole words, like the Egyptians atid the Chinese. When Patric intro- duc d the Roman letters, as I said above, then, from a corruption of Ahcedarium, they call'd their new Alpha- bet [73] Aibghittir ; which, by the Monkish writers, has been Latinizd [74] Abgetorium. But there florish- ed a great number of Druids, Bards, Vaids, and other authors in Ireland long before Patricks arrival ; whose learning was not only more extensive, but also much more useful than that of their Christian posterity this last sort being almost wholly imploy d in scholastic [70] Taibhle Fileadh. [71] Feadha : Craobh Ogham, , [7^2] Birch, Quicken^ and Ash^ [73] At first it was very analogically pronounc'd Ah-ke^^ dair, since the letter C then in Latin, as still in Irish and British, had the force of K no less before E and I, than be- fore A, O, U ; haying never been pronounced like S by the antient Romans, who said Kikero, kenseo^ koecus, but not SiSERO, senseo, soecus^ when the words Cicero, censeo, coecus^ or such like occurr'd : so that Ahkedair did natural- ly liquidate into Aibghittir, in the manner that all Gramma- rians know. [74] Scripsit Abgetoria [scilicet Patricius'] ^bb^ et €0 am^ plius fiumero, Nenn. Hist. Britan. cap. 59. OF THE DRUIDS. 8S Divinity, Metaphysical or Chronological Disputes, Le- gends, Miracles, and Martyrologies, especially after the eighth century. Of all the things committed ;o wri- ting by the Heathen Irish, none were more celebrated, or indeed in themselves more valuable, than their laws ; which were deliver d, as antiently among some other nations, in short sentences, commonly in verse, no less reputed infallible Oracles than the Lacedemo- nian Rethrew (15) : and, what's remarkable, they are «xpresly term'd (76) Celestial Judgements ; for the pronouncing of which, the most famous were Forchern^ Neidy Conla, Eogan, Modan^ Moran^ King Cormac^ his Chief Justice Fithil, Fachma, Maine, Ethnea the daughter of Amalgad, iind many more. The Ce'estial Judgements were only preserv d in traditionary poems, according to the institution of the Druids, till commit- ted to writing at the command ,of (77) Concovar king of Ulster ; who dy'd in the year of Christ 48, where- as Patric begun his Apostleship but in the year 432c The Poets that wrote were numberless, of whose works several pieces remain still intire, with diverse fragments of others. The three greatest incouragers of learning among the Heathen Irish monarchs were, first, King (78) AchaiuSy surnamed the Doctor of Ire- landy who is said to have built at Tarali an Academy^ call'd The Court of the Learned (79). 'Twas he that (7;)) Retrai. (76) Breatha nimhe, (77) CONCHOBHAR NeSSAN, Z. €, MgC NbASSA. (78) EocHAiDH Ollamhfodla. (79) MuT'Ollamhan. 86 ITHE HISTORY ordain d, for every principal family, hereditary Anti- quaries ; or, in case of incapacity, the most able of the same historical house, with rank and privileges imme- diately after the Dmids. The next promoter of Let- ters was King (80) Tuathalius, whose surname is rendered Bonaventura, tho' not so properly, and who appointed a triennial revision of all the Antiquaries Books, by a committee of three Kiiigs or great Lords, three Druids, and three Antiquaries. These were to cause whatever was approv'd and found valuable in those books, to be transcribed into the royal (81) Book of Tarah ; which was to be the perpetual standard of their history, and by which the contents of all other such books shou'd be receiv'd or rejected. Such good regulations I say there were made, but not how long or how well observed : or, if truth is to be preferr'd to all other respects, we must own they were but very slightly regarded : and that the Bards, besides their poetical license, were both mercenary and partial to a scandal- ous degree. The ordinance however is admirable, and deserves more to be imitated, than we can ever expect it to be so any where. The third most munificent pat- ron of Literature was King Cormac, surnamed (82) Long-beard, who renew'd the laws about the Antiqua- ries, re-built and inlarg'd the Academy at Tarah for history, law, and military prowess : besides that he was an indefatigable distributer of justice, having written (80) TUATHAL TeaCKTMHAR. (81) Leahhar Teamhra, (82) Ulfhada. ' OF THE DRUIDS. 87 himself abundance of laws still extant. So is his (83) Institution of a Prince (84^ J or his Precepts to his son and successor Carbre (85) Liffecair, who in like manner w^as not superficially addicted to the Muses. CoRMAC was a great proficient in Philosophy, made light of the superstitions of the Druids in his youth ; and, in his old age having quitted the scepter, he led a contemplative life : rejecting all the Druidical fables and idolatry, jlnd acknowledging only one Supreme Being, or first Cause. This short account of the pri- me vous Irish Learning, w^hereof you'll see many proofs and particulars in the more than once mention'd Dis- sertation concerning the Celtic Language and Colonies^ to be annext to our Critical Histortjy will, I am confix dent, excite your curiosity, XIV. The custom therefore, or rather cunning of the Druids, in not committing their rites or doctrines to writing, has not deprived us as some may be apt to imagine, of sufficient materials to compile their His- tory. For, in the first place, when the Romans be- came masters of Gaule, and every where mixt with the natives ; they cou'dnot avoid, in that time of light and learning, but arrive at the certain knowledge of whatever facts they have been pleas'd to hand doy/n (83) ' Tis, among other most valuable pieces, in the Col- lection call'd (> Du vegan's, folio 190. a, now or late in the possebsion of the right honourable the Earl of Clankic- KARD. There are copies of it elsewhere, but that's the oldest known. (84) TeagargP^GgL [35] CAiRBKE LinOCUAIR, g8 THE HISTORY to us, tho' not alway rightly taking the usages of o^ ther nations : c)s it must needs ht from a full convic- tion of the Druidical fraudulent superstitions, and bar- barous tyranny exercis'd over the credulous people;, that these same Romans, who tolerated all religions, yet supprest this institution in Gaiile and Britain, with the utmost severity. The Druids hovv^ever were not immediately extinguished, but only their barbarous, tyrannical, or illusory usages. And indeed their hu- man sacrifices, with their pretended JMagic, and an authority incompatible with the power of the magi- strate, were things not to be indiired by so wise a state as that of the Romans. In the second place, the Greec colony of Marseilles, a principal mart of Learn- ing, could not want persons curious enough, to ac- quaint them.selves vvith the Religion, Philosophy, and Customs of the country, wherein they liv'd. Strabo and others give us an account of such. From these the elder Greecs had their information, not to speak now of the Gauls seated in Greece it self and in Les- ser Asia, as the later Greecs had theirs from the Ro- mans ; and, by good fortune, we have a vast number of passages from both. But, in the third place, among the Gauls themselves and the Britons, among the Irish and Albanian Scots, their Historians and Bards, did always register abundance of particulars about the Druids, whose aifairs were in most things inseparable from those of the rest of tlie inhabitants : as they w^ere not only the judges in all matters civil or re- ligious, but in a manner the executioners too in crimi- OF THE DRUIDS. SD nal causes ; and that their sacrifices were very public, which consequently made their rites no less obseivable. One thing which much contributed to make them known, is, that the King was ever to have a Dniid a- bout his person ; to pray and sacrifice, as well as to be judge for determing emergent controversies, tho' he had a civil judge besides. So he had one of the chief Lords to advise him, a Bard to sing the praises of his ancestors, a Chronicler to register his own actions, a Physician to take care of his health, a Musician to in- tertain him. Whoever was absent, these by law must be ever present, and no fewer than three Controllers of his family : which Decemvirate was the institution of King CoRMAC. The same custom was taken up by all the Nobles, whereof each had about him his Druid, Chief Vassal, Bard, Judge, Physician, and Harper; the four last having lands assign'd them, whicli descended to their families, wherein these professions were here- ditary, as were their Marshal, and the rest of their of- ficers. After the introducing Christianity, the Druid was succeeded by a Bishop or Priest, but the rest con- tinued on the antient foot : insomuch, that for a long time after the EnglishConquest, the Judges, the Bards, Physicians, and Harpers, held such tenures in Ireland. The ODuvegans were the hereditary Bards of the OKellies, the OClerys and the OBrodins were also hereditary Antiquaries : the O Shells and the O Can- vans were such hereditary Doctors, the Maglanchys such hereditary Judges, and so of the rest ; for more examples, especially in this place, are needless : it 90 THR HISTORY wou'd be but muitiplying of names, without ever mak» ing the subject clearer. Only I must remark here, from the very nature of things^^ no less than from facts, that, tho' Cesar be silent about it, there were civil Judges in Gaule just a&in Ireland, yet under the direc- tion and controll of the Druids. This has led many to imagine, that, because the Dniids influenc'd all^, there were therefore no otlier judges, which is doubt- less an egregioBS mistake. - XV. Further, tho'^ the Dmids were exemted from bearing aniis, yet they finally determined concerning Peace and War : and those of that order, who attend- ed the King and the Nobles, were observed to be the greatest make-bates and incendiaries; the most averse to Peace in Council, and the most cruel of all others in Action. Some of them were ally'd to Kings, and many of them were King's sons, and great numbers of them cull'd out of the best families : which you see is an old trick, but has not been always effectual enough to perpetuate an order of men. This however made Flistorians not to forget them, and indeed several of them render'd themselves very remarkable ; as the Druid Trosdan, who found an antidote against the poyson'd arrows of certain Brittish invaders : (86j Cabadius, grandfather to the riiost celebrated cham- pion (81) CucuLAND ; (88) Tages the father of Mor- (8(5) Cathbaid. (87) Cuchulaid. (88) Tadhg. OF THE DRUIDS. 91 NA, mother to the no less famous (^89 j Fin mac Cuil : Dader, who was kill'dLy Eogan, son to Olill Olom King of Munster ; which Eogan was marry'd to JMoiNic, the daughter of the Druid Dill, The Druid MoGRUTH. the son of Sinduinn, was the stoutest man in the wars of King Cormac : nor less valiant was f 90^ Dubcomar, the chief Druid of King Fiacha ; and Lugadius Mac-Con the abdicated Kin^ of Ireland, was treacherously run thro' the body with a lance by the Druid (^91 j Firchisus. Ida and Ono, Lords of Corcachlann near Roscommon, were Druids ; wherof Ono presented his fortress of Imleach-Ono to Patric, who converted it into the religious house of Elphin, since an (92) Episcopal See. From the very name of (93) Lamderg, or Bloody-hand, we learn what sort of man the Druid was, who by the vulgar is thought to live inchanted in the mountain between Bunncranach and (94) Fathen in the county of Dunegall. Nor must we forget, tho' out of order of time. King (95) NiALL of the nine hostage's Arch-Druid, by name (96) (89) Finn mhac Cubhaill. (90) dubhchomar. {91) Fear CHI OS. (92) Ailjinn, from a vast Obelise th^t stood hy a well in- that place ; and that fr^ll down in the year \67o. The word signiiies the white Stone, and was rorriipted into Oilfinn. h'tarne wou'd derive the name from the ciearness of the fountain, but 'tis by torture: others from one Oilfinn, a Danish commander. (93) Lambhdearg. (9^4^) Taobhsaoil'treach, (95) NiALL Naoighi-allach. (96) LaIGHICHIN mhac BARRECHEAUHi.* »3S THE HISTORY Lagicinus Barchedius ; who procured a most cruel war against Eocha King of Munster, for committing manslaugliter on his son ; and which the Draids mak- ing a common cause, there was no honor, law, or hu- manity cbserv'd towards this Ring ; whose story, at length in our book, will stand as a lasting monument of Druidical bloodiness, and a Priest-ridden State. I conclude with Bacrach, chief Dmid to Conchobhar Nessan King of Ulster, who is fabl'd by the Monks long after the extinction of the Druids, to have before it happen'd, others say at the very time, described the Passion of Jesus Christ, in so lively and moveing a manner ; that the King transported with rage drew his sword, and with inexpressible fury fell a hacking and hewing the trees of the wood where he then was, which he mistook for the Jews: nay, that he put him- self into such a heat as to dy of this frenzy. But even O Flaherty fully confutes this silly fiction, (97) not thinking it possible that such circumstances cou'd be any way inferr'd from an Eclipse, which is the foun- dation of the story, noi that a clearer revelation shou'd be made of those things to the Irish Dniids, than to the Jewish Prophets ; and, finally, by shewing, that Conchobhar dy'd quietly in his bed fifteen years after the crucifixion of Christ. Bacrach however was a great man, and the King himself had a Druid for his step-father and instructor. XVL It can be no wonder therefore, that men thus (97) Ogtjg. OF THE DRUIDS. 93 sacred in their function, illustrious in their alliances, eminent for their learning, and honour'd for their valor, as well as dreaded for their power and influence, should also be memorable both in the poetry and prose of their country. And so in fact they are, notwithstanding what Dudley Forbes, before mention'd, did, in a let- ter to an Irish writer, (98) in the year 1683, affirm: namely, that, in Patric's time no fewer than 180 Vo- lumes, relating to the affairs of the Dmids, were burnt in Ireland. Dr. Kennedy says, (99) that Patric burnt 300 volu7nns, stuft with the fables and superstitions of Heathen Idolatry : unfit, adds he, to he transmitted to posterity. But, pray, how so? why are Gallic or Irish superstitions more unfit to be transmitted to posterity, than those of the Greecs and Romans ? Why shou'd Patric be more squeamish in this respect than Moses or the succeding Jewish Prophets, who have transmit- ted to all ages the Idolatries of the Egyptians, Pheni- cians, Caldeans, and other Eastern nations ? What aa irreparable destruction of histoiy, what a deplorable extinction of arts and inventions, what an unspeakable detriment to Learning, what a dishonor upon human understanding, has the cowardly proceeding of the ig- norant, or rather of the interested, against unarm'd monuments at all times occasion'd! And yet this book- burning and letter-murdring humor, tho' far from being commanded by Christ, has prevail'd in Christianity (98) O Flaherty. (99) Dissertation about the Family of the Stuarts, Pref. page 29, M^ THE HISTORY from the beginning : as in the Acts of the Apostles we read, (100 J that many of them which heliev'd-and us'd curious arts, brought their books together, and burnt them before all men ; and they counted the price of them^ and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver, or about three hundred pounds sterling. This was the first in- stance of burning books among Christians ; and ever since that time the example has been better follow'd, then any precept of the GospeL XVII. From what we have hitherto observed, you see that our Historians, IMy Lord, do, in spite of all chances, abound v. ith matter enough to revive and il- lustrate the memory of the Druids. Besides that the rites and opinions of other nations serve not only to give light to theirs, but were many of them of Dmidi- cal or Celtic extraction. This no body will deny of the Aboriginal Italians, who having been often over- run by the Gauls, and having several Gallic Colonies planted among them^ they partook both of their Lan- guage and Religion ; as will be very easily evinc'd in our Dissertation, and has been already tolerably done by father Pezron in his Celtic Originals. Diogenes Laertius, in ^^.q Proem of his Philosophical History, reckons the Druids among the chief Authors of the Barbarous Theology and Philcsophy, long anterior to the Greecs, their disciples: tmdiPhurmdus, in his treatise of the nature of the Gods, says most (101) expresly, that (100) Acts 19. 19. (101) Tou de pollas kai poikilas peri theon g^e^onenai para tois palaiois Hel- I5si niythopoias, hos allai men epi Magois gcg-onasin, aliai de par' ajn^yptiois OF THE DRUIDS. 95 among the many and various fables which the antient Greecs had about the Gods, some were derived from the Mages, some from the Egyptians and Gaids, others from the Africans and Phrygians, and others from o- ther nations : for which he cites Homer as a witness, nor is there any thing that bears a greater witness t-o it self. This however is not all : for, over and above the several helps I have mention'd, there are likewise numerous monuments of the worship of the Druids, their valor, policy, and manner of habitation, still re- maining in France, in Britain, in Ireland, and in the adjacent Islands ; many of 'em intire, and the rest by the help of these easily conceiv'd. Most are of stone^ as the lesser ones are of glass, and others of earth bak'd extremely hard. The two last kinds were ornaments or magical gems, as were also those of Chrystal and Agat, either perfectly spherical, or in the figure of a lentill ; or shap'd after any of the other ways, which shall be described and portray'd in our book. Tlie Glass Amulets or Ornaments are in the Lowlands of Scotland, call'd Adder-stanes, and by the Welsh Gleini na Droedh, or Druid-Glass, which is in Irish Glaine nan Druidhe, Glaine in this language signifying Glass, tho' obsolete now in the Welsh dialect, and preserv'd only in this Gleini na Droedh. But the more massy Monuments shall, in a day or tvro, be the subject of another Letter from. My Lord, Your Lordship's most obllg'd and veiy June 25, 1718. Humble Servant kai Keltois, kai Libysi, kai Phryx:, kal tois allois ethnesi. Cap. 17. Thus the Manusciipt veri) accuratelu .• but the printtd copy has tois aiiois Hellesi Siwcrtij,- , ovsiy in the endf end wants I'hrjx. bifure, which is lery esscntiaL TiiE SECC^'I> LETTER, To the Right Honour able the Lord VISCOUNT MOLESWORTH, X^ERMiT rae at this time, My Lord, according to the promise with which I concluded my last, to send to your Lordship A Specimen of the Monuments relating to the Druids^ that are still extant, either intire or im- perfect. I have ever indeavoiir'd to avoid deserving the blame, with which an approv'd author charges those ; who, while very conversant in the history of o- ther places, appear to be absolute strangers in their own country : and as I know no man better versed in foren affairs or in our own, which an able statesman will never separate, nor a greater master of antient or modern history than yourself ; so I am apt to hope, that the collection of Brittish and Irish Antiquities I here take the liberty to present to your Lord- siiip, may not prove altogether disagreea])le. The French examples, a fev/ excepted, I reserve for the larger v/ork, and in the mean time I procede. On the tops of mountains and other eminences in Ireland, in Wales, in Scotland, in the Scottish Hands and in the He of Man, where things have been least disorder'd or displaced by the frequency of inhabitants, or want of better ground for cultivation, tlierc are great heaps of OF THE DRUID?. Q7 stones, like the(l)MERCUR!AL heaps (2) of the Greecs, whereof when we tfeat of the Celtic Mercury in par- ticular. The heaps, which make my present subject, consist of stones of all sorts, from one pound to a hundred. They are round in form, and somewhat ta- pering or diminishing upwards : but on the summit was always a flat stone, for a use v/e shall presently explain. These heaps are of all bignesses, some of them containing at least a hundred cartload of stones : and if any of 'em be grown over with eartii, 'tis pure- ly accident in the long course of time wherein they have been neglected ; for no such thing was intended in the first making of them, as in the sepulchral bar- rows of the Gothic nations, which are generally of earth. Such a heap is in the antient Celtic language, and in every dialect of it, call'dCARN; urA every Cam so dispos'd, as to be in sight of some other Yet they are very different from the rude and much smaller pyramyds, which the old Irish erect along the roads in memory of the dead, by them call'd Leachda, and made of the first stones that offer. From the devotional rounds perform'd about the Cams in times of Heathen- ism, and whichy we shall see anon, are yet continued in many places of the Scottish Highlands and the He- brides, any circle, or turning about, is in Armoric call- ed cern (3) as cerna in that dialect is to make such a (1) Prossor^uousi <^e tons lithons tois Hermans hecnpfos ton parion'.on; heoa tina autois prostetheis, &c. PHURNrrr. de Nat. Dor. cap. 16'» (2). Hermaia, i. e. Acervi Mercuriales. (3) C is |.>ronounc'd as K. N m THE HISTORY turn. On the Carn call'd Cj-ig-y-dyrn, in the parish of Tre'lech in Caermarthenshire, the flat stone on the top is three yards in length, five foot over, and from ten to twelve inches thick. The circumference of this Carn at the bottom is about sixty yards, and 'tis about six yards high ; the ascent being very easy, tho' I sup- pose there v/as originally a ladder for this purpose. 11. Let this Carn serve for an example of the rest, as to their form and bulk ; only we may take notice here by the way, what odd imaginations men are apt to have of things they do not understand. Thus Mr. William Sacheverell, Governor of the He of Man under the right honorable the Earl of Derby in part of King William's reign, mistaking these Cams in his (4) Description of that Hand, " The tops of the moun- " tains (says he), seem nothing but the rubbish of na- " ture, thrown into barren and unfi-uitful heaps, as " near two thirds of the Hand are of this sort. Some ** seem particularly worthy our remark, as the two Ba- <• rowls, Skeyall, the Watch-hill of Rnock-a-low : but ^^ particularly Sneafeld, where it is not unpleasant," (continues he), " when the weather is clear and se- *' rene, to see three noble nations surrounding one of " the most obscure in the universe : which is, as it were, " the center of the Brittish empire." These heaps our author thought the work of chance, tho' artfully con- trived in all the Celtic countries ; as Dr. Martin thought a Carn in the He of Saint Kilda, wherof pre- (4) Page 13, OF THE DRUIDS, 9^ sently, to be a signal effect of Providence : But as for the Mannian nation, which is visibly the center of the Brittish world, it is very undeservedly become obscure, whether we consider what has been transacted in for- mer ages, it having been the theater of many surpriz- ing revolutions : or the particular usages in religious and civil affairs, that even now obtain there, especially their laws, which still continue mostly unwritten, for which reason they call them Breast-laws^ being with« out expense or delay, and undoubted remains of the justice of the Dmids. For, wherever they were not themselves a party, neither the Egyptians, nor Persians, nor Greecs, nor Romans, did surpass the wisdom, e- quity, and strictness of the Druids in the sanction or execution of their laws ; v/hich made all sorts of mea leave their controversies of every kind to their deter- mination, without any further appeal. Nor without some regard in fact, and a vast deal more in profession, to moral virtue, cou'd any set of Impostors in any count- ry possibly support their false doctrines and supersti- tious observances ; which receive credit from hence, as the teachers of 'em do all their power and authority, in proportion to the austerities they practise, or the ap- pearances they have of devotion. I say appearances, because this in most, join'd to real self-denial in a few, who by the rest are deem'd silly tho' useful creatures, w^iil long uphold an institution both erroneous and ty- rannical : which is the reason that, to this hour, the memory of the Druids is highly venerable among those of the He of iMan ; and that their laws are infinitely 100 THE HISTORY pieferr'd to all otliers by the Manksmen, who say the family of Derby comes nearest their excellence of any nice of men now in the world. Wherefore, as well in these regards, as in many others essential to my de- sign, I shall, in the body of the history, give a true idea of the past and present customs of this antient, though mixt people. Their numerous Cams, of whose origin anon, are not the onely monuments they have of the Druids. But that the chief College of these Philoso- phers was ever established there, and much less any such College appointed by the Kings of Scotland, as Hector Boethius feign'd, I shall demonstrate to be pure romance : and at the same time will not fail doing jus- tice to the memory of the great Hero and Legislator of the Hand, Man ANNAN ; reported, after the manner of those ages, to have been the Son of (5) Lear, or the God of the Sea, from his extraordinary skill in navigation and commerce. He was tniely the son of (6) Alladius, who was of royal blood, and is own name Orbsen ; but call'd Manannan from his country, and kill'd by one Ullin near Galway, in Ireland : of all which the par- ticulars will be given in their proper place, especially the Republic o/Manannan ; who, from his instmction hy the Druids, was reputed a consummate Magician, and was indeed most happy in stratagems of war both by land and sea. Mr. Saclieverell, except in affirming Manannan, whom he mis-names Mannan, to have been (5) Manannan mhac Leir. (6) AllaiDo OF THE DRUIDS. lOl (7) the father, founder, and legislator of the Hand, is out in every thing he says concerning him : for, in- stead of living about the beginning of the fifth century, he liv'd as many centuries before Christ ; and so cou'd not be contemporary with Patric, the Apostle of Man as well as Ireland. Neither was Manannan the son of a King of Ulster, nor yet the brother of Fergus II. (8) King of Scotland : and as for his not being able to get any information what became of him, I have already told that he was kill'd in Ireland, and by whom. III. In process of time the Cams, to which we now return, serv'd every where for beacons, as many of them as stood conveniently for this purpose : but they were originally design'd, as we are now going to see, for fires of another nature. The fact stood thus. On May- eve the Druids made prodigious fires on those Cams, which being every one, as we said, in sight of some o- ther, cou'd not but afford a glorious show over a whole nation. These fires were in honour of Beal or Bealan^ latiniz'd by the Roman authors into (9) Belenus, by which name the Gauls and their colonies understood the Sun : and therefore to this hour the first day of May is by the Ab-original Irish call'd La Bealteine, or the day ofBelensJire (10), I remember one of thoseCarns (7) Page 20. (8) Ibid. (9) Herodian. Auson. Capltolin, TertuL ^c. VideantuT etiam Grutcr, et Reines, in Inscriptionibus. (10) Etiam Bealltaiue, ^ autiquitus Beltiae. i0>3 THE HISTORY U.jl m nill . |lMW«llM» .< mjUlllML]M I MillLUL.U i lW i *lJ il l]l lUai MII. |l ilJJUIM W I II lieM— ^MII M I I ' U-iB »i -A » » .u m _ffiij.i gga on Fawn-hill within some miles of Londondeny, known by no other name but that of Bealteine, facing another such Cam on the top of Inch-hiii : and Gregory of Tours, in his book de Gloria Confessorum, mentions a (11) hill of the same name (12) between Artom and Kiom in Auvergne in France, from which Riom might be fairly view'd. But tho' later winters affirm with Valesius, in his GaUiarum notiiia, this hill to be now unknown ; yet Helen's heap on the top of it, is a sure mark whereby to discover ii. His circular tem- ple, as we shall see hereafter, is still there, if not the the Carn, having certainly existed in Gregory's time. Abundance of such heaps remain still on the mountains in France, and on the Alps. Those writers however are not to be blamed, as being strangers to the origin or use of such heaps ; and not able to distinguish them from certain other heaps, under which robbers and traitors were bury'd. These last are calFd in general hy the Welsh Carii-Vraduyr and Carn-Lhadron (13J ; or particularly after the proper names of the underly- ing criminals, as Carnedh-LeiieJyji, Carnedh-David^ and such like. As far from Auvergne as the Hand of Saint KiLDA, in the 58th degree of northern latitude, there is another hill denominated from Belenus, which more consonant to the Celtic idiom Herodiaii (14) (11) Cum [ex Artonensi vice] venisset in caannen mantis BelefiatensiSy de ijuo vici Ricomagensii pusUio contcmplatur, xidit hos, &;c, De Gloria Confessor, cap. 5. (12) Mons Belenatensis. (13) Traitor and thiefs Cara • in In^h Cani-bhrateoir & Carn an Ladrom. (14) Lib, 8, Cap. 7, OF THE DRUIDS. 103 wi'ites Belin, corruptly call'd Otter-Veaulf 15), or Bel en's heigth ; on which is a vast heap, whereof Doctor Mar- tin, in his account of that Hand, did not know the use, as I said before (16) : but the Carn being on the hill just above the landing place, he thinks it so order'd by Providence ; that by rouling down these stones, the in- habitants might prevent any body's coming ashore against their will. In the church of Birsa, near which stands a veiy remarkable Obelise, at the west end of the Hand call'd Pomona, or the mainland, in Orkney, there is an erect stone, with the w^ord Belu^ inscrib'd on it in antient characters. Yet whether this be any remembrance of Belenus, better according to the Irish idiom Belus, or be the Monument of a native Prince so call'd, I shall not here decide. The fact it self is told us by Mr. Brand (17), in his Description of Ork- ney and Zetland. I wish he had also told us, of what kind those antient characters are, or that he had exact- ly copy'd them : and if there be a man's portraiture on the stone, as Dr. Martin afHrms (18), the dress and posture will go a great way towards clearing the matter. IV. But to make no longer digression, May-day is likewise call'd La Bealteine by the Highlanders of Scotland, wiio are no contemtible part of the Celtic (15) Uachdar Bheil. (Iti) Page 64. (17) Page 14. (18) Page 358. 104 THE HISTORY off-spring. So it is in the He of Man : and in Armoric a Priest is still call'd Belec, or the servant of Bel, and Priesthood Belegieth. Two such fires, as we have mention'd, were kindFd by one another on May-eve in every village of the nation, as well throout all Gaule, as in Britain, Ireland, and the adjoining lesser Hands, between which fires the men and the beasts to be sa- crific'd were to pass ; from whence came the proverb, hehueen BeVs (19) two fires, meaning one in a great strait, not knowing how to extricate himself. One of the fires was on the Carn, another on the ground. On the eve of the first day of November (20), there were also such fires kindl'd, accompany 'd, as they constantly v/ere, with sacrifices and feasting. These November fires were .w Ireland call'd T'me tlacKd-gha, from tlacNd-gha (21), a place hence so call'd in Meath, where the Arch-Druid of the realm had his fire on the said eve ; and for v/hich piece of ground, because origi- nally belonging to Munster, but appointed by the su- preme Monarch for this use, there was an annual ac- knowledgement, call'd sgreaholl, paid to the King of that Province. But that all the Druids of Ireland as- sembl'd there on the first of November, as several authors injudiciously write ; is not only a thing impro- bable, but also false In fact : nor were they otberwise there at that time, nor all at any time together in one place, but as now all the Clergy of England are said (19) Ittir dha theine Biieil. (20) Snmhbhuin, (21) Fire-groiiii'.]. OF THE DRUIDS. 105 to be present in their Convocations ; that is, by their representatives and delegates. Thus Cesar is likewise to be understood, v/hen, after speaking of the Arch* Druid of Gaule, he says that (22) the Dridd$ at a cer- tain time of the Year assemhVd in a consecrated grove in the country of the Carnutes (23), which is I'eckon'd the middle region of all Gaule. But of these assemblies in their place. On the foresaid eve all the people of the country, out of a religious persuasion instill'd into them by the Druids, extinguish'd their fires as intirely; as the Jews are wont to sweep their houses, the night before the feast of unleavened hreacL Then every master of a family was religiously oblig'd, to take a portion of the consecrated fire home, and to kindle the fire a new in his house, which for the ensuing year v/as to be lucky and prosperous. He was to pay however for his future happiness, whether the event prov'd answerable or not: and tho' his house shou'd be afterwards burnt, yet he must deem it the punishment of some new sin, or ascribe it to any thing, rather than to want of virtue in the consecration of the fire, or of validity in the benedic- tion of the Druid ; who, from officiating at the Cams, was likewise call'd (24) Cairneach, a name that con-' tinu'd to signify a Priest, even in the Christian times, (^2) Vi [Druides] certo anni tempore injinibus Carmitum, quae regio totius Galliae media habetur, considunt in luco consecrato, De bello Gallico. lib. (i. cap. 13. (23) Now le Pais Char train, the place Dreux. (^4) This is the true origin of the word Cairneach, as gignitying a Priest : but not derivM, as men iguorant of o 105 THE HISTORY But if any man had not clear'd with the Druids for the last year's dues, he was neither to have a spark of this holy fire from the Cams, nor durst any of his neighbors let him take tlie benefit of theirs, under pain of Ex- communication ; which, as manag^ed by the Druids, was worse than death. If he wou'd brew therefore or bake, or roast or boil, or warm himself and family, in a word, if he wouYl live the winter out, the Druids dues must be paid by the last of October : so that this trick alone was more effectual, than are all the Acts of Parliament made for recovering our present Cler- gy's dues : which Acts are so many and so frequent, that the bare enumeration of them wou'd make an mdifferent volum. Wherefore I cannot but admire the address of the Druids, in fixing this ceremony of rekindling family-fires to the beginning of Novem- ber, rather than to JMay or Midsummer, when there was an equal opportunity for it. V. A world of places (25) are 'denominated from those Cams of all sorts, as in Wales Garn-Lhechart, Cani'Lhaid ; in Scotland Carn,- Wath, Carn-tullock, Drum-cairn, Glen-cairn ; in Ireland Cam-mail, Carn- aret, Carnan-iagher, Carnan-tober (26) ; and in Nor- thumberland, as in other parts of the North of Eng- land, they are sometimes call'd Laics or Lows, a name antiquity fancy, from Coroineach, alluding to the crown^ form'd tonsure of the Monks, not near so old as this word^ (25) The places are numberless in all these countries, (26) Carnan is the diminutive of Cam. Of the DRUIDS. i, they also give the Gothic Barrows. The Lowland Scots call 'em in the plural number Cairns, whence se- veral Lordships are nam'd, as one in Lennox, another in Galloway, to mention no more, from which the sur- name of Cairns. The family of Carne, in Wales, is from the like original : but not, as some have thought, the OKearnys (27) of Ireland ; one of which, Mr. John KexVRNy, Treasurer of Saint Patric's in Dublin, was very instrumental in getting the New Testament translated into Irish, about the end of the last century but one. As to this fire-worship, v/hich, by the way, prevail'd over all the world, the Celtic nations kind- led other fires on midsummer eve, which are still con- tinued by the Roman Catholics of Ireland ; making them in all their grounds, and carrying fiaming brands about their Corn-fields. This they do likewise all o- ver France, and in some of the Scottish lies. These Midsummer fires and sacrifices, were to obtain a bles- sing on the fruits of the €arth, now becoming ready for gathering ; as those of the . first of May, that they might prosperously grow : and those of the last of Oc- tober, were a Thanksgiving for finishing their Flarvest, But in all of 'em regard was also had to the several de- grees of increase and decrease in the heat of the Sun ; as in treating of their Astronom^, and manner of reckoning time, we shall clearly show. Their other fes- tivals, with their peculiar observations, shall be likewise explain'd each in their proper Sections ; especially that of New-year's day, or the tenth of March, their fourth Vll) Ccarnufgk, besides CeaiharnaigL lOB THE HISTORY grand festival, which was none of the least solemn : and which was the day of seeking-, cutting, and consecra- ting their wonder-working All-heal, or Misselto of Oak. This is the ceremony to which Virgil alludes by his gdlden-branck, in the sixth book of the Aeneid, for which there is incontestable proof, which w^e shall give in a section on this subject. 'Tis Pliny who says, that the Druids calfd it, in their language, by a word sig- nifying (28) All-heal ; which w^ord in the Armorican dialect is oll-yach, in the Welsh ol-hiach, and in the Irish Uil-iceach. Here by the way, we may observe, that as the Greecs had many words from the Barbarians, for which Plato in his (29) Cratylus, judges it would be lost labor to seek Etymologies in their own langu- age : so it is remarkable, that certain feasts of Apollo were call'd (30) Camea, from the killing of no body knows v/hat Prophet Carnus. Some said that he was the son of Jupiter and Europa, kill'd for a Magician by one Ales ; and others yet, that Carni was a com- mon name for an order of Prophets in Acarnania. Apollo himself was surnamed Carnus (31) ; and, from him, May was call'd the Carnean Month. Nay there were Carnean Priests, and a particular kind of Music, which we may interpret the Cairn-iunes, vras appro- (Q8) Omnia'Sanantcm appellantes suo vocahulo, i<;c. Lib. 16. Cap. 44. <29) Ei th 7?toI tauta liata ton Helloniken pTiont'n, hos ''oiliotos keitai ; al- ia mt"- kat' ekeinen, px h«"s to onom.i tyng'chanei on, oistha hoti aporoi aa- Inter optra, edit. Para:. Vol. 1. Fajf. 4f)9. (30) Ta Karnoa. (3 1) Karneios men. OF THE DRUIDS. 109 priated to those festivals in May, perfectly answering those of the Celtic tribes. It is therefore highly proba- ble, that the Greecs did learn these things from the Gauls their conquerors, and in many places seated among them ; or from some of their travellors in Gaule it self, if not from the Phocean colony at Marseilles. We know further, that the making of hymns was a special part of the Bards office ; who by Strabo, are expresly term'd Hymn-makers (32) : and I show'd be- fore, that the antient Greecs, by their own confession, learnt part of their Philosophy, and many of their sa- cred fables, from the Gauls. So that this criticism is not so void of probability, as many which pass current enough in the world. However, I fairly profess to give it onely for a conjecture ; which I think preferable to the farr-fetcht and discordant accounts of the Greecs : who, in spight of Plato and good sense, wou'd needs be fishing for the origin of every thing in their own language. In the mean time it is not unworthy our remark, that as (33) Prizes were adjudg'd to the Vic- tors in this Carnean Music among the Greecs : so the distributing of Prizes to the most successful Poets, was no less usual among the Gauls and their colonies; where- of there is undeniable proof in the Brittish and Irish Histories, as will be seen in our Section concerning the Bards. VI. Another Criticism relating immediately to (32) HjTnnctal. <33) Timotheo*— -ta Karnela ag-oDizoireiiOS. Plutarch, in Apophthegm, 110 THE HISTORY Apollo, for which I think this a proper placc^ I give as something more than a conjecture. In the Lordship of Merchiston, near Edinburgh, was formerly dag up a stone with an Inscription to Apollo Grannies ; concern- ing which Sir Jaines Dalrjjrnple Baronet, in his second edition of Ca7nbden's Description of Scotland, thus ex- presses hiiiiself after his (3i) author- Who this ApoU lo Grannus ?night be, and whence he should have his \ name, not one, to viy knowledge, of our grave Senate of Antiquaries hitherto cou'd ever telL But if I might he alloiv'd, from out of the loiuest bench, to ' speak ivhat I think ; I wou\l say that Apollo Grannus, among the Romans, was the sa?ne that {35) Apollon Aker- sekomes, that is, Apollo with long hair, among the Greecs: for Isidore calls the long hair of the Goths Grannos. This consequence will by no means hold : for what are the Goths to the Rom ans, who exprest this Greec by intoiisus Apollo ? And since Goths speak- ing Latin had as little to do in the shire of Lothian, it will not be doubted, but that it was some Uoman who paid this vow ; as soon as 'its known, that, besides the man's name QuiiM||tLusius SxVbinianus, Grian^ among the many {S6) ^^c names of the Sun, was (34) This passage m Cambden is in the 807th page of CiiUiicH ill's t^dition, anno lo95. (3-5) Appollon akersckorae-s Item akeirekoaes. (36) Besides the Sim's religious attribute of Bel, Bcal, Belin, or Belen us, it is call'd Haul \\\ Welsh, Houl in Cornish, Heol in Armoric; in all which the aspirate h is. put for s, as in a world of such oiher words : for any word beginning with s in the antient Celtic, does in the oblique cases begin with h. Yet s is still retain'd in the Armoric iJisidy in the Ciunbrian Dydhsye, and the Cornubian Dezil; OF THE DRUIDS. Ill one, being the common name of it still in Irish : and that, from his beams, Greannach in the same language signifies long-hair d, which is a natural epithet of the Sun in all nations. There is no need therefore of go- ing for a Gothic derivation to Isidore, in whom now I read Scots instead of Goths ; and not, as I fancy, with- out very good reason. It wou'd be superfluous to produce instances, the thing is so common, to show that the Romans, to their own names of the Gods, added the names or attributes under which they were invok'd in the country, where they happen'd on any occasion to sojourn. Nor was this manner of topical worship un- known to the antient Hebrews, who are forbid to fol- low it by Moses in these words : (37) Enquire not af^ ter their Gods, saying, hoiu did these 7iations serve their Gods f even so will I do likeivise, Grian therefore and Greannach explain the (38) Lothian Inscription that is to say, Sunday, It was formerly Diasoil in Irish, ^vhence still remain Solus light, Soillse clearness, Soillseach bright or sunny, SoUeir manifest, and several more such. 'Tis now call'd Dia Domhnaigh, or Dies Dominicus, accord- ing to the general use of all Christians. (37) Deut. xii. 30. (38) This Inscription, as given us by Cambden from Sir Peter Young, preceptor to Kinf^ James VI. [for the Laird of Merchiston's Exposition of the Apocalyps I never sav/] runs thus : Apollini Granno Q. Lusius Sabinia :nus Pro?* * Procurator 112 THE HISTORY very naturally, in the antient language of the Scots themselves, spoken still in' the Highlands and Western lies, as v/ell as in Ireland, without any need of having recourse to Gothland, or other foren countries. VII. To return to our Carn-fires, it was customary for the Lord of the place, or his son, or some other person of distinction, to take the entrals of the sacri- iic'd animal in his hands, and walking barefoot over the coals thrice, after the flames had ceased, to carry them strait to the Druid, who waited in a whole skin at the Altar. If the Nobleman escap'd harmless, it was reckon'd a good omen, welcomed with loud accla- mations : but if he receiv'd any hurt, it was deemed unlucky both to the community and to himself. Thus I have seen the people lamning and leaping thro' the St. John's fires in Ireland, and not onely proud of pas- sing unsing'd : but, as if it were some kind of lustra- tion, thinking themselves in a special manner blest by this ceremony, of whose original nevertheless they were wholly ignorant in their impeifect imitation of it. Yet without being appriz'd of all this, no reader, how- ever otherwise learned, can truely apprehend the be- ginning of the Consul Flaminius's speech to Equan- vs the Sabin, at the battle of Thrai4menus, thus intel- ligently related by (39) Silius Itaiicus. Aug ♦ * Au in the verses just quoted out of him^. alludes. Pliny has preserved to us the very (48) name of the particular race of people, to which the performing of the above described annual ceremony be- (42) Sane Umbras Gallonim retenim propaginem esse, Marcus Antonius refert. In lib. 12. Aeneid. ante fin. (43) Umbri Italiae gens est, sed Gallorum vetermn pro^ pago. Origin, lib. 9. cap. 2. (44) Ombroi genos Galaticon e Galatoii;. Schol. in Lyco^hron, Altx.- cd xcr. 1360. (45) Sabinous ex Orabrikon. Antlq. Rom. lib. 1. (46) Now Monte di San sykestro^ (47) Acer mis o (48) Hand procul nrbe Roma, in Fallscorum agro faml- liae sunt paucae, quae vocantnr Hirpi.^ ; quaeque sacrificio annuo, quod fit ad montem Soracte Apollini, super ambus^ tarn ligni struem ambulantes, non aduruutur : tt ob id perp&? iuo senatus consulto militiae, aliormnque munerurn, vacatio-' nem habent. Hist. Nat. lib, 2. cap. 2. Idcrn ex eodem Scliii. Polyhist* cap. 8. OF THE DRUIDS. 115 » 3 K*w w ^ ii w i 'r nm rBMCiea— ^ta^—Bi — I II! ■■! i —^■-i^MaiBgwiea s. iiiiiiiM ii mh ii ii .m i — im longed : nor was it for nothing that they ran the risk of blistering their soles, since for this they were exemted from serving in the luarsy as well as from the expense and trohle of several offices. Thev were called Hir- PiNSo Virgil, much elder than Silius or Pliny, in- troduces Aruns, one of that family, forming a design to kill Camilla, and thus praying for success to A- POLLO5 patron of Sor acte's high abodes, Phebus, the ruling poio'r among the Gods! Whom first we serve, whole woods of unctuous pine Burn on thy HEAP, and to thy glory shine: By thee protected, with our 7iaked soles Thro'' flames unsing'd we pass^ and tread the hindVd coah\ Give me, propitious poiu'r, to wash away The stains of this dishonourable day f-iOJ. Dr YD en's Version, A Celtic Antiqtiary, ignorant of the origin of the Urn- brians and Sabins, wou'd imagine, when reading what past on SoractCi that it was some Gallic, Brittish, or Irish mountain, the rites being absolutely the same. We do not read indeed in our Irish books, what pre- servative against fire was used by those, who ran bare- foot over the burning coals of the Cams : and, to be sure, they wou'd have the common people piously be- (49) Summe Deum, sancii custos Soractis, A pollo, Queyn primi coiimus, cui pineus ardor ACER I/O Pascitur ; et medium, freti pie fate^ per ignem Hultores multa premimiis vestigia pruna : Da, pater ^ hoc 7iustris aboleri dedecus arm is, Aen. lib. 11. ver, ?S5, 116 THE HISTORY lieve they used none. Yet that they really did, no less than the famous fire-eater, whom I lately saw making so great a figure at London, men of penetration and uncornipted judger-ients v/ill never question. But v/e are not merely left to our judgements, for the fact is sufficiently attested by that prodigy of knowledge, and perpetual opposer of Superstition, Marcus Varro; who, as Servius on the above-cited passage of Virgil af- firms (50), described the very ointment of which the HiRPiNS made use, he smearing their feet tvith if, tvhen they walked thro' the fire. Thus at all times have the multitude, that common prey of Priests and Princes, been easily gull'd ; swallowing the secrets of Natural Philosophy for Divine Miracles, and ready to do the greatest good or hurt, not under the notions of vice or virtue : but barely as directed by men, v/ho find it their interest to deceive them. VIII. But leaving the Druids for a while, there are over and above the Cams, in the Highlands of Scotland, and in the adjacent lies numberless Obe- li so s, or stones set up on end ; some thirty, some twenty-four foot liigh ; others highe,r or lower : and this sometimes where no such stones are to be dug, Wales being likewise full of them ; and some there are in the least cultivated parts of England, with very many in Ireland. In most places of this last kingdom, (50) S>ul Varro, uhiqne Reltgionis expugnotor, ait, cum quoddam rntdic amentum describerct, eo uti soltnt HIllPINI, qui ambulaturi per ignem, reedicaraeato Piantas tiagunU Ad ver. f87, lib. 11. Aeiieid. OF THE DRUIDS, lir the common people believe these Obelises to be men, transformed into stones by the Magic of the Druids. This is also the notion the vulgar have in Oxford- shire of Roll-toright stones, and in Cornwall of the Hurlers ; erect stones so call'd, but belonging to a different class from the Obelises, whereof I now dis- course. And indeed in every country the ignorant people ascribe to the Devil or some supernatural power, at least to Giants, all works which seem to them to excede human art or ability. Thus among other things, for recording their traditions will have its pleasure as well as usefulness, they account for the Roman Camps and Military Ways, calling such the DeviVs-Dykes, or the like : while the more reasonable part are persuad- ed, that the erect stones of which we speak, are the Monuments of dead persons, whose ashes or bones are often found near them ; sometimes in Urns, and some- times in Stone-coffins, wherein scales, hammers, pieces of weapons, and other things have been often found, some of them very finely gilt or polish'd. Dogs also have been found bury'd with their masters. The erect stones in the midst of stone-circles, whereof be- fore I have done, are not of this funeral sort ; nor does it follow, that all those have been erected in Christian times, which have Christian Inscriptions or Crosses on them : for we read of many such Obelises thus sancti- fy 'd, as they speak, in Wales and Scotland. And, in our Irish Histories, v/e find the practice as early as 118 THE HISTORY Patric himself; who, having built the Church of Donach'Patric on the brink of Loch-Hacket (51) in the county of Clare, did there on three Celosses, erec- ted in the times of Paganism, inscribe the proper name of Christ in three languages : namely, Jesus in Hebrew on the first, Soter in Greec on the second, and Salvator in Latin on the third. That Obelise, if I may call it so, in the Parish of Barvas, in the Hand of Lewis in Scotland, <:aird the Thruskel-stone^ is very jemarkable ; being not onely above twenty foot high, which is yet surpass'd by many others : but likewise almost as much in breadth, which no other comes near. IX. Besides these Obelises, there is a gr^at num- ber of Forts in all the Hes of Scotland, very different from the Danish and Norwegian Baths in Ireland, or the Saxon and Danish Burghs in England : nor are they the same with the Gallic, Brittish, and Irish Lios^ pronounc'd Lis (52) ; which are fortifications made of unvv'rought stones and uncemented, whereof there are two very extraordinary in the lies of Aran, in the Bay of Galway in Ireland. Dun is a general Celtic word for all fortifications made on an eminence, and the eminences themselves are so call'd ; as we see in many parts of England, and the Sand-hills on the Eel- (51) Formerly DouiJumch-mor and Loch-seal ga, (32) Lios in Irish, Lcs in Aniioric, and Lhijs m Welsli, si^ailies in English a Court-, as LiS'Luirij Lynscouit. # ■ OF THE DRUIDS. 119 .eric Coast. Yet Bath and Lis are often confounded togetlieiv both in the speech and writing of the Irish. But the Ferts in question are aE of wmught stone, and often of such large stones, as no number of men cou'd ever raise to the places they occupy, without the use of Engines ; which Engines are quite unknown to the present inhabitants, and to their ancestors for many ages past. There's none of the lesser lies, but has one Fort at least, and they are commonly in sight of each o-* ther : but the Dun in St. Kilda, for so they call the Old Fort there, is about eighteen leagues distant from North Uist, and twenty from the middle of Lewis or Harries, to be seen only in a very fair day like a blewisli mist : but a large fire there wou'd be visible at night, as the ascending smoak by day. In this same lie of Lewis, where are many such Duns, there's north of the ^qllage of Brago, a round Fort composed of huge stones, and three stories high : tliat is, it has three liollow passages one over another, within a prodigious thick wall quite round tlie Fort, witli many windows and stairs, I give this onely as an example from Dn Martin an eye-witness, who, with several others^, mentioA many more such elsewhere : yet, which is a great neglect, without acquainting us with their dU Biensions, whether those passages in the wall be arch'd, or with many such things relating to the na- ture of the work ; and omitting certain other circum- stances, no less necessary to be known, I mention these Forts, my Lord, not as any way, that I yet know, appertaining to the Druids : but, in treating 120 THE HISTORY of the Monuments truely theirs, I take this natural occasion of communicating, what may be worthy of your Lordship's curiosity and consideration ; es- pecially when, like Episodes in a Poem, they serv^e to relieve the attention, and are not very foren to the subject. Considering" all things, I judge no Monuments more deserving our researches ; especi- ally, if any shou'd prove them to be Phenician or Massilian Places of security for their commerce : since 'tis certain that both People have traded there, and that Pytheas of Marseilles, as we are informed by Strabo, made a particular description of those Hands ; to which Cesar, among other Descriptions, without naming the authors, does doubtless (53) refer. But my own opinion I think fit at pre- sent to reseiTe. X. From the conjectures I have about these numerous and costly Forts, in Hands so remote and barren, I pass to the certainty I have con- cerning the TEMPLES OF THE DRUIDS, whereof so many are yet intire in those Hands, as well as in Wales and Ireland ; with some left in England, where culture has mostly destroy'd or impair'd such Monuments. These Temples are Circles of Obelises or erect stones, some larger, (55) In hoc medio ci^su [inter Hiberniam scilicet & Bri- lanniam J est insidut quae appellatur Mona. Complures prae* terea minores objectae irisulac exlstimantur, de qidhusinsniis rionnulU scripsennd, dies continuos GO sub brurna esse noctem» De Bello Gaihco, lib. 5. OF THE DRUIDS. I2l i i II I I some narrower, as in all other Edifices, some more and some less magnificent. They are for the great- est part perfectly circular, but some of them semicir- cular : in others the Obelises stand close together, but in most separate and equidistant. I am not ignorant that several, with Dr. Charlton in his Stone-henge restored to the Danes, believe those Circles to be Danish works ; a notion I shall easily confute in due time, and even now as I go a- long. But few have imagined 'em to be Roman, as the famous Architect Inigo Jones wou'd needs have this same Stone-henge, according to me one of the Druid Cathedrals, to be the Temple of Ce- LUM or Ter]minus, in his Stone-henge restofd to the Roinans. Nevertheless, My Lord, I promise you no less than demonstration, that those Circles were Druids Temples : against which assertion their fre- quenting of Oaks, and performing no religious rites without Oak-branches or Leaves, will prove no valid exception ; no more than such Circles being found in the Gothic countries, tho' without Altars, where- of we shall speak after the Temples. The out- side of the Churches in Spain and Holland is much the same, but their inside differs extremely. As for Inigo Jones, he cannot be too much commend- ed for his generous efforts, which shows an uncom- mon genius, to introduce a better taste of Architec- ture into England, where 'tis still so difficult a thing to get rid of Gothic Oddnesses ; and therefore 'tis no wonder he shou'd continue famou*;?^ when sc Q 192 THE^HISTOP.Y few endeavour to excede him : but we must beg- his pardon, if, as he was unacquainted with His- tory, and wanted certian other qualifications, we take the freedom in our Book to correct his mistakes. XL In the Hand of Lewis beforemention'd, at the village of Classerniss, there is one of those Temples extremely remarkable. The Circle con- sic4s of twelve Obelises, about seven foot hig'h each, and distant from each other six foot. In the center stands a stone thirteen foot high, in the perfect shape of the rudder of a Ship. Directly south from the Circle, there stand four Obelises mn- iihig out in a line ; as another such line due east, and a third to the west, the number and distances of the stones being in these wings the same : so that this Temple, the most intire that can be, is at the same time both round and wing'd. But to the north there reach, by way of avenue, two straight ranges of Obelises, of tshe same bigness and distances with those of the Circle; yet the ranges themselves are eight foot distant, and each consisting of nineteen stones, the thirty-ninth be- ing in the entrance of the avenue. This Tem- ple stands astronomically, denoting the twelve signs ef the Zodiac and the four principal winds, sub- divided each into four others ; by which, and the nineteen stones on each side the avenue betoken- ing the Cycle of nineteen years, I can prove it to have been dedicated principally, to the Sun^; | OF THE DRUIDS. i^ l3ut subordinately to the Seasons and the Ele- ments, particularly to the Sea and the Winds, as appears by the rudder in the middLOo The Sea, consider'd as a Divinity, was by tlie antient Gauls caJi'd Anvana or Onvana, as the raging Sea is still call'd Anafa in so many Letters by the Irish (54) ; and both of 'em, besides that they ¥/ere very good Astronomers, are known to have paid honor not only to the Sea, but also to the Winds and the Tempests, as the {55) Romans were wont to do. Eut of this in the account of their woiship. I for- got to tell you, that there is another Temple about a quarter of a mile from the former ; and that com- monly two Temples stand near each other, for rea- sons you will see in our History, East of Drum- cruy in the Scottish lie of Aran, is a Circular Temple, whose area is about thirty paces over : and south of the same Village is such another Temple, in the center of which still remains the Altar ; being a broad thin stone, supported by three other such stones. This is Yerj extraordi- nary, tho', as you may see in my last Letter, not (54) They vulgarly call the sea mor or muu\. mara^ cuan^ fcirge, &c. (55) Sicfatus, merltos arts mactamt konores : Tawum Neptuno, taurum tihi, pulcher Apollo ; Nigram Hyemi pccudem, Z i^i^HYRisf elicib.us albam* A en. lib. 3. Vzdeatur etlam Horatius, Eporl, lO. ver. nit, Clc, de ?jat. Dear, lib, 3, Et Aristvph, in Ranis cum suo Scholiaste, 124 THE HISTORY the onely example ; since the zeal of the Chris- tians, sometimes apt to be over-heated, us'd to leave no Altars standing but their own. In the greatest Hand of (56) Orkney, commonly calFd the Mainland, there are likewise two Temples, where the natives believe by Tradition, that the Sun and Moon were worshipt : which belief of theirs is very right, since the lesser Temple is semi-circular. The greater is one hundred and ten paces diameter. They know not what to make of two green Mounts erected at the east and west end of it : a matter nevertheless for which it is not difficult to account. There's a trench or ditch round each of these Temples, like that about Stone-henge ; and, in short, every such Temple had the like inclosure. Many of the stones are above twenty or twenty-four foot in heighth, above the ground, a- bout five foot in breadth, and a foot or two in thickness. Some of 'em are fallen down : and the Temples are one on the east and the other on the west side of the Lake of Stennis, where it is shallow and fordable, there being a passage o- ver by large stepping stones. Near the lesser Temple, which is on the east side of the Lake, (56) The lies of Orhneij are denominated from Orcas or Orca^ which, in Diodorus Siculus and Ptolemy, is the antient name of Caithness; and this from Ore, not a salmon [as by some interpreted] but a whale : so that in old Irish OrC'i is the Whale Hands. The words of Diodorus are. To de Hypolipomeaon (tes Bretanias) anekein men historousia eis to pelag^on, cnomazesthai de Orcan. Lib. 4. OF THE DRUIDS, ' 195 as the greater on the west, there stand two stones of the same bigness with the (51) rest ; thro' the middle of one of which there is a large hole, by which criminals and victims were ty'd. Like- wise in the Hand of Papa-Westra, another of the Orkneys, there stand, near a Lake, now call'd St. Tredwell's (58) Loch, two such Obelises, in one of which there is the like hole ; and behind them lying on the ground a third stone, being hollow like a trough. XII. These few I only give for examples out of great numbers, as I likewise take the liberty to acquaint you. My Lord, that at a place call'd Biscau-woon, near Saint Burien's in Cornwall, there is a circular Temple consisting of nineteen stones, the distance between each twelve 'foot ; and a twentieth in the center, muck higher than the rest. But I am not yet informed, whether this middle stone has any peculiar figure, or whether inscrib'd with any characters ; for such characters are found in Scotland, and some have been ob- served in Wales ; but, except the Roman and Christian Inscriptions, unintelligible to such as have hitherto seen them. Yet they ought to have been fairly represented, for the use of such as might have been able perhaps to explain them. They would at least exercise our Antiquaries, The Circle of (57) Brand, pag. 44. (58) Brand, pag, 58. 1S6 THE HISTORY Rollrich-stones in Oxfordshire, and the Hurlers in Cornwall, are two of those Druid Temples. There is one at Aubiuy in Wiltshire, and some left in other places of England. In Gregory of Tours time there was remaining, and for ought I know may still be so, one of those Temples on the top of Belen's Mount, between Arton and Riom in Auvergne. It was within this inclosure that Martin, the sainted Bishop, stood taking a (59) view of the country, as before mention'd. Now of such Tem.ples I shall mention here no more, \mt procede to the Druids ALTARS, which, as I said before, do ordinarily consist of four stones ; three being hard flags, or large tho' thin stones, set up edge-wise, two making the sides, and a shorter one the end, with a fourth stone of the same kind on the top : for the other end was commonly left open, and the Altars were all ob- long. Many of 'em are not intire. From some the upper stone is taken away, from others one ofr the side-stones or the end. And, besides the alterations that men have caus'd in all these kinds of Monuments, Time it self has chang'd 'em much more. Mr. Brand speaking of the Obelises in Ork- ney, many of 'em, says (60) he, appear to he viit<:h worn, hy /he washing of the "wind and rain, 2i'hich (59) Extat nunc in hoc loco canceJlus, vi quo Sanctus dU citur stttisse, Gregor. Turon, de Gloria Coufessor. cap. 5. (60) Pag. 4(). OF THE DRUIDS. ir? shows they are of a long standing': and it is very strange to think, how, in those places and times, they got such large stones carry' d and erected, 'Tis naturally impossible, but tliat, in the course of so many ages, several stones must have lost their figure ; their angles being exposed to all weathers, and no care taken to repair any disorder, nor to prevent any abuse of them. Thus some are be- come lower, or jagged, or otherwise irregular and diminished : many are quite wasted, and moss or scurf hides the Inscriptions or Sculptures of others ; for such Sculptures there are in seveial places, particularly in Wales and the Scottish He of A- ran. That one sort of stone lasts longer than another is true : but that all will have their period, no less than Parchment and Paper, is as true. XIII. There are a great many of the AL- TARS to be seen yet intire in Wales, particu- larly two in Kerig Y Drudion parish mentioned in my other Letter, and one in Lhan-Hammulch parish in Brecknockshire ; with abundance else- where, diligently observ'd by one I mention'd in my first Letter, Mr. Edward Lhuyd, who yet was not certain to what use they were destin'd. H^ie I beg the favor of your Lordship to take it for granted, that I have sufficient authorities for e- very thing I ailedge : and tho' I do not always give them in this brief Specimen, yet in the his^ tory it self they shall be produc'd on every pro- 128 THE HISTORY per occasion. The Druids Altars were commonly in the middle of the Temples, near the great Co- lossus, of which presently ; as there is now such a one at Carn-Lhechart in the parish of Lhan» Gyvelach in Glamorganshire, besides that which I mentioned before in Scotland. They are by the Welsh in the singular number call'd KisUvaen^ that is a stone-chest, and in the plural Kistieu-vaen^ stone-chests. These names, with a small variation, are good Irish : but the things quite different from those real stone-chests or coffins, commonly of one block and the lid, that are in many places found under ground. The vulgar Irish call these Altars (61) Dermot and Crania's bed. This last was the Daughter of King Cormac Ulfhada, and Wife to (62) Fin Mac Cuil ; from whom, as invincible a General and Champion as he's reported to have been, she took it in her head, as women will some- times have such fancies, to run away with a no- bleman, call'd (63) Dermont O Duvny : but be- ing pursu'd every where, the ignorant country people say, they were intertain'd a night in every quar- ter-land (64er lies ; being by the Na- tives (80) call'd Tighthe nan Druidhneach, that is, Druids Houses. Many of them are to be seen in Wales, and some in Ireland : but different from those under-ground houses, or artificial Caves, which are in all those places ; consisting frequently of several chambers, and generally opening towards rivers or the sea : having been, as those of the (SO) Corruptly Tinmi Druirnck U2 THE HISTORY Germans describ'd by (81) Tacitus, magazines a* gainst the extreme rigor of winter, or hiding places for men and goods in time of war. The vulgar in the Hands do still show a great respect for the Druid's Houses, and never come to the antient sacrificing and fire-hallowing Cams, but they walk three times round them from east to west, ac- cording to the course of the Sun. This sanctifi- ed tour or round by the south, is calPd (82) Deiseal \ as the unhaliow'd contrary one by the north, {SS) TuavholL But the Irish and Albani- an Scots do not derive the first, as a certain friend of mine imagined, from Di-suly which sig- nifies Sunday in Armorican British, as Dydh-syl in the Welsh and De-zil in Cornish do the same ; Lut from (84) Deas, the right, understanding, hand and Soil, one of the antient names af the Sun,, the right hand in this round being ever next the heap. The Protestants in the Hebrides are al- most as much addicted to the Deisiol, as the Pa- pists. Hereby it may be seen, how hard it is to eradicate inveterate Superstition. This custom (81) Solent el suhterraneos specus aperire, eosque multo insuperfimo onerant: suffugium liierni, ac receptaculum frU'^ gibus ; quia rigorem frigorum ejusmodi locis molUunt, Et si quando hostis aihenit, aperta populatur : ahdita autem et defossa aut ignorantur^ aut eo ipso fallunt, quod quaerendd sunt. De moribus German, cap. 3* (82 ) Dextrorsum, (83) Sinistrorsum^ (84) Item Deis. OF THE DRUIDS. US was us'd three thousand years ago, and God knows how long before, by their ancestors the an- tient Gauls of the same religion with them ; who turned round right-hand-ioise^ when theij worshiped their Gods, as (8.5) Atheneus informs us out of PosiDONius a much elder writer. Nor is this con- tradicted, but clearly confirm'd by Pliny, who says, that the Gauls, contrary to the custom of the (86) Romans, turned to the left in their religious ceremonies ; for as they begun their worship to- wards the east, so they turn'd about, as our II- anders do now, from east to west according to the course of the Sun, that is, from right to left, as Pliny has observed ; whereas the left was a- mong the Romans reputed the right in Augury, and in all devotions answering it. Nor were their neighbors, the Aboriginal Italians, most of 'em of Gallic descent, strangers to this custom of worship- ping right-hand-wise, which, not to allege more Pas- sages, may be seen by this one in the (87) Curculio of Plautus, who was himself one of them : when yov, "worship the Gods, do it turning to the right hand; which answers to turning from the west to the cast. It is perhaps from this respectful turning from east to (85) Houtoitheous proskunousin, epi la dexia Strephomenoi. Lii. 4. Pa^. 1^2. (86) In adorando dexteram ad oscuhim referimns, to^ iumque corpus circuma^imus % quod in Inevum ftcisse Galli religiosius credunt. Hist Nat» lib. 28. cap. 2. (87) Si Deos salutas, dextrovorsuni censeo. Act, 1. Seen. 1, ver. 70. 144 THE HISTORY west, that we retain the custom of drinking* over the left thumb, or, as others express it, according" to the course of the Sun ; the breaking of which order, is reckon'd no small impropriety, if not a downright in- decency, in Great Britain and Ireland. And no won- der, since this, if you have faith in Homer, was the custom of the Gods themselves. Vulcan, in the first book of the (88) Iliad ^ filling a bumper to his mother Juno, To iK other Gods, going 'round from right to left, SSkenk'd Nectar sweet, which from full fiask he pourd. But more of the right hand in the chapter of Aiiguri/, XVIII. To resume our discourse about the Druids houses, one of them in the Hand of St. Kilda is veiy remarkable ; and, according to the tradition of the place, must have belong'd to a Druidess. But be this as it will, it is all of stone, without lime, or mortar, or earth to cement it : 'tis also arch'd, and of a conic figure ; but open at the top, and a fire-place in the middle of the floor. It cannot contain above nine persons, to sit easy by each otjiei : and from this whole description 'tis clear, that the edifice call Arthur's Oven in Sterlingshire, just of the same form and dimensions, is by no means of Roman ori- ginal, whatever our antiquaries have t hough tlesly fancy'd to the contrary. Some make it the Temple (?8) Autar ho tois alloisi tlieois endexia pasin onoclioei, gluka nektar apo kietJros apLusion. It. 1. Vcr. b97. OF THE DRUIDS. 145 of Terminus, and others a triumphal arch, when they might as well have fancy'd it to be a hogtrough : ^ so little is it like any of those arches. As to the house in St. Kilda, there go off from the side of the wall three lov/ vaults, separated from each other by pillars, and capable of containing five persons a piece. Just such another house in all respects, but much larger, and grown over with a green sod on the outside, is in Borera, an lie adjacent to St. Kil- da ; and was the habitation of a Druid, who 'tis pro- bable was not unacquainted with his neighbouring Druidess. Shetland abounds with another kind of stone houses, not unfrequent in Orkney, w^iich they ascribe to the Picts ; as they are apt all over Scotland to make every thing Pictish, whose origin they do^ not know. The Belgae or Fir-bolgs share this honor with the Picts in Ireland, and King Arthur is re- puted the author of all such fabrics in Wales, except that those of Anglesey father 'em on the Irish. These instances I have given your Lordship, to convince you, how imperfect all Treatises about the Druids (hitherto publish'd) must needs be ; since they con- tain nothing of this kind, tho' ever so essential to the subject : and that none of these Monuments, very frequent in France, are there ascribed to the Druids, their records about such things being all lost ; while very many of ours happily remain to clear them, since the usages were the same in both countries. Nor are those Treatises less defective in the more instruc- tive part^ concerning the Druidkal PhUosopliTj and. T U6 THE HISTORY Politics, whereof the modern French and Brittish writers, have in reality known nothing further, than the Classic authors furnish'd 'em ; or if they add any thing-, 'tis absolutely fabulous, ill-invented, and unau- thoriz'd. These subjects I reserve intire for my greater work. John Aubrey Esq ; a Member of the Koyal Society, with whom I became acquainted at Oxford, when I was a sojourner there ; and collecting during my idler hours ti Vocobulary of Armorican and Irish words, V\^hich, in sound and signification, agree better together than with the Welsh, was the only person I ever then met, who had a right notion of the Temples of the Druids, or indeed any notion that the Circles so often mentioned v/ere such Temples at all : wherein he was intirely confirmed, by the au- thorities which I show'd him ; as he supply 'd me in return with numerous instances of such Monuments, which he was at great pains to observe and set down. And tho' he was extremely superstitious, or seem'd to be so : yet he was a very honest man, and most accurate in his accounts of matters of fact. But the facts he knew, not the reflections he made, were what I wanted. Nor will I deny justice oh this occasion, to a peiccn whom I cited before, and v/ho in many other respects merits all the regard which the curious can pay; I mean Sir Robert Sibbald, who, in his foresaid History/ of Fife, but veiy lately come to my hands, affirm.s, that there are several Druids Temples to be seen every where in Scotland, particulary in the OF THE DRUIDS. 147 County he describes. These (says he) are great stones placed in a circle, at some distance from each other, he Mr. Aubrey shovv'd me several of Dr. Garden's let- ters from that kingdom to the same purpose, but m whose hands now I know not, XIX. I shall conclude this Letter with two ex- amples of such works, as tho' not, that I can hitherto learn, belonging any way to the Druids, yet they may possibly be of that kind : or be they of what kind you will, they certainly merit our notice ; as, together with those for which we can truely account, they highly serve to illustrate the Antiquities of our Brit- tish world. IMy first example is in the Main-land of Orkney, describ'd among the rest of those Islands by Dr. Wallace and Mr. Brand ; where, on the top of a high rocky hill at the west end of the Hand near the village of Skeal, there is a sort of pavement, consist- ing of stones variously figur'd, some like a heart, o- thers like a crown, others like a leg, some like a weaver's shuttle, others of other forms : and so on for above a quarter of a mile in length, and from twenty to thirty foot in breadth. In taking up any of these stones, the figure is as neat on the underside as the upper : and being as big as the life, all of one color, or a reddish kind of stone pitch'd in a reddish earth, and the pavement being so very long ; it cannot pos- sibly be any of the tessellated, or chequer'd works of the Romans. *• I saw a part of the garden wall of " the house of Skeal, sa^s (89) Mr. Brand, decorat- ^ (89) Pag. 43, 248 THE HISTORY *' ed with these stones : and we intended to have " sent a parcel of them to our friends in the south, " as a rarity ; if they had not been forgot, at our re- ** turn from Zet-land.'* Dr, Wallace (90) also says, that many of the stones are taken away by the neighboring gentry, to set them up like Dutch tiles in their chimneys : so that, at this rate, in less than a century this pavement will in all likelihood subsist only in books. Ail such Monuments, when I go to Scotland, I shall so accurately describe in every re- spect, and give such accounts of them where account- able ; that I hope the curious v/ill have reason to be satisfy'd, or at least some abler person be emulous of satisfying the world, and me among the rest. Where- ever I am at a loss, I shall frankly own it ; and never give my conjectures for more than what they are, that is, probable guesses : and certainly nothing can be more amiss in Inquiries of this kind, than to ob- trude suppositions for mattei*s of fact. Upon all such occasions, I desire the same liberty with Crassus in Cicero de (91) Oralore : that I may deny beiiig able to do, luhat Fme sure I cannot ; and to confess thai I am ignorant, of ivhat I do not knoiv. This I shall not onely be ever ready to do my self, but to account it in others a learned ignorance. ISTX. But, jMy Lord, before I take my intended journey, I desire the favour of having your thoughts (90) Pag. 55. f (91) Mild liceat negare pos.^e, quod non potero; etfateri 7iesclre, quod nescia?n, hb. 2, OF THE DRUIDS. 149 upon my next example. I speak of a couple of in- stances, really parallel ; brought here together from parts of the world no less distant in their situation, and climates, than different in their condition and manners. Egypt, I mean, and the lies of Scotland. Yet this they have in common, that Egypt, once the mother of all arts and sciences, is now as ignorant of her own monuments, and as fabulous in the accounts of them, as any Highlanders can be about theirs. Such changes however are as nothing in the number- less revolutions of ages. But to our subject. Hero- dotus says, in the second Book of his History^ that near to the entry of the magnificent Temple of Mi- nerva at Sais in Egypt, of which he speaks with ad- miration, he saw an edifice twenty-one cubits in length, fourteen in breadth, and eight in heigth, the whole consisting onely of one stone ; and that it was brought thither by sea, from a place about twenty days sailing from Sais. This is my first instance. And, parallel to it, all those who have been in Hoy, one of the Orkneys, do affirm, without citing, or many of them knowing this passage of Herodotus, that there lies on a barren heath in this Hand an oblong stone, in a valley between two moderate hills ; calfd I suppose antiphrastically, or by way of contraries, the DWARFY-STONE. It is thirty-six foot long, eigh- teen foot broad, and nine foot high. ^ No other stones are near it. 'Tis all hollow'd within, or, as we may- say, scoop'd by human art and industry, having a door on the east side two foot square ; with a stone of th^ 150 THE HISTORY same dimension lying about two foot from it, which was intended no doubt to close this entrance. With- in there is, at the south end of it, cut out the form of a bed and pillow, capable to hold two persons : as, at the north end, there is another bed, Dr. Wallace says, a couch, both very neatly done* Above, at an equal distance from both, is a large round hole : which is supposed, not onely to have been design'd for letting in of light and air, when the door was shut ; but like- wise for letting out of smoke from the fire, for which there is a place made in the middle between the two beds. The marks of the workman's tool appear every where ; and the tradition of the vulgar is, that a Giant and his wife had this stone for their habitation : tho' the door alone destroys this fancy, which is wholly groundless every way besides. Dr. Wallace thinks it might be the residence of a Hermit, but it appears this Hermit did not design to ly always by himself. Just by it is a clear and pleasant spring, for the use of tbe inhabitant. I wish it were in Surrey, that I might make it a siunmer study. As to the original design of this monument, men are by nature curious enough to know the causes of things, but they are not patient enough in their search : and so will rather assign any cause, tho* ever so absurd ; than suspend their judge- ments, till they discover the true cause, which yet in this particular I am resblv'd to do. XXI. Now, my Lord, imagine what you please about- the religious or civil use of this stone, my OF THE DRUIDS. 16X difficulty to your Lordship is ; how they were a- ble to accomplish this piece of Architecture, a- mong the rest that I have mentioned, in those remote, barren, and uncultivated Hands ? And how such prodigious Obelises cou'd be erected there, no less than in other parts of Britain, and in Ireland ? for which we have scarce any sufficiant machines, in this time of Learning and Politeness. These Monuments of every kind, especially the Forts and the Obelises, induc'd Hector Boethius to tell strange stories of the Egyptians having been there in the reign of Mainus King of Scot- land : nor do they a little confirm the notion, which some both of the Irish and Albanian Scots have about their Egyptian, instead of Scythian, or as I shall evince, a Celtic original ; tho' I assign more immediately a British for the Irish, and an Irish extraction for the Scots. Nor is there any thing more ridiculous than what they relate of their Egyptian stock ; except what the Britons fable about their Trojan ancestors. Yet a reason there is, why they harp so much upon Egyptians and Spaniards : but altogether misunder- stood or unobserved by writers. But, not to for- get our Monuments, you will not say, what, tho* possible, appears improbable, that, according to the ceasless vicissitude of things, there was a time, when the inhabitants of these Hands were as learned and knowing, as the present Egyptians and tl}# Highlands are ignorant. But say what 152 THE HISTORY you will, it cannot fail diffusing light on the subject ; and to improve, if not intirely to satis- fy, the Inquirer. The ILE OF MAN, as I said above, does no less abound in these IMonuments of all sorts, than any of the places we have nam- ed ; and therefore sure to be visited, and all its ancient remains to be examin'd, by, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obliged. And very humble SeiTant= July L 1718. THE THIRD LETTER, TO TilE RIGHT HONOQRABLE THE LORD Viscount Molsworlh. I TAKE the Liberty, My Lord, to troble you a third time with tlie company of the DRUIDS ; who, like other Priests, resort always to the place where the best intertainment is to be found : and yet I must needs own, it derogates much from the merit of their visit ; that, in the quality of Philosophers they know not where to find a hear- tier welcom than in your Lordship's study. Tho' I have very particularly explain'd the plan of my History of the Druids, in the two last Letters I did my self the honor to send you on this subject ; yet the work being considerably large, and con- taining great variety of matter, have still somthing to impart, in order to give the clearer idea of my design. And it is, that, besides the citations of authors, indispensably requisite in proving matters of fact newly advanced, or in deciding of antient doubts and controversies, not to speak of such as come in by way of ornament, or that a v/riter modestly prefers to his own expressions, I have U 154 THE HISTORY sometimes occasion to touch upon passages, which, tho' I cou'd easily abridge, or needed but barely hint with relation to the purpose for which I pro- duce them : yet being in themselves either very curious and instnictive, or lying in books that come into few people's hands, I chuse to give them in my History intire. This method I have learnt from my best masters among the antients, who practised it with much success ; tho', like them, I use it very sparingly. One or two instances you'll not be sorry to see. The explication I have given, in the 11th section of my first Letter, of OGMIUS, the antient Gallic name of Hercules, I am no less certain you do not forget, than that you re- member I promis'd to take an opportunity of send- ing you the whole piece ; which I have thus tran- slated from the original Greec, with the utmost accuracy. " The Gauls, says (1) Lucian, call *' Hercules in their countiy language OGMIUS. " But they represent the picture of this God in " a very unusual manner. With them he is a " decrepit old man, bald before, his beard extreme- <' ly gray, as are the few other hairs he has «« remaining. His skin is wrinkFd, sunburnt, and ^^ of such a swarthy hue as that of old mariners : " so that you wou'd take him to be Charon, or " some Iapetus from the nethermost hell, or any (1) Ton Keraklea hoi Keltoi Ogmiok ononadsousi phone te epichorio. et quae seqiiuntur in Hercule Gallico : Graeca etenim iongiora sunt, quam ut hic commode znscri possint. OF THE DRUIDS. 155 " thing rather than Hercules. But tho' he be " such thus far, yet he has withall the Habit of " Hercules ; being clad in the skin of a Lion, " holding a Club in his right hand, a Quiver " hanging from his shoulders, and a bent Bow in ** his left hand. Upon the whole it is HERCULES„ " I was of opinion that all these things were perver- " sely done, in dishonor of the Grecian Gods, by " the Gauls to the picture of Hercules : re- " venging themselves upon him by such a repre- " sentation, for having formerly over-run their count- " ry, and driving a Prey out of it ; as he was " seeking after the herd of Geryon, at which " time he made incursions into most of the wes- " tern nations. But I have not yet told, what " is most odd and strange in this picture ; for '^ this old Hercules draws after him a vast mul- " titude of men, all ty'd by their Ears. The " cords by which he does this are small fine Chains, *' artificially made of gold and electrum, like to " most beautiful bracelets. And tho' the men are " drawn by such slender bonds, yet none of 'em " thinks of breaking loose, when they might easily " do it ; neither do they strive in the least to " the contrary, or struggle with their feet, lean- " ing back with all their might against their " Leader: but they gladly and cheerfully follow, " praising him that draws them ; all seeming in " haste, and desirous to get before each other, " holding up the chains^ as if they ghoiild be 156 . THE HISTORY " very sorry to be set free. Nor will I grudge *^ telling here, what of all these matters appear- ** ed the most absurd to me. The Painter find- " ing no place where to fix the extreme links *^ of the Chains, the right hand being occupy'd ^* with a Club, and the left with a Bow, he *' made a hole in the tip of the God's tongue, " who turns smiling towards those he leads, and " and panited them as drawn from thence. I " look'd upon these things a great while, some- *^ times admiring, sometimes doubting, and some- " times chafing with indignation. But a certain *^ Gaul who stood by, not ignorant of our affairs, *^ as he showed by speaking Greec in perfection, " being one of the Philosopers, I suppose, of that " nation, said. 111 explain to you, O stranger, " the enigma of this picture, for it seems not " a little to disturb you. We Gauls do not sup- ** pose, as you Greecs, that Mercury is SPEECH " or Eloquence ; but we attribute it to Hercules, " because he's far superior in strength to Me cur y, " Don't wonder, that he's represented as an old " man : for SPEECH alone loves to show its ut- " most vigor in old age, if your own Poets speak " true. JU young men's breasts are tcith thick darkness fi IF d : But age experiencd has 7nuch more to say^ More tcise afid learned , than rude untaught yotith, ^* Thus, among your selves, hoiiy drop? from Ni's- OF THE DRUIDS. 157 ** tor's tongue; and the Trojan Orators emit a *^ certain voice call'd Lirioessa, that is, a florid " speech ; for, if I remember right, flowers are « call'd Liria. Now that Hercules, or SPEECH, " shou'd draw men after him ty'd by their Ears *• to his Tongue, will be no cause of admiration " to you ; when you consider the near affinity of *' the Tongue with the Ears. Nor is his Tongue *' contumeliously bor'd : for I remember, said he, " to have learnt certain Iambics out of your own " Comedians, one of which says, The tips of all Prater s tongues are bord. <• And finally, as for us, we are of opinion, th^t '* Hercules accomplish'd all his atchievments by " SPEECH ; and, that having been a wise man, " he conquer'd mostly by persuasion : we think " his arrows were keen Reasons, easily shot, quick, ** and penetrating the souls of men ; whence you " have, among you, the expression of wing'd words. " Hitherto spoke the Gaul." From this ingeni- ous picture Lucian draws to himself an argument of Consolation : that the study and profession of Eloquence was not unbecoming him in his old age, being rather more fit than ever to teach the Belles Letters ; when his stock of knowlege was most complete, as his Speech was more copiousj polish'd, and mature, than formerly. II. As my first instance is furnish'd by a man. 158 THE HISTORY who, for his Eloquence and love of Liberty, quahties no less conspicuous in your Lordship, deserv'd to have his ^nemory consecrated to Immortality, which was all that the wisest of the antients understood by making any one a God ; so my second instance shall ]je taken from a woman, whose frailty and perfidiousness will serve as a foil to those learned Druidesses, and other illustrious Heroines, which I frequently mention in my History. I introduce her in a passage I have occasion to allege, w^hen I am proving, that wherever the Gauls or Britons are in any old author simply said to offer sacri- fice, without any further circumstances added, this nevertheless is understood to be done by the mi- nistry of the Druids; it having been as unlawful for any of the Celtic nations to sacrifice other- wise, as it was for the Jews to do so without their Priests and Levites. The Druids, says (2) Julius Caesar, perform divine service^ they offer the pichlic and private sacrifices, they interpret re- ligious observances : and even when particular per- sons w^ou'd propitiate the Gods, for the continu- ing or restoring of their Health ; they make use of the Druids, adds he (3), to offer those sacrifices. (2) Illi rchus divhiis intersunt^ sacrificia pnhlica ac pH" Tata procuranty religiones interpretantur, De Bello Gallico. lib. G. cap. 12. (3) Administrisque ad ea mcrJficia Druidibus uiuntuu Ibid* OF THE DRUIDS. 159 ^Tis the estahlisKd custom of the Gauls, says (4) DiODORUS SicuLus, to offcT 110 sacvificc irithout a Philosophej', which is to say, a Druid : and Strabo so expresses it, affirming, that (5) they never sacri- Jice without the Druids. This unanswerable proof being premis'd, now follows one of the passages, wherein a Gaul being said simply to sacrifice, I think fit to relate the whole story. 'Tis the eigth of Parthenius of Nicea's Love-stories, related before him (as he says) in the first book of the Historij written by Aristodemus of Nysa, now lost. This Parthenius addresses his book to Cornelius Cal- lus, for whose use he wrote it, being the same to whom Virgil inscribed his tenth Eclog. The story runs thus. ** When (6) the Cauls had made an in- " cursion into Ionia, and sack'd most of the cities, *^ the Thesmophorian festival was celebrated at *' Miletus; which occasioning all the women to as- *^ semble together in the Temple, that was not far " from the city : part of the Barbarian army, which *' separated from the rest, made an irruption into the "* Milesian territory, and seiz'd upon those women; *^ whom the Milesians were forc*d to ransom, giving *' in exchange a great sum of gold and silver. Yet ** the Barbarians took some of them away for do- (4) Ethos d' autois esti, medena thusian poiein anen philosophon. Lib. 5. pag. 308. Edit. Hanov. (5) Ethuoii de ouk aneu Druidon. Lib. 4-. pag. 303. Edit. ArnsteL (6) Ilote de hoi Galatai liatcdraraon ten IGoian, et quas sequuntur. 160 THR HISTORY " mestic use, among whom was Erippe (7) the wife " of Xanthus (a man of the first rank and birth in " Miletus) leaving behind her a boy onely two years ** olde. Now Xanthus passionately loving his wife, '' turn'd part of his substance into money, and having '• amass'd a thousand pieces of gold, he crooss'd over " with the soonest into Italy ; whence being guided " by some whom lie had inter taiii'd in Greece, he " came to Marseilles, and so into Gaule. Then he " went to the house where his wife was, belonging " to a man of the greatest authority among the '^ Gauls, and intreated to be lodg'd there ; whereupon ^' those of the family, according to tliat nation's usual " Hospitality, cheeifully receiving him, he went in " and saw his wife ; who running to him with open " arms, very lovingly led him to his apartment. " Cavara (8) the Gaul, who had been abroad, re= " turning soon after, Erippe acquainted him with " the arrival of her Husband ; and that it was for her " sake he came, bringing with him the price of her " redemption. The Gaul extoli'd the generosity of " Xanthus, and strait inviting several of his owa '' friends and nearest relations, hospitably treated " him ; making a feast on purpose, and placing his " wife by his side : then asking him by an interpreter " what his whole estate was worth, and Xanthus (7) Aristodemus calls her Gythimia. (8) So he's nam'd by x^ristodemus: and it is to this day a common name in Ireland. Via, Act for attainting Shane ONeil, OF THE DRUIDS. J61 t« « tt«ia u ftw t« r i r iii ii ii M ii i1 i rj iii i » iii i iiiaiaMMiMMMM»«w>^ ii i ■— na— ——— m . i u m i i > iii l i»i l iW m iii i i i. iBP» *' answering- a thousand pieces of gold ; the Barbarian ** order'd him to divide that sum into four parts, " whereof he should take back three, one for himself, " one for his wife, and one for his little son, but that ** he shou'd leave him the fourth for his wife's ran- *• som. When they went to bed, his wife heavily '• chid Xantkus, as not, having so great a sum of ** gold to pay the Barbarian ; and that he was in •^ danger, if he could not fulfill his promise. He '' told her, that he had yet a thousand pieces " more hid in the shoos of his servants ; for " that he did not expect to find any Barbarian " so equitable, believing her ransom wou'd have *• cost Ijim much more. Next day the wife *^ inform'd the Gaul what a great sum of gold *•' there was, and bids him kill Xanthus ; assur- " ing him, that she lov'd him better than her '• country or her child, and that she mortally '• hated Xanthus. Cavara took no delight in " this declaration, and resolv'd in his own mind *^ from that moment to punish her. Now when " Xanthus v/as in haste to depart, the Gaul very '* kindly permitted it, going with him part of " the way, and leading Erippe. When the Bar- " barian had accompany 'd them as far as the moun- " tains ofGaule, he said, that, before they part- '* ed, he was minded to offer a sacrifice ; and " having adorn'd the victim, he desir'd Erippe " to lay hold of it : which she doing, as at o- ** ther times she was accustom'd, he brandished X 162 THE HISTORY ** his sword at her, ran her thro', and cut olT '' her head ; but pray'd Xanthus not to be at ail " concern'd, discovering her treachery to him, and *•' permitting him to take away all his Gold." 'Tis no more hence to be concluded, because no Druid is mentioned, that Cavara olTered this sacrifice with- cnt the ministry of one or more such, unless he was of their number himself, which is not im- probable, than that a man of his quality was at- tended by no servants, because they are not spe- cially mentioned; fcr ordinary, as well as neces- sary circumstances, are ever supposed by good writers, v/here there is not some peculiar occa- sion of inserting them. III. In my third instance I return again to Hercules, of whom a story is told in the same book, whence we had the last ; which, tho relat- ed and recommended by the author as a good ar- gument for a Poem, affords however no small illus- tration, to what I maintain by much more posi- tive proofs, viz. tliat " Great Britain w^as denomin- ** ated from the province of Britain in Gaule, and ** that from Gaule the original inhabitants of all " the Brittish Hands (I mean those of Cesar's time) *^ are, descended/' Listen for a moment to Partke- Nius. 'Tis (9) said " That Hercules, as he drove (9) Leg-etai de kai Heraklea, hgte ap' Enithc-ias fas Ceru.onou bons egagen, haloir.enen dia tOs Kelton choras, aphikesthai para Bretannon : to de ara hupar- chein thug^tera, Keltinen onoma t tauten de, erastheisan tou Herakleoiis, katak- jupsai tas bous ; nve tiieleia te upodounai, ei aie pioleioa aute nikhthenai ; ton OF THE DRITIDS;. IGS " away from (10) Erythia the oxen of Geryon, ^' had penetrated into the region of the Gauls, " and that he came as far as Bretannus, who had *' a daughter called Celtina, This young woman " falling in love with Hercules, hid his oxen ; " and wou'd not restore them, till he shou'd in- " joy her first. Now Heracles being desirous to <* recover his oxen, and much more admiring the " beauty of the maid, he lay with her ; and in ^' due time was born to them a son named Cel- *^ ius (11), from whom the Celts are so denomin- *' ated." Many of the antient writers mention the incursion of Hercules into Gaule, when he made war against Geryon in Spain ; which the judicious Diodorus Siculus shows to have been at the head of a powerful Army, not with his bare CUib and Bow, as the Poets feign ; and that it was he who built the fortress of Alexia, whereof the Siege, many ages after by Julius Cesar, became so fam- ous. Diodorus likewise tells this very story of Parthenins, but without naming Bretannus or Cel- Una. He onely says (12), " A certain illustrious de Heraklea, tc men toi kai tas bous epeig'onienon anasosasthai : polu mallon to tallos ekplagenta tes koreb sungenesthai aute : kai autois, chronoii periekontos^ genesthai paida Kelton, aph' hou dt Keltoi prose^orcuthesan. Cap. 30. (10) Now Cadiz, (11) Gallus, Galli. (12) Tes Keltikei. toinun to palaion, lios phasim edunasteusen epiphanes ai>»r, ho thugrater e^eneto, «&c michthcisa de to HeraUei eg-enne8en huiou cnciua Galatea . . .penboetos de reuomenoa ep' andreia, tous Lup' auton te- 164 THE HISTORY '' man, that govern'd a Province in Gaule, had " a daughter exceeding the rest of her sex, in " stature and beauty : who, tho despising all that " made court to her, being of a very high spi- " rit ; yet fell in love with Hercules, whose cour- " age and majestic person she greatly admired. " With her parentis consent she came to a right <' understanding with this hero, who begot on her a ^* son, not unworthy the pair from whom he sprung, ** either in body or mind. He was called Galates *• (13), succeeded his grandfather in the government ; <• and, becoming rcnown'd for his valor, his subjects " were called Galatians (14) after his name, as *^ the whole country it self Galatia (15)." This is plainly the same story, onely that one writer supplies us with the names, which the other omits ; and Armorican Britain being probably the Province, -wherein Bretannus rul'd (since we find it insinuated, that Hercules had penetrated far to come to him) tis still more than probable, that it was deno- minated from him : as I shall prove beyond the -iibility of contradiction, that our Britain had name from that of Gaule, as New England tagrcenous oOoro^i^'RTi aph* heautoa Galatas, aph' h5a he sunpasa Galatia pro- gJijoreuthrf. Lib. 4. ■pag. SOS. (13) Gallus. (14) GallL (15] Gallia. OF THE DRUIDS. 165 has from the Old. He sy chins, in the word Bretan- nus, is of the same opinion with me. So is Di- onysius (16) Periegetes, with his Commentator (17) Eustathius : and I am not a little countenanced by Pliny the elder, v/ho places (18) Britofls on the maritim coasts of Gaule over against Great Bri- tain. But I have more evidence still. To say nothing at present of Cesar so many ages be- fore Eustathius f Tacitus likewise among the (19^ antients, Be da among those of the middle (20) ages, and some of the most celebrated modem writers, are as express as words can possibly make ^nj thing, that Britain was peopled from Gaule. Nor is the epithet of Greats added to our Britain, (\0) — . . .. . . Entha BretanoL Leuka te phula nemontai areiicaneon Germanon. (17) Ton de BrettmSn tauten paronumol, ha; an'Jperan BrettaTjides n^soL (18) A Scaldi incolunt extera Toxandri piiiribu*; nominibus : delude Menapij, Morini»Oromansaci juncti Tag^o qui Gessoriacus vocatur: * BRITANNJ, Anibiani, Bellcvaci Hassi, Nat, His, Lib. 4. Cap, 17. (19) In itaiversnm tamen aestimanti, Gallos viciniim solum occnpasse credibile est : eorum sacra deprehencJas, superstitionum persuasione : Sermo baud multuni diver- sus, S^c. Vit. Agric, Cap. 11. (20) Ilaec Insula Britones solum, a quibus r.omen ac- cepit, incolas habuit; qui de tractu Armoricano, ut t'ertur, Britani:iiam advecti,australes sibi partes illius vindiearuiit. Hist. Ecdes. Lib. 1. Cap. I. Ij In (juibusdam exemplaribus, sed erperam, Brianni, 166 THE HISTORY any more an objection to this assertion ; than the coast of Italy, formerly called Magna Graecicf, cou*d be made the mother countiy of Greece, when the cities of that coast were all Colonies from thence : besides tfiat Great Britain was antiently so calFd with respect to Ireland, which, before the fable of the Welsh colony in Gaule was invented, is call'd Little Britain, as you'll see anon. These disquisi- tions come not into the History of the Dt^uids, but into the annext Dissertation concerning the Celtic Language and Colonies. There you'll see the folly of deriving Britain from the fabulous Irish Hero Briotan, or from the no less imaginaiy Brutus the Trojan ; nor is the word originally Pridcain, Prytania, Bridania, or descended from either Pheni- cian, or Scandinavian, or Dutch, or even any Brit- tish words. The insular Britons, like other Colonies, were long govern'd by those on the contiuon'^ ; and by the neighboring Provinces, who join'd in making settlements here. It was so even as low down as a little before Julius Cesar's conquest; in whose (21) Commentaries it is recorded,, that those ofSoissons had within their memory, say the ambassadors of Rheims to him, Divitiacus (22) for their King, the (21) Suessones esse suos finitimos, latissimos feracis- simosque agros possidere : apud eos fuisse Regem nostra etiam memoria Divitiacum, totiusGalliae potentissimum ; qui, cum inagnae partis barum regionum, turn eiiam Bri- tannine impenum obtinuerit. De Bello GaUico, Lib. 2. Cap. 4. (22) DifTerenl from DiviTi Acus the Eduan orBergundian, OF THE DRUIDS. 167 -'~«°"°"°— '■" "'■■ " ■ o>— ^->^»^a»^ . -^.-i—>^»-— viost potent Prince of all Gaale : ivho sivay'd the scepter, not onehj of a great part of those regions , hvt also of Britain. In the same Dissertation, after exploding the Welsh fable about Britain in France, you'll read as positive proofs, that the ancient Irish, not one of their Colonies excepted, the Nemetes, the Firbolgs, the Danannans, and the Milesians, were all from Gaule and Great Britain ; whose language, reli- gion, customs, laws and government, proper names of men and places, the)^ constantly did and do still use : whereas, to forbear at present all other arguments, not one single word of the Irish tongue agrees with the Cantabrian or Biscaian, which is the tme old ^ Spanish ; the present idiom being a mixture of Latin, Gothic, and Arabic. Besides this, all the antients knew and held the Irish to be Britons, as Ireland it self is b} Ptolomy call'd (23) Little Britain. They were reckon'd Britons by Aristotle, who in his book de Blundo, calls the country (24) lerne ; as Chyheus l.efore him (25) lernis, if Onomacritus be not the author of the Argonaut ica, or rather, as Siiidas asserts, Orpheus of Crotona, contemporary with the Tyrant Pisisfratus. And if this be true, Ardhbishop Usher did not Gasconnade, when he (26) said, that the (23) Mllj-a Brettania, in Alma^e^t. Lib. 2. cap. 6, (24) En touto g-a men (nkeano) ni?'Joi meg^istai te tunchanousia uusai duo, BrPtanikui i»*gouieiiai, Albion kai ierne. Cap. 5. (2'j) Anlcaios d' oiokas epistameuos etitaiae. Par d' ara nesou amfcibea iernida -—Ver. 134(7. (26) Fritmrd.Ecclcs. Briiannicar, pag. 724. 168 THE IirSTORY Roman people coii'd not any where be found so an- tientij mention'd as Icrnis, Dlonysius Periegetes^ before cited, is of the same opinion in his description (J the (21) ivorld, that the Irish were Britons : as Ste-^ ]jhaniis Byzantius names it (28) Brittish Juverniay the hast of the two Hands. Diodorus Slculus mentions (29) the Britons inhabiting the Hand caWd Iris^ a name better expressing Ere, vulgarly Eri?in, the right name of Ireland, than lemey Juverna^ Hiherjiia, .or any name that has been either poetically or otherwise us'd. Strabo stiles Ireland (30) Brittish lerna, as his antient Abridger calls the Irish (31), the Britons inhabiting lerna : and, if we may intermix ludicrous with serious things, where 'tis now read in the same Strabo, that the Irish were great eaters (32) his said Abridger reads it herb-eaters (33) ; which wou'd in- duce one to believe, that, so long ago Shamrogs were in as great request there as at present, Pliny says in express words (34), that " every one of the Brit- 1,27) Dissai flesti e^asi Brettanides autia R."i:ou. Ver. 56G. (£8) Joueraia lie Fretannike, ton duo elassen. (^29) . ■■■■ Hosppr kai ton Eretanon, tous iatolkountas tea onomazomenSc Ilia, Lib. 5. pag. 309. ;30) Hoi ten Bretaniken lernea idoiites, &.c. lib. 1. pag, 110. \5l) iiui tea Itrikea neaon katcikountes Bretanoi. lib. 3. {^2) Poiupha^oi. > ^.33) Pocphagcu (34) Britannia elara Graecis nostrlsque scriptoribus-^ . OF THE DPUIDS. 169 " tish Hands was c^lFd Britain ; whereas Albion was " the distinguishing name of the Britain now pecu- ** liarly so call'd, and so famous in the Greec and " Roman writings.'* These particulars, I repeat it, much below the dignity of cur History, will be found in the before-mention'd Dissertation ; wiiich, tho' infi«» nitely less useful, I dare prophesy will be full as much read, if not much more relish'd. The greatest men however have not thought it unbecoming them, to search at their leisure into such Originals : and I, for my part, found it almost a necessary imployment, con- sidering tjie light it adds to my principal worko IV. To return thither therefore, there are diverse passages, some longer some shorter, in the most antient Greec authors we have, or copy'd by these from such as are quite lost ; which, tho' generally neglected and unobserved, will be no small ornament to the Histori/ I have taken in hand. And, to say it here by the the way, 'tis certain that the more antient Greec writers, such as IIecateus, Eudoxus, Hipparchus, Eratosthenes, Polybius, Posidonius (not to speak of DiCEARCiius and others) knew a great deal of truth concerning the Brittish Hands : by reason of the fre« quent navigations of the Greecs into these parts, after the way was shown them by the Phenicians ; so anti" ent an author as Herodotus affirming, that his coun- Albion ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniae vocarentur omnes Insulae nempe Britaimicae. ^aL Hist, lib. 4. cap. 10, Y 170 THE HISTORY trymen had their Tin from {35) iience, tlio' he cou d give little account of tl-e Hand. But this commerce being interrupted for several ages afterwards, the later writers did not cnel}^ themselves vend abundance of fables about these northern parts of the world ; but treat as fabulous, what their Predecessors had record- ed with no less honesty than exactness. Of this I sliali have occasion to give some convincing proofs in this very Letter. But not to forget the passages cf the antients, when you call to mind those Rocking- sto'jies set up hj the Druids, describ'd in the xivth and xvith Section of our second Letter, and whereof seve- ral are yet standing ; you'll not doubt but 'tis one of tliem, that is mention'd in the Abridgement we have of Ptolomy Hephestion's History: who, in the third chapter of the third book, is said to have uritten about the (36) GIGONIAN STONE stojiding near the ocean ; which is mov^d with such a small matter as the stalk of asphodeU tho'' immoveable against tlie greatest force imaginable. This passage needs, in my opinion, no comment. But we are to note, when those old writers talk of any thing near the Ocean with respect to the straights of Hercules (37), and without sj3eci- fying the place ; that it may then be on the coast of (35) — — Oute nesous oida Eassiteridas eousaSj eli ton Iio kassiteros hemin phoita. Lib. 3. cap. 115. (36) Peri tes peri ton Okeanon Gigouias petras, Itai lioti mono asphodelo iineitaj, pros pasan bian ametakinetos oBsa. (37) Now of Gibraltar. OF THE DRUIDS', 171 Spain, or of France, in the Brittish Hands, or on any of the northern shores. It is onely to be discoverd either by matter of fact, or by probable circumstances : as this Gigonian stone (for oxample) was necessarily in some of the Celtic or Brittish territories, whose Druids alone set up such stones. So were the Birds, whereof I am now going to speak, " What Artemidorus has " deliever'd concerning the Ravens, says {SS) Slrabo, *' sounds very much like a fable. He tells us, that *^ there is a certain lake near the Ocean, which is ^' call'd the lake of the two ravens, because two ravens ^' appear in it, which have some white in their wing : *' that such as have any controversy together come " thither to an elevated place, where they set a table, ** each laying on a cake separately for himself : and " that those birds flying thither, eat the one while ** they scatter the other about ; so that he, whose " cake is thus scatter'd, gets the better of the dispute." Such fables does he relate ! But I wou'd ask Strcu ho, what is there fabulous in all this ? or why shou'd the rude Gauls and Britons being inflnenc'd by the eating or not eating of ravens, be thought more strange or fabulous, than the iripTtdium solistinmm of chickens among the polite Romans ? which Casau- EON, I will not say how truely, thinks was deriv- (r>S) Touto d' eii muthodesterori elrekeu Artemidoros, to peri tous Koraias sunabainon. Liraena g-ar tina tos parokeanitidos historei duo korakon eponoma- zomenon ; phainesthai d' en touto duo korakas, ten dexian pteru^^a para- le'ikon echontas^ tous oun peii tinon amphisbetountas, aphikomenous dearo epli' hupselou topou, sanida thetitas, epiballem psaista, ekateron cborij : tous d' oraeis ephiptantas ta men eothiein, tade skorpizein ; ou d' an skoqnsth« ta psaista, ekeinoa rnkan, Tuuta men ouu muthodestera leg^i. Lib. 4. })ug. S03.. 172 THE HISTORY ed from these very (39) ravens. If Strabo had said, that the Divination it self was superstitious and vain, or that it was ridiculous to imagine the ravens cou'd discern the cake of the guilty from, that of the innocent, tho' they might greedily eat- one of them when hungry, and wantonly sport with the other when their bellies were full^ no man of judgement would contradict him. As for Tavens having some white in their wings, it con-' tains nothing fabulous, I my self having seen such, and no Ornithologists omitting them. I will own in- deed, that so uncommon a thing as white in the wing of a raven, and for a couple of them to hold a place so cunningly to themselves,^ was enough to work iipon the superstitious fancies of ignorant people, who laid such stress above all nations upon Auguiy ; so that in this whole story of the two ravens, nothing appears to me either fabulous or wonderful. Nay I am persuaded Artemidorus was in the right, there being examples at this time of ravens thus securing a place to themselves ; and the first I shall give is, for ought any body knows, the very place hinted by Ar- temidorus. Dr. Martin, in his Description of the Jles of Scotlandy discoursing of Bernera, which is five miles in circumference, and lyes about two leagues to the south of Harries, *^ in this Hand, says (40) he, <« there^s a couple of ravens, which beat away all (39) In Annotatione ad hunc Strabonis locunii (40) Page 47, OP THE DRUIDS, 173 «^ ravenous fowls : and when their young are able to " fly abroad, they beat them also out of the Hand, " but not without many blows and a great noise." In this Hand moreover, to remark a further agree- ment with Artemidorus, there's a fresh-water lake called Loch-bniist, where many land and sea-fowl build. He tells us (41) elsewhere of another such couple^ which are of the same inhospitable, or rather cautious and frugal disposition, in a little Hand near North-Uist ; and still of such another couple (42), in all respects, upon the He of Trod a near Sky. But as Eagles were no less birds of Augury than ravens, the Doctor, in his account of a little Hand near the greater one of Lewis (43), says that he saw a couple of eagles there ; which, as the natives assured him, would never suffer any other of their kind to continue in the Hand : driving av/ay their own young ones, as soon as they are able to fly^ The natives told him further, that those eagles are so careful of the place of their abode, that they never killed any sheep or lamb in the Hand ; tho' the bones of lambs, fawns, and wild-fowl, are frequently found in and about their nests : so that they make their purc-ia^e in the opposite Hands, the nearest of which is a league distant.. There is such another couple of eagles, and as tender of injuring their native countrv-, (41) Page 60. (42) Page 166. (43) Page 23. 174 THE HISTORY on the north end of St. Kilda (44<) which Ilancb may be viewed in the map of Scotland. I must observe on this occasion, that there is no part of our educa= tion so difficult to be eradicated as SUPERSTI- TION ; which is industriously instilled into men from their cradles by their nurses, by their parents, by the very servants, by all that converse with them, by their tutors and school-masters, by the poets, orators, and historians which they read i but more particularly by the Priests, who in most parts of the world are hired to keep the people in en*or, being commonly backed by the example and authority of the Magistrate. Augury was formerly one of the most universal Supei^titionsj equally practised by the Greecs and the Barbarians ; certain Priests in all na- tions, pretending, tho' by very contrary rites and observations, to interpret the language, the flight, and feeding of birds : as Eneas thus addresses Helen the Priest of (45) Apollo, Trojugena, interpres, Dhum, qui numina Phoebi, Qui tripodas, Clarii lauros, qui sidera sentis, Et volucrum linguaSf et praepetis onina pfnnae^ FuTC age. Now to comprehend . what deep root Superstition takes, and how the sap keeps alive in the stump, leady to sprout forth again, after the trunk and branches have for many ages been cut off; I beg (44) Page 299. (45) Virg. Aen. lib. 3, OF THE DRUIDS. 175 your patience to hear the following story, espe- cially since we are upon the subject of ravens. When I was in Dublin in tho year 1697, I walk- ed out one day to the village of Finglass, and overtook upon the way two gentlemen of the old Irish stock, with whom I had contracted some acquaintance at the coffee-house. They told me they were going a good way further, about a bu- siness of some importance ; and not many minuies after one of them cried out with joy to the other, see cousin, by heaven matters will go well : point- ing at the same instant to a raven feeding and hopping hard by, which had a white feather or two in the wing that was towards us. The o- ther appeared no less transported, nor would they stir till they saw what way the raven flew ; which be- ing to the south of them, and with a great noise, they were fully confirmed about the success of their business. This brought to my remembrance that oblative Augury in (4^6) Yirgil : Scarce had he said, when full before his sight ^ Two dnveSf descending from their airy flight, f Secure upon the grass^y plain alight—-'" ^ With watchful sight Observing still the motions of their flight. What course they took, what happy signs they shew ! They fled, and, flutfring by degrees, withdrew — &c. Dry den's Translate ^46) ■ Geminae cum forte Columbae Ipsa sub era viri coelo venere volantes, Et viridi sedere solo vestigia pressit, Observans quae signa ferant^ quo tendere pergant. Aeneid* lib, 6. ver, 190. 170 THE HISTORY Nor was I unmindful, you may be sure, of that pas- sage in (4-7) Plautus, 'Tis net for nought, that the Raven sings tww on ?ny left; And, croaking, has once scrap'd the earth with his feet. Upon my putting some questions to those gentlemen, they 5aid it was certain by the observation of all ages, that a raven having any white in its wings, and flying on the right hand of any person, croaking at the same time, was an infallible presage of good luck. I used a great many arguments to show them the vanity and unreasonableness of this piece of Supersti- tion, comparing it among other extravagancies, to the no less absurd one of dreams ; where if one happens by chance to come to pass, while ten thousand fail, these are forgot and the other remembered. But I am persuaded all I did or could say, even my argiunent AD HOMiNEM, in proviug that Augury was specially forbid by the Law of Moses, would have made little impression on them ; had it not been that they mis- carryed in what they went about, as one of them candidly owned to me some weeks afterv/ards, who could then listen to my reasons, and seemed to taste them. Thus far have I been led by the ravens of Artemidorus. But I have not rambled yet so far after birds as the old Gauls, " v/hereof a part, to use (47) Non temere est, quod corvos cantat mihi nunc ab laeva raanu ; Semel radebat pedibus terram, et voce cracitabat £ua. Auiu!, Act. 4, Seen. 3, ver, 1, OF THE DRUIDS, 117 *' the words of (48) Justin after Trogus, settled in " Italy, which took and burnt the city of Rome \ " while another part of them penetrated into the " Illyric bays, by the slaughter of the Barbarians, and ^* under the guidance of birds, for the Gauls ex- *^ CELL ALL OTHERS IN THE SKILL OF AuGURY, " settled in Pannonia :'* telling next, how, after di- viding their forces, they invaded Greece, Macedonia, and most parts of Asia, where they founded tlae Gal- logrecian Tetrarchy, But still you see they were birds, that guided those famous expeditions. V, I have by good authorities shov/n before, that the antienttfet Greec writers had much great- er certainty, ana knew many more particulars, con- ; corning the Brittish Hands, even the most remote/ and minute, than such as came after them ; by/ reason that the Grecian trade hither, open'd firsf by the Phenicians, had been for a long time iuf terrupted, or rather quite abandoned. Thus in time the original Relations came to be looked up- on as so many fables, at \^hich I do not so much wonder in any man, as in the most judicious cf all Geographers and the most instructive, I mean the Philosopher Strabo. These later Greecs were implicity credited and transcribed by the Romaa (49) Ex his portio in Italia consedit, quae et ur!^em Romam captam incendit ; et portio lilyviGos sinus, duci- bus Avibus {nam Augurandi studio Galli praeter ceteros callent) per stras^es Barbarorum peuetravit, et in Fanaoiii* eousediU Lib, 24. cap, 4. z 17S THE HISTORY writers, till Britain came to be fully known, hav- ing rather been siiown than conquered by Julius Cesar ; and scarce believed to be an Hand, tho* it was constantly affirmed to be so by the most antient discoveries, till Vespasian's Lieutenant, Agricola^ found it beyond all possibility of contradiction to be an (49) Hand, part of the Roman fleet sailing round it. But of the remotest Hands there has been no exact Account from that time to this. That of Donald Monro, in James the fifth of Scotland's time, is very imperfect : and tho' in our own time Doctor Martin, who is a native of one of those Hands, has travelled over them all to laudable pur- pose ; yet his descriptions are m ^ny instances too short, besides that he omits several observations, which his own materials show he ought to have fre» quently made. Considering therefore the curious things out of him and others, that may be agree- ably read in my two former Letters, together withi many more accounts of Monuments there, which I have from good hands, I own that I am pas- sionately desirous to spend one Summer in those Bands, before the History of the Druids makes its public appearance in the world. But I returi^ to the antient writers who mention the remotest Brittish Hands, of whom Pytheas of Massilia, a Greee colony in Gaule, now Marseilles, is the very (49) Hanc oram novissimi maris tunc primum Ro« niana Classis circumvecta, iiisuiam esse Bntauniam zS-> firinavit. Tacit, in Vila Agric. cap, 10, OF THE DRUIDS. 175 first on record. He liv'd in the time of Alex- ander the Great, and published his Geographical work, or rather his Voyages, intitled (50) the Tour of the Earth before his contemporaiy Ti- MEUs wrote, or Dicearchus, or Eratosthenes, or PoLYBius ; who followed each other, and who in some things disagree. This Pyteeas, and also one EuTHYMENEs, wcre sent by the Senate of Mar- seilles to make discoveries ; the former to the north, the latter to the soutJi. Euthymenes, sail- ing along the coast of Africa past the line : and Pytheas, landing in Britain and Ireland, as well as on the German coast and in Scandin^.via, sail- €d beyond Iceland. Both the one and the other made such discoveries, as long past for fables : but time, by means of our modern navagation, has done both of them justice. Pytheas, on his part, was terribly decry 'd by Strabo, who with- out ceremony calls him (51) a most tying fcloio : tho' he's since found, and licw known by every body, to be much more m the right tlian him- self. Nothing is more exact, than what he has related, or that is related after him, of the tem- perature of the Brittish climate, of the length of the nights and days, of the strange birds and monstrous fishes of the Northern Ocean : nor is it a small loss, that a Treatise he wrot€ in par- (30) Ges perlodos. Schoiiasto in Apollouii Argonautica, Lib. 4. ad vers. 761, The northern sea, even before one comes to the Icy- part, and perhaps most properly, may be termed slow and dead, by reason of the Rousts, or meetings of contrary Tides ; whose conflict is sometimes so equal, that they are a great impediment to the boat or ship's way : nay sometimes, tho' under sail, they can make no way at all ; but are very often impetuously whirled Tpund, and now and then quite swallowed up. This kind of shipwrack is no less naturally than elegantly desgribed by Virgil, when he relates the fate of Orontes who commanded a ship under Exeas : Tpsius a7ite ocidos ingens a vertice pontus In puppim ferit; excutitur, pronusque magister Vohitur in caput : ast illam ter fiuctus ibidem Torquet agens circum, et rapidus vorat aequure vortex, Aen. lib. 1. I should not forget here, that, upon the discovery of (64) Be facie in orbc Lunae : de Defectu Oracuhr. Vi- denHi etiam Orpheus in Argonauticis, Pliniu8, Solin- us, IsAACius TzETZES in luYCOvuB.oisis Alexandram, &c. {()5) lidem consulendi, quorum in Aniiotatione praece- denti mentio : nee non in Horatxi Epodam 1(3 commea-. tautes iegendi. OF Tim JDRUIDS. Thule by Pytheas^ one Ajitonius Diogenes wrote a Romance in twenty four books, which he intituled the Incredibilities of Thide ; where he laid his scene, and whereof Photius has given some {66) account I have dwelt the longer upon these Hands, because they did not onely, like the other parts of Britain, abound with Druids, who have there left various memorials of themselves : but also because" the last footing they had in the world was here, which makes it little less than Essential to my subject. Nor w^as it in the lie of Man alone, that a peculiar Govern- ment v.*as set up by their procurement or approba- tion ; as you have read in my second Letter of their Disciple, the admirable Legislator Manan^ nan. There was likewise another Government of their erection, singular enough, in the (67) Hehudes ; where better provision was made against the chang- ing of an elective into a hereditary Monarchy, and against all other exorbitances of the Prince, than ever I read in any author antient or modern. So^ linus speaking of these Hands, " there is one King, " sai/s (68 J he, over them all; for they ai*e, as (66) Toa huper Thoulen apistou log^oi kd. In Bibliothecaf cod. 166. (67) Another name for the Western lies, equivalent to the Hebrides : if they were not originally the same, hav- ing perhaps by the raistake of Transcribers been written for each other ; nothing being easier, than to confound tii with ri, or ri with ui, as antiently written. (68) Rex unus est universis : nam quotquot sunt, otn- nes angusta latcriuvie dividuntur. Rex nihil suum habet, A2 ISO THE HISTdRY *^ many as be of them, divided cnely by narrow '^ channels. This King has nothing of his own, " but shares of every thing that every man has, " He is by ceitain Laws' obliged to observe " equity : and lest avarice should make him de- " viate from the right way, he learns justice *' from Poverty ; as having no manner of pro- " perty, being maintained upon the public ex- ^^ pence. He has not as much as a wife of his ** own, but by certain turns makes use of any ^' woman towards whom he has an inclination ; *' whence it happens, that he has neither the de- **' sire nor the hope of any children." '*Tis pity this author has not specify ed those Laws, by which equity was prescribed to the Hebudian Monarch, in injoying what was proper for him of other men^s goods : and that he has not told us, how those vicissitudes were regulated, whereby he had the temporary use of other men's wives, who nevertheless were to father all the children. As I showed this passage one day to a couple of my friends, one of them readily agreed, that the State must needs find their account in this con- stitution ; both as it saved the expence of trea- sure in maintaining a numerous Royal Progeny^ omnia universorum. Ad aequitalem certis Legibus strin- gitur ; ac, ne avaritia divertat a vero, discit paupertate justitiam : utpote cui nihil sit rei familiaris, verum alitur e publico. Nulla illi datur foemina propria ; sed per vi« cissitudines, in quacunque commotussit, usurariam sumito nude ei nee votum, nee spes, Liberorum. Cap. 22. OF THE DRUIDS. 1ST and as it saved the expence of blood in settling their several claims or contentions : but had it not been, said he, for the strict care taken against accumulating riches or power on the Prince, I should have naturally thought, that it was one of those Dmidical Priests, who had thus advan- tageously carved for himself. Hereupon the other leplyed, that he fancyed such Priests would be contented to have plentiful eating and drinking, and variety of women^ thus established by Law for them; since it was for no other end, he con- ceived, but to obtain these, that they struggled so hard any where far power and riches. But if this were so, the Druids could be at no man- ner of loss about their pleasures ; considering the sway they bore in the civil authority, and their management of the much more powerful engine of Superstition : " for without th^ Druids, who " understand Divination and Philosophy, says (69) ** Dion Chrysostom, the Kings may neither do ^* nor consult any thing ; so that in reality they " are the Druids who reign, while the Kings, " tho' they sit on golden thrones, dwell in spa- *^ cious palaces^ and feed on costly dishes, are ^^ onely their Ministers, and the executioners of (69) Eeltoi de fco'JS ■onoraazou:-;! Druidaj;, kai toutous peri mertiken onfas fcai t*3n alien so^hian, hon aneu tois Easileui^^in ouden ektien prattein oude bou- Jesthai ; hosts to men aiethes ekeinoasi arehein, tous de tasileas auton hupert- tas kai diakonons gu'g'nethai tes ^norae^, en thvoixois chru?oi.s kathetnenous, kai oikias me^alas oikountas, kai polatiraos eaochouiaenouSb De rtcusationc MegU Sirat, in iienatu, pag. 638. Edit. Pj.riE. 1S8 THE HISTORY << their Sentence." Judge now what influence those Priests had upon the People, when they might thus control the Prince ; and consequently, whe- ther they could possibly want any thing, that brought them either pleasure or power. The Rings bore all the envy, an^ the Druids possesst all the sweets of authority, VII. But leaving both a while, I submitt to your Lordship's consideration, upon such evidences and proofs as I am going to produce; whether the Hyperborean Hand, so much celebrated by an^ tiquity, be not some one or more of the remotest Brittish Hands: and particularly the great Hand of Lewis and Harries, with its apendages, and "the adjacent Hand of Sky ; which in every cir- cumstance agree to the description that Diodorus SicuLus gives of the Hand of the Hyperboreans Let's mention some of those circumstances. He (70) says that the Harp was there in great re- pute, as indeed it is still; every Gentlemen hav- ing one in his house, besides a multitude of Harpers by profession, intertained gratis wherever the come. He tells us, that above all other Gods (71) they worshipt Apollo; which, in my first Lettevy I evidently show they did under the name (70) Ton de tatoikounton auten tous plcistcus eln,ai Kitharlstas, Lib. 2> jiag, 130. (71) Ton Apollo malista ton allon theon par' autois timasthai. Vuid OF THE DRUIDS. ISO of Belenus (72). He says further, that besides a magnificent sacred Grove, Apollo's remarkable Temple (73) there was round, whereof I have given a particulal' description and plan in my second Letter (74), it subsisting in great part still. He affirms that they had a peculiar Dia- lect, which in realit} continues the same to this day; it being Earse, or the sixth among the Cel- tic Dialects I enumerated in my first Letter: and approaching so near to that of the Irish, that these and the lianders discourse together without any difficultyo But, omitting several other mat- ters no less concordant, he adds, that the Hand was frequented of old by the (75) Greecs, and in frieiidship with them ; 'which will be easily admitted, after perusing the fourth and fifth Sec- tions of this present Letter^ where I manifestly prove this intercourse. I very well know, that others, who are far from agreeing among them- selves, do place the Hyperboreans elsewhere: nor am I ignorant tliat diverse, after the example of (76) Antonius Diogenes's Thulian Romance, (72) In the Celtic language Beal and Bealan. (T3> Huparchein de kata ten neson teraenos te Apollonos meg'aJoprepes, kai naon aksiologon, anathemas! poUois kekosraemenon, sphairoeide to schemati. Ibid, (74) Section XL (75) Pros tons Hellenas oikeiotata diakeisthai, &c. Ibid, (76) See the last Section. 390 THE HISTORY » ■ ■ I I ■■" ■ ml' ll'II JH I I Hmy i l ■M^I^— m h .i 1.1111 ' ■ " ■'■■ "NII B W I I IIB— ga— »p,»y.-^ have indeavored to divert their readers, no less than themselves, with Hyperborean fictions ; and so made such variations of site or circumstances, as best suited their several plans, to speak no- thing of such as were grossly ignorant in Geo- graphy. Allowances ought to be made for all these things. And the Hyperborean continent (v/hich was questionless the most northern part cf Scythia, or of Tartary and Muscovy, stretch- ing quite to Scandinavia, or Sweden and Nor- way) this Hyperborean continent, I say, must be carefully distinguished from the Hyperborean Hand ; whose soil was more temperate and fertile, as its inhabitants more civilized, , harmless, and happy* But, to prevent all cavils, I declare before-hand, that as by Thule I mean onely that of Pytheas^ or Iceland, and not the conjectures or mistakes of people that lived long after him ; some mak- ing it to be Ireland, others Schetland, v/hich I believe to be the Thule of (77) Tacitus^ others the northermost part of Great Britain, and othera other (78) places : so by the Hand of the Hyper- boreans, I mean that described by Diodorus Sicu- lus after Hecateus and others, as being an Hand in the Ocean beyond (^79j Gaule' to the north, or (77) Insulas, qu s Orcadas vocant, invenit domuitqiie. Despecta est et Thule, quain hactenus nix et hiems abde« bat. In vita Agrk\ cap. 10. (78) See the Essay cojicerning the Thule of the Antients,. by Sir Robert Siebald. (79) r,. . ^^,-. ,-.^-^ =.=— En tois antiperan tes Koitikes topois, kata tori '"-jlieanoc, OF THE DRUIDS. 191 under the Bear, where people lived with no less simplicity, than indolence and contentment ; and which Orpheics, or, if you please, Onomacritus, very rightly places near the (80) Cronian or Dead Sea. 'Tis by this situation, as hereafter . more particularly marked, that I am willing to be judged : showing it also to be an Hand near the Scots, whether Hibernian or Albanian ; who are, hj (81) Claudian, made borderers on the Hyper- borean Sea. From this Hand the Argonauts, after touching there coming out of the Cronian Ocean, according to Orpheus, sailed to (82) Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean ; and so to the (83) Pillars of Hercules, where they entered again into the Mediterranean (8i). No marks can be plainer, einai neson, oulc elatto tes Sikelias ; tauten huparchein men kata tous arktous? Lib, 2. pag. 130, (80) — — Kronlonte epikleskousi Ponton liuperboreea meropes nelaente thalassan. Argonaut, v&r. 1079, (81) Scotumqite vago mucrone secutus, Fregit Hyperboreas re mis audacibus undas, De 3 Cons. Honor, ver. 56% (82) Ankaios d'oiakas epistamenos etitaine. Par d'ara neson ameiben lernida 6,83) Kuraa diapressontes, ana stoma ternesoio Kikoraetha, stelaisi d'ekelsamen Herakleijes. (8i) Now the Straits of Gibraltar. Ibid. ver. Ii40, Ibid, viT, 124a 19^ ^ THE HISTORY so there is no other Hand, those of Faroe and Iceland excepted, but the northwest Brittish Hands, between the Cronian and the Atlantic Ocean, as every one knows tliat has once looked into a map; which express situation of the Hyj^erborean Hand, together with its beiilg said by Diodoriis to ly beyond the Gallic regions towards the north, or the Bear, the frequent use of the Harp there, and the worship of Apollo in a round Temple, amounts I think to as full a proof as any thing of this nature requires. Diodorus adds, in the place where I last quoted him, that the Hyper- ^ borean City and Temple were always governed by the family of the (85) Boreads (86), who with no more probability were the descendants of Boreas, an imaginary Person or Deity, tlian the Hyperboreans were so called, fro7n being situated TTiore noTiherlij than the (87) North-wind: but ill reality they were then, as they are still, govern^ ed by their chiefs or heads of tribes, whom they called in their own language Boircadhach ; that is to say, the Great ones, or powerful and, vali- ant men, from Borr, antiently signifying Gran- deur and {SS) Majesty. The Greecs have in a (85) Basileueiate t?s poleos tautrs. Icai tou temeaous eparcliein tous onoraaz* cmeucus Boreadas, apog-onous outas Borocu, kai kata^enos alei diadechasthai tas aiihas. Lib. 2, pc^. ISO. (86) BOREADES, (37) Apo tou prossoteiv kcisthai t~s borclou pnoes. Lib. 2. (88) As for these words Borr and Buircadhach or Boin« OF THE DRUIDS. jgs thousand instances applyed foren words to the very- different sense of other words approaching to the same sound in their own language. Their first sailors into those parts gave the Ilanders the name of Huperboreans, from their lying so far towards the North with respect to the straights of Her- cules, (^89^ for which I have indisputable au- thorities ; and after having once thus stil'd them, they greedily catch'd at the allusive sound of their Leaders or Magistrates, Grecizing those Grandees, or BoiREADHACH, into BoREADES : which was li- terally understood in Greece of the fabulous des- cendants of Boreas, very consonantly to their Mythology, or, if you v/ ill, to their Teleology. But I noted (^90^ before, that Plato, in his Cratylus, was of (^91y) ojnnion the Grcecs had borrowed many words from the Barbariaiu ; especially, adds he, adhach *^ the vowels u and o being with us most frequently put for e^ch other" 1 might appeal to several authentic Maaascripts ; but, because sucli are not obvious to manv» I chiise rather to refer my readers to the Seanasan nuadh, or printed vocabulary of obsolete words by O Clery, an«i to Lhuyd's printed Irish-English Dictionary: so that these words are no children of fancy, as but too frequently hap- pens in Etymoloo^ies. From the same root are Borragack couragious, and Borrthoradh awe or worship, with the likco (89) Now of Gibraltar, (90) Letter II. Section V. (91) Ennoo gar, liote polla hoi Hellenes onomata, alios te kai hoi hupc tois tarbarois oikountes, para ton barbaron eilephasi. Inter Opera, Edit- Faris. Vol. 1. pas- 409. B 9 191 Tlin: HISTORY such of the Greecs as liv'd in the Barbarian ter- ritories : which may be fairly supposed to include those who navigated, or that drove any traffic among them. And hence the divine Philosopher himself draws this accurate (92) inference, " That *• if any man would indeavor to adjust the Ety- '• malosries of those words with the Greec Ian- *' guage, and not rather seek for them in that " to which they originally belong, he must needs " be at a loss." 'Tis farther most deserving observation, that Eratosthenes, an antient Chro- nologer and Geographer of vast reputation for Learning, speaking of Apollo's famous Arroiu, with which he slew the Cyclopes, and in honor of which one of the Constellations is so called, says that (93) *• he hid it among the Hyper- " boreans, where there is his Temple made of " wings, or a winged Temple," the words being capable of both senses. If the latter was the meaning of Eratosthenes, we have already given the Description of such a winged Temple, yet standing there : and if the former, no place un- der heaven could furnish more feathers, nor of more various kinds, to adorn men or buildings, than those same Hands ; where many of the in- habitants pay their rent with them, and make a (92) Ei tis Zetoi tauta kata ten Hellcuiken phoniin hos eoilcotos keitai, al- ia me kat' ekeinea ex hes to ouoma tunchaiiei on, oistlia hoti aporoi an. Ibid, (93) Eknipse de auto (to toksikon) en hnperboreiois, hou kai ho naos ho |)terihos. In jCatastermiSf inter Opuscula Mythologica et Physica- Edit. Amit. pag. 124. OF THE DRUIDS. 195 considerable profit besides. For this reason per- haps, and not from its promontories, the He of Skie is in the language of the natives called Scianach, (94) or the winged Hand, whereof the English name SJcie is an abbreviation or corrup- tion. Now, if the Hebrides were the Hyperbo- reans of DioDORUs, as I fancy it can scarce hereafter be doubted, then the most celebrated Abaris was both of that Country and likewise a Druid,' having been the {95) Priest of Apollo. SuiDAS, who knew not the distinction of Insular Hy- perboreans, makes him a Scythian ; as do some others misled by the same vulgar error, tho' DioDORUs has truly fixed his country in the Hand, not on the continent. And indeed their fictions or blunders are infinite concerning our Abaris. This is certain however among them all, that he travelled quite over (96) Greece, and from thence into Italy, where he familiarly conversed with Pythagoras ; who fovoured him beyond all his Disciples, by imparting his doctrines to him, espe- cially his thoughts of nature, in a more com- pendious and plainer method, than to any others. (91) Ollean Sciathanach. (95) To men gar hoti ton meron chrusoun epedeiksen Abarldit5 Hnperboreo, fcikasanti auton Apollona einai ton en Huperboreois, houper en hiereus ho A- baris, bebaionta hos touto alethos tethruiletai. forphyrius in vita Pythagorae. Eadem, et iisdtm equidem verbis habct Jamblichus, Lib. I. cap. 28. (96) Hosautos de kai ek ton huperboruon Abariu eis ten Hellada kalian- ■t^saata to palaiou, &c. Ubi supra. 196 THE HISTORY This distinction could not but highly redound to the advantage of Aharis, For, the reasons of Pythagoras's backwardness and retention in com- municating his doctrines, being, in the first place, that he might eradicate, if possible, out of the minds of his Disciples all vitious and turbulent passions, forming them by degrees to a habit of virtue, which is the best preparative for receiv- ing Truth ; as, next, to fit them, by a compe- tent knowlege of the Mathematical Sciences^, for reasoning with exactness about those higher con- templations of nature, into which they were to be initiated; and, lastly, to have repeated proofs of their discretion in concealing such important discoveries from the ignorant and the wicked^ the latter being unworthy, and the former incapable of tme Philosophy : it follows therefore, that he judged Aharis already sufficiently prepared in all these respects, and so he obliged him with an immediate communication of his most inward sen- timents; concealed from others under the vail of numbers, or of some other enigmatical Symbols. The Hyperborean in return presented the Samian, as if he had equalled Apollo himself in Wisdom, with the sacred Arrow ; riding astride which he's fabulously reported by the Greec writers, to have flown in the air over rivers and lakes, forests and mountains : as our vulgar still believe, and no where more than in the Hebrides, that .wi- zards and witches waft whither they please upon OF THE DRUIDS. iQy Broom-sticks. But what was hid under this Ro- mantic expedition, with th'e true meaning of the Arrow it self, the nature of the predictions that Abaris spread in Greece, and the doctrines that he learnt at Crotona ; with the conceit of these Hyperboreans that Latona the mother of Ajyollo, was born among them, nay that he was so too* and their most exact astronomical cycle of nine- teen years : these particulars, I say, you'll read at large in my History of the Druids, stript of all fable and disguise ; as well as a full discussion of the Question, about which antient writers are di- vided, " whether the Druids learnt their (97) sym- " bolical and enigmatical method of teaching, to- " gether with the doctrine of Transmigration from " Pythagoras^ or that this Philosopher had borrow- " ed these particulars from the Druids V The communication between them was easy enough, not only by means of such travellers as Pythagoras and Abaris, but also by the nearness of Gaule to Italy: tho' there will still remain another Ques- tion, viz. whether the Egyptians had not these things before either of them ; and therefore whe- ther they did not both receive them from the E- gyptians ? VIIL Yet before all things we must here exa- mine what can be offered, with any color, against (97*) Kai phasi tons men Gumnosophistas kai Druidas aini^matodos apoph* thengomenous philophesai, Diogen, Lacrt, in prooem. Sect. 6. 193 THE HISTORY our account of the Hyperborean Hand; after that so many circumstances, and particularly the situa« tion, seem to point demonstratively to the true place; nor certainly, when things are duely con- sidered, will the objections that have been started in private conversation, as I know of no other that can be publickly made, be found to have the least difficulty. Thule or Iceland, rightly placed by Claudian in the (98) Hyperborean Climate, be- sides the incongruities of the soil and the intern- perateness of the air, is distinguished by Diodorus himself from the Hand in question : and the lies of Faroe, being onely a parcel of barren rocks of very small extent, without any monuments of anti- quity, deserve not so much as to be mentioned on this occasiono Neither indeed has any of my acquaintance insisted on either of these » But Dio- dorus, says one of them, tho' exactly agreeing to your situation or that of Orpheus^ and that your other circumstances do perfectly tally to his de- scription : yet is different in this, that he speaks onely of one Hand, not less than (99) Sicily; whereas you understand this of several Hands, which altogether have scarce that extent. I answer, that the marks of the right place which I have m^n« (9S) » — ^-,.--. Te, quo libet ire, sequemur : Te vel Hyperboreo damnatam sidere Thulen, Te vel ad incensas Libyae comitabor arenas. In Rvjin. lib. 9: (99) Ouk clatto tUs Sikolias. VU supra- OF THE DRUIDS. 199 tioned already, and such others as I shall present- ly alledge, will more than counterbalance any mis- take, if there be any, about the bigness of the Hand. Travellers and Mariners, who either Jiave not been ashore or not staid long enough in any place to survey it, are known to speak oneJy by guess, and frequently very much at random. Has not Great Britain it self, so much celebrated, as Pliny justly (100) writes, by the Greec and Ro- man authors, been taken to be of vast extent, and not certainly known by tlie Romans to be an Hand, till the time (101) of Vespasian ? Endless examples of this kind might easily be produced. And as for the multitude of those Hands, which are separated onely by narrow channels, it makes nothing at all against me. For, besides that such an aggregation of Hands is often taken in com- mon speech for onely one ; as not to go out of our own Dominions, such is Schetlcii'd, iiji name one country, but in effect consisting of more than SO Hands : so there are several indications, joined to the Tradition of the Inhabitants, of which see Dr. Martin in his Account of Saint Kilda and else- where, that some of those western Hands have been formerly united, and many of them nearer each other than at present. Hov/ever, taking them as they now are, Lewis, otherwise call'd ihQ Long (100) See Section iU, (101) See Section V. goo THE HISTORY Hand, being at least a hundred miles in (102) length, Skie forty, several of the rest " above four and twenty each, and all appearing as one Hand, having many v/inding bays or inlets^ to one v/ho sails without them, or that touches onely at some of the greatest; considering this, I say, the mis- take will not be reckoned so enormous in a sailor or stranger, if he compares them in the lump to Sicily "for extent. Another person granting all this, objects that Diodonis represents the Hyper- borean Hand a very (103) temperate region; which, according to my friend, cannot be said of any place in the northern Latitude of 58, and partly of 59. But whoever has travelled far him- self, or read the Relations of such as have ; will be convinced that the seasons in every region of the world, do not always answer to their posi- tion : of which the causes are various, as huge ridges of -fountains, the neighborhood of vast lakes or marshes, winds blowing from places co- vered with snow, or the like. Thus Britain and Ireland are known, not onely to be much more tempjerate than the places on th!i Continent of the same position with tliem, but even than some of (102)1 reckon as Dr. ^lARTiNand the natives do, from the most northerly point of Lewis to Bernera south of Bar- lab, this strinjT of Hands being onely divided by channels mostly fordabie : and if it be considered that I make ■use of Scottish miles, every place is at least a third part more, according to the English or Italian measure. aining on the continent, which from thence transmit bleak winds into thpse Hands. The antients, Avho judged of places where they never were by their bare positions, did (104) Ton de neson, hai men eng-us ton epeiroii, duschesmerijterai eisin; hai de pontiai, aleinoterai ton cheimona: dioti hai chioaes kai pagoi en men tesin epeiroisin echousi stasin, kai la pneuraata psuchra pemponsin es tas eng-us pesous. Ta de pelagia ouk echei stasin en cheimoiii. De Diaeta^ lib. 2. cap. 3- C 2 ^02 THE HISTORY consequently enough from thence conclude the tonid Zone to be inhabitable : but since tliis Zone has not onely been frequently visited, but is daily penetrated to the temperate and cold Zones beyond it, it is not onely found every where inhabited ; but those breezes and showers, with other C3uses,^#hat make living there very comfortable, are the common themes of Philosophers. This brings' me to the last, and seem- ingly the strongest Objection, viz. that the Hyperbo- rean Hand of Diodorus, or rather of Hecateus and o- thers long before him, was m plentiful as to have (105) two crops a year. Yet this expression, upon a fair construction, will be so far from embarassing, that it will highly illustrate my explication. It onely sig- nifies great plenty and abundance, which I could in- stance by many passages of the antients ; but shall chuse the nearest home I can,, and that is what (lOG) Virgil says of Italy: Perpetual spring our happy Climate sees, Twice breed the cattle, and twice bear the trees And summer mris recede by slow degrees. Dr YD en's Translation, } But who is ignorant, that this is not literally true ? and as to the plenty meant by it in general, it is cer- (105) Read the Note immediately preceeding, bateing one. (106) Bic ver assiduum, atgue alienis mcnsibus aestas'. Bis gravidae peciides, bis pomzs utilis arbos. Georgic. hb. 2- OF TIIF DRUIDS. 203 tain that no country abounds more with the neces- saries of life, and at less labor or charge, than the Hebrides. I shall dwell so much the longer on this head, as my Histori/ may possibly reach further than the Celtic Nations. Wherefore, in the first place, there is known to be in those Hands a prodigious plenty of Flesh and Fish. Their cattle of all sorts, as Cows, Sheep, Goats, and Hogs, are exceeding nu- merous and prolific : small indeed of size, as are like- wise their Horses^ but of a sweet and delicious tastt^ So are their Deer, which freely range in herds on the mountains. No place can compare with this for tame and wild fowl, there being of the latter no where in the world a greater diversity, many sorts of them ex- tremely beautiful or rare, and utterly unknown else- whcrCo The like may be said of their various amphi- bious animals. Numberless are their fountains and springs, rivulets, rivers, and lakes, very wholesom in their waters, and every where super-abounding with fish, especially the most delicate, as Trout and Sal- mon : nor is it by Herrings alone that all Europe knows no Seas to be better stored, nor with more kinds, from the shrimp to tlie whale ; as no harbors or bays are superior, whether regard be had to number or commodiousness. Add to this their variety of ex- cellent roots and plants, particularly those of marine growth, every one of them serving for food or physic. Their pastures are so kindly, that they might live on milk alone, with that inconceivable quantity of Eggs they yearly gather of the desart rocks and Ilets. But £04 THE HISTORY flesh and fish, milk-meats, eggs, and sallads in the greatest abundance, some will be apt to say, are slen- der and comfortless food without the staff of bread. On this assertion, tho' I might fairly dispute it from the practice of whole nations, and the experience of particular persons no strangers to me, I will not liow- ever insist ; bread, among their other productions, be- ing plentiful enough in the Hebrides, which some- times cannot be said of the neighboring Hands. The ground is generally allowed to be much richer than on the Scottish continent, some parts whereof are not seldom supplyed (107) hence with corn : and I have also such proofs of it from Dr. Martix, who, when he wrote his Description of those Hands, was far from dreaming of the Hiiperhoreans, as vrill sufnciently justify the expression of Diodorus about their crops or harvests. Lewis is very fruitful : and tho' Barley, Oats, and Rye, be the onely grain sown there at pre- sent ; yet the ground both in that, and in most of the other (108) Hands is fit to bear wheat, and conse- quently Legumes of all sorts. It is tmely amazing they have any crop at all, considering how unskilful they are in Agriculture, how destitute of the properest instruments to till the ground, and that they scarce use any other manure but sea-wrack or tangles. From the ignorance of the inhabitants in these respects, as also in planting, inclosing, and drain^ (107) See Dr. Martin's Description, page 140. (108) Page 53, 337, &c OF THE DRUIDS. 205 D ing, many fmitful spots ly uncultivated : but the abundance of choice Eatables, and namely the most nourishing shell-fish of various kinds, with which they are richly supplyed by bountiful nature, con- tributes more than any thing to that Indolence, which the antient Greecs esteemed their Happi- ness. The goodness of the soil appears by no- thing more evidently, than by the want of cul- tivation, whereof I have been just complaining. Dr. Martin, T/ho was an Ey-witness, and strictly ex- amined the fact, afBrms (109) that in Bernera, near Harris, the produce of Barley is many time? from twenty to thirty-fold ; that in Harries and South-Uist (110) one barley-grain sometimes pro- duces from seven to fourteen ears, as in North- Uist from ten to thirty-fold (111) in a plentifid year ; that at Corchattan, in Skie, the increase (112) amounted once to thirty-five; that if the ground be laid down for some time, it gives a good (113) crop without dunging, some fields not having been dunged in forty years ; and that he was informed a small tract of ground, at Skerry- (100) Page 43. (110) Ibid. (111) Page 53. (ll^) Page 13^3. (113) Page 130. 20a THE HISTORY breck (114^) in the said He of Skie, had yielded a hundred-fold. Nay, I have been told my self by a native of that He, that the people there believe they might have two crops a year, if they took due pains. For this I beged their pardon, but allowed what was tantamount, since the words of Diodorus may no less justly be rendered a double crop, than two (115) crops, which last however is in some respects literally true. For with re- gard to their pastures, of which somewhat before, nothing is more common than for a sheep to have two (116) lambs at a time. This not onely confirms my construction, and puts me in mind of that verse in (^117^ Virgil, She suckles twins, and twice a day is miWd: but also of what the so often mentioned Dr. Martin relates on this (^118^ occasion; v/hich is, that be- sides the ordinary rent a tenant paid, it was a custom in the Hands, if any of his cows or sheep brought two young ones at a time, one of them was to go to the Landlord : who, on his part^, (114) Ibid, (Ho Dittous karpous. (116) Page 108. (117) Bis venit ad mulctram, hinos alit uhere foetus. Eclog. 3. ver. 30. (118) Page 109. OF THE DRUIDS. go7 was obliged, if any of his tenant's wives bore twins, to take one of them into his own fami- ly; and that he himself knew a Gentleman, who had sixteen of these twins in his house at a time. It is no wonder they are populous. Even the wild Goats on the Mountains, for such there are in Harries, are observed to bring (119) forth their young twice a year : all which put toge- ther, makes tlie last objection against me to be none, and therefore finally justifies my explica- tion of the passage in Diodorus. From hence 'tis evident, My Lord, that those Hands are ca- pable of great improvement, as they abound like- wise in many curiosities, especially in Subjects of Philosophical observation. Nor is it less plain by the many antient Monuments remaining among them, and the marks of the plow reaching to the very tops of the mountains, which the art- less inhabitants think incapable of culture, that in remote ages they were in a far more flourishing condition than at present. The ruins of spacious houses, and the numerous Obelises, old Forts, Temples, Altars, with the like, which I have de- scribed (120 J before, undeniably prove this : be- sides that the country was formerly full of woods, as appears by the great Oaks and Firr-trees daily dug out of the ground, and by many other to- kens ; there being several small woods and cop- (119) Page So. (120) Letter II. Sections VIII, IX, X, &c. 203 THE HISTORY pices still remaining in Skie, Mull, and other places. Tho' I don't pretend, no more than Dio- DORUSj that these were the fortunate Hands of the Poets, or the Elyzian-fields of the dead, by- some plac'd in those [121] seas, as by others else- where ; yet the following lines of [122] of Ho- race agree to no spot better, than the Hands we have been just describing. « — — ^~ From lofty hills ** With murmuring pace the fountain trills. " There Goats uncall'd return from fruitful vales, *' And bring stretch'd dugs to fill the pails. " No bear grins round the fold, no lambs he shakes ; " No field swells there with poys'nous snakes. '- More we shall wonder on the happy plain : " The watery East descends in rain, <* Yet so as to refresh, not drown the fields ; *^ The temperate glebe full harvest yields. ** No heat annoys : the ruler of the Gods ** Froin plagues secures these blest abodes," Creech's Translation. The Inhabitants, that I may nicike a complete commentary on the passage of Dlodorus, are not to be mended in the proportion of their persons : no preposterous bandages distorting them in the cradle, nor hindring nature from duely forming their limjjs ; which is the reason, that bodily im- perfections of any sort are very rare anion^ them, (lei) Videas Annotatioriem ()3 k 64. ;;2^) «--..., — ^— ^— .,„. Monticui altis OF THE DRUIDS. 209 Neither does any over-officiously preventive Physic in their infancy, spoil their original constitution ; whence they have so strong a habit of body, that one of' them requires treble the dose, as ■will purge any man in the south of Scotland. But "ivhat contributes above all things to their liealth and longevity, is constant Temperance and Exercise, As they prefer conveniency to orna- ment both in their houses and their apparel, which last I think not disagreeable, so, in their way of eating and drinking, they rather satisfy than oppress nature. Their food is cammonly fresh, and their meals two a day, water being the or- dinary drink of the vulgar. They are strangers to many of the Distempers, as they are to most of the Vices of other nations, for some of which they have not so much as a name : and it may BO less truely be observed of these than of the ancient Scythians, that (123) the ignorance ^ef Levis crepanie lymplia desilit pede. lllic injussae veniunt ad mulctra capellae^ ' Refertque tenia grex amicus uhera. Nee vespertinus circumgemit nrsus ovile. Nee intumescit ulta viperis humus, Fluraque felices inirahimur : ut neque largls Aquosus Eurus arva radat imhribus, Finguia nee siccis iirantur scmina glebis; Utrumque Rege temperante Coelitum. Epod. 16. ver. 47. (123) Tanto plus in illis proficit vitioruni ignoraiio, quum in- his (Graecis ?iimirumj cognitio virtutia. Jitstin-. Hist lib, Q:eap.2, D 2 glO THE HISTORY vices has had a bettei" effect upon them, than the knowledge of Philosophy upon politer nations. They owe every thing to nature. They cure all disorders of the body by simples of their own growth, and by proper diet or labor. Hence they are stout and active, dextrous in all their exer- cises ; as they are w^thall remarkably sagacious, choleric but easily appeazed, sociable, good natur- ed, ever cheerful, and having a strong inclination to Music : all which particulars, with the other parts of their past and present character, I have not onely learnt from the concurrent testimonies of several judicious authors ; but also from the intimate knov»dedge I have had my self of many scores of the natives as well in Scotland as else- where. They are hospitable beyond expression, intertaining all strangers of what condition soever gratis; the use of mony being still in some of those Hands unknown, and till a few ages past in all of them. They have no Lawyers or At- torneys : which, no more than several other par- ticulars here specifyed, I do not understand of the Highlanders on the continent ; tho' speaking the same language, and wearing the same dress with them. The men and women plead their own causes ; and a very speedy decision is made by the Proprietor, who's Perpetual president in their courts, or by his Bailiff as his substitute. In a word, they are equally void of the two chief plagues of Mankind, Liixurij and Amhition ; OF THE DRUIDS. til [I ■■ll|-| - I II--IIII -- - IIB IT I I HI ■ ■! iii—iiMiii r i il which consequently frees them from all those rest- less pursuits, consuming toils, and never-failing vexations, that men suffer elsewhere for those airy, trifling", shortlived vanities. Their contempt of superfluities is falsly reckoned Poverty, since their felicity consists not in having much, but in co- veting little ; and that he's supremely rich, who wants no more than he has : for as they, who live according to nature, will never be poor ; so they, who live according to opinion, will never be rich. It is certain that no body wants, what he does not desire : and how much easier is it not to desire certain thi^igs, than otherwise? as it is far more healthy and happy to want, than to injoy them. Neither is their ignorance of vices in these Hands any diminution to their virtue, since, not being by their situation concerned in any of the disputes about dominion or commerce, that distract the world, they are not onely rigid observers of Justice, but show less propensity than any People to tumults; except what they may be unwarily led into by the extraordinaiy defe- rence they pay to the opinion of their Chiefs and Leaders, who are accountable for the mis- chiefs they sometimes bring, as at this very (124) time, on these well-meaning Hifperboreans. For Hyperboreans I will now presume to call tliem, and withall to claim Abaris as a Philosopher o£ (124) 1719. m TttR HISTORY the Brittisli world, which has principally occasion- ed this Digression ; on that account not improper, noi', I hope, altogether useless in other respects. Be this as your Lordship shall think fit to judge, I will not finish it before I have acquainted you with an odd custom or two, that have from time immemorial obtained in Barra and the lesser circumjacent Hands, which are the property of Mac-neil. The present is the thirty fifth Lord of Barra by uninterrupted lineal descent, a thing wliereof no Prince in the world can boast : and LS is regarded, you may imagine, as no mean potentate by his subjects, who know none great- er than he. (125) When the wife of any of 'em dies, he lias immediate recourse to bis Lord, re- presenting first his own loss in the vrant of a meet help; and next that of Mac-neil himself, if he should not go on to beget followers foi: liim. Hereupon Mac-neil finds out a suteable match, neither side ever disliking his choice, but accepting it as the highest favor, and the mar- riage is celebrated without any courtship, portion or dowry. But they never fail to make merry on such occasions with a bottle or more of Us- quebah. On the other hand, (126) when any wo- man becomes a widdow, she is upon the like ap- plication soon ]7rovided with a husband, and witl* [125) Martin, page 97. (126) IbiJ. OF I^IIE DRUIDS. 213 as little ceremony. Whoever may dislike this Hy- perborean manner of preventing delay, disdain, or disappointment, yet he cannot but approve Mac- neil's conduct, in supplying (127) any of his tenants with as many Milch-covrs, as he may chance to lose by the severity cf the weather, or by other misfortunes; which is not the less true charit]/", for being good policy. Most w^orthy likewise of imitation is his taking into his own family, building a house hard by on purpose for them, and maintaining to the day of their death, as many old men, a^j thro' age or inhrmity, (128) become unfit for labor. But I should never have done, if I preceded with the particular usages of the North and West Ilanders. Several of them, retained from the remotest times of the Druids, are explained in this and the ])receding Letters. Yet one custom, very singular, I cannot help re- lating here, tho' long since grown obsolete ; or rather that it has been in disuse, ever since their conversion to Christianity. When a man had a mind to have a wife, (129) as soon as he gain'd the consent of the maid he lik'd, lie took her to his bed and board for a whole year; and if, up- on thus coming thoroughly acquainted witii the (127) Ibid. (128) Page 98. (129) Page H4. ^l4 TF!E HISTORY conditions both of her mind and body, he kept her ciuj longer, she then became his wife all her days ; but if he dislik'd her to such a degree on any account,, as to be persuaded she shou'd not make him easy during life, he return'd her (with her portion, if she had any) at the twelve months end to her parents or guardians ; legitimating the children,, and maintaining them at his own charge in case there were such. Nor was this repudia- tion any dishonor or disadvantage to the young woman in the eyes of another man, who thought she would make him a better wife, or that he might to her be a better husband It was a custom, I must own, like to prevent a world of imhappy matches : but, according to our modern ideas, it is not onely unlawful, but also barbar- €113. rX. To return whence I digi'essed, having thus happily discovered and asserted the country of Aharis^ and also his profession of a Druid \ I shall give here some account of his person, referring to another place the Ilistoiy of his adventures. The Orator Himer'ms, tho' one of those, who, from the equivocal sense of the word Hypcrho^ Tcan,, seems to have mistaken him for a Scythian ; yet accurately describes his person, and gives him a very noble character. That he spoke Greek with so much facility and elegance, will be no matter of wonder to such as consider the antient intercourse, which we have already prov'd between or THE DRUIDS. ^15 the Greecs and the Hyperboreans : nor would the latter, to be sure, send any ambassador, as we'll see presently they did Abaris, to the foriiier, unless, a- mong the other requisite qualifications, he perfectly un- derstood their language. But let's harken a while to Himerius. " They relate, (scit/s he, J that Abaris the " Sage was by nation a Hyperborean, become a Gre- *^ cian in speech, and resembling a Scythian in his habit *^ and appearance. Whenever he moved his ton- *' gue, you would imagine him to be some one " out of the midst of the Academy or very Lj- " ceum" (130). Now that his habit was not that of a Scythian ever covered with skins, but what h^s been in all ages, as generally at this pre- sent, worn in the Hebrides and the neighboring Highlands, it needs onely to be described for re- moving ail doubts and scmples. " Abaris came ** to Athens, continues (131) Himerius, holding " a bow, having a quiver hanging from his " shoulders, his body wrapt tip in a plad, girt *' about his loins with a gilded belt, and wear- *^ ing trowzers reaching from the soles of his ^' feet to his waste." A gun and pistol, being of modern date, could make no part of his equi- (130) Abarin men sophon g'enos men Huperboreion legousin, Hellena de phonen gegenesthai, kai Skuthen men achri stoles de kai schomatos. Ei de pou glottan kineseie, touto ekeinon ek raeses Akaderaias kai autoa Lukeiou no- mizesthai. Ex Oratione ad Ursicium apud Photium in Bibiioth. cod 24:^ edit. Rothomag. pag, 1135. (131) Heken Abaris Athenaze toxa echon, pharetran hemmenos eis omon, chlamufii sphing-oraenos : Zone en kat' iksuon chruse, anaxurides ek tarsoa ekion achri kai glouton aaateinousoi. Id, ibld^ 216 THE HBTORY page : and you see he did not make his entry in- to Athens ridding on a broom-stick, as fabouious- ly reported, but in the native garb of an abo- liginal Scot. As for what regards his abilities, it was impossible for his principals to have made a better choice ; since v/e are informed by the same (132) Himerms, that " he was affable and " pleasant in conversation, in dispatching great " affairs secret and industrious, quicksighted in " present exigences, in preventing future dangers " circumspect, a searcher after wisdom, desirous " of friendship, trusting indeed little to fortune, *' and having every thing trusted to him for his ^^ prudence." Neither the Academy nor the Ly- ceum could furnish out a man with fitter quali- ties, to go so farr abroad and to such wise na- tions, about affairs no less arduous than impor- tant. But if we attentively consider his modera- tion in eating, drinking, and the use of all those things, which our natural appetites incessantly crave ; adding the candor and simplicity of his manners, with the solidity and wisdom of his an- swers, all which we'll find sufficiently attested, it must be owned, that the world at that time had few to compare with Abaris, Thus I have laid before your Lordship a Spe- cimen of my History of the Druids> Give me (132) En hedus entuchein, deinos hesuche raegalen praxin ergasastljai, ox- us to paron idein, proinethes to raellon phulattesthai, sophias hettoa, erasttio ;o!iilias, oliga men tuchS pisteuon, gnome de la panta pistouraenos. Jd. ibid* ov tat; DutJiDi 217 Icnre to send yoit with this Letter two small Pieced which 1 don't doubt will/ be agreeable to yoiu Om k Mi\ Jones's Answer to Mn Tate's QiK^sihns about IJU Druids ^ and the . other British Antiquities^ Which I transcribed from a Manuscript m the Cottoii Library (133) ; and tile other^ some Collections mentioned iil one of my Letters (134<), shewing the Affinity between the Armoric and Irish Language, kc^ I am, My lcii^-Ei> Your LoilbSHip'^ Most oblig'!)^ -Very humble Sebvant. ipril Ih. y ^719^ f <135] ViteL E. V. So OM) letter IL Sect. 18. pdg. liSf. Mr. TATE'S QUESTIONS., ABOUT THE DUUIDS, AND OTHER BRITTISH, ANTIQUITIES-?: WITH Mr. JONES'S ANSWER TO THEM. ««'^«»»»» Mr, TATE'S QUESTIONS. xSY what names were tliey call'd by the BrittDiis; which the Latins call Druidca or Dnddes f II. Whether the Druids and Fl aniens were all one, and the difference between them ? how the Flamens- were called in Brittish, and their antiquity and habits ? III. What degrees were given to the Professors of Learning ? when, wherc^ and by whom, and their ha bits or apparel ? IV. Whether the Earth had any office in war ans- wering our Heralds ? their garments and enseigns ? OF THE DRUIDS. 220 and whether they used the Caduccus ? many fetching the origmal theredf from the Brittoa's charming of ser- pents. V. What .Judges and Lawyers had the Brittons •that follow'd the King ? and what are Trz anliepcor Brenltbi, and their use ? VI. What Judges and Lawyers vrere their resident in the country ? their number ? what Judges Vv'ere rchere per dignitatem Tcrrae f and w^hat their duty ? and how were they assembi'd to do the same ? VIL It appeayeth tliere %vere always many Kings and Princes in this Realm before the coming in of the Saxons : were their countries divided into Talaiths^ Es all between Severn and tiie Sea v/as after their coming ? VIII. Was there any division into Shires before the Saxon's coming, and what difference betwixt a Shire and a Sm/dh ? There were anciently with you .Macnors, .Ccmmods, Cantreths, answerable, whereunto xire our Manors, Tijihings, Hundreds. And that mak- eth me to encline ih^i SwijdJi shou'd be like our Shire, as Sw^d caer Bhyrdin, Sivi/d Amwijthig, Swyd caer Wrangon ; and the General Officers of them were call- ed SwTjdoglon, under whom were Maer, Gnghellawr, Rhinghill, Opliiriato and Brawdur trwj/r Sivijd, except all bear the name of Swydogion. I fmd in ancient Book of Landaff GJuigids or Glivisiis King of Deme- tia (vrh.ich of this King is cali'd Glcnguissig) ofwhcm it is, said septe?ii jyctgos 7y xit^ whereQi Glamorgan, now ^ ShirCj w?vS gne ; ^uApctgus is iis'd for a Shire, IX, Whether the Britons had Noblemeia bearing the ijarue o^ Duces, Coinites^ Bar ones ?_ and ^^'Imt they were called in Brittish ?-— In thi Book of LandafF I find it thus written, ^* Garjdeleius Reiv toxrari rt-^ioncm *« siiarn Cadoco hiio ^iio commeiidayit, piivriegiuniqiie « coneessit, qiiatentis a fonte Faennim haen doiiec ad ^« ingressum fiuminis Nadavan pervenitur, omnes Re- *^ ges et C-amites, Optimntes, Trrbiini, atqiie domestic " ci in Coenobij sui coemcterto de Lancarvan sepeli- " antur" And K, E, I, enquiring of the Laws ofthe" Britons, demandetli how the Welsh Barons did adn^inis- ter justice, and so distipguisht then\frpin Lords ivlar^ chers, X. What is tho sig;nification of the word xissach f A statute of King Hemy VI. saith, some offef d to ex=. cuse themselves hj an Assach after tlie custom of Wales : that is to say, by an oath of thirty men^ XL What oflicer is he that in the Laws of Ilowel Da is called D/isiein, and the signification of th? word ? XIL What do you think of this place of Petm? Kamus in his Book de rnoribus veterum Galhrmn ; Hue civitafcs Bnit-os suos hahehant Sic a Caesar^ no^ minantur Senatits Eburoiiicum^ Lexohiorum, Taictorum Was there any Counsil o^ Senate in the Brittish Go vernmcnt, and by \Ybat pame were they call'd ? Mr. Jones s Answers to Mr, Tales Questions. j. O to the first I say, that Druides or Druidae is a word tliat is derived from the Brittish word Drudion ; being the name of certain wise, discreet, learned, and religious Persons among the Brittons. Druidon is the plural number of this primitive word Drud, By adding ion to the singular number, you make the plural of it secundum formain Brifaimorum ; sic Drud^ Drudion. This primitive word Drud has many signi- iications. One signification is Dialwr, that is a reven- ger, or one that redresseth wrong : for so the Justicers cali'd Drudion did supply the place of Magistrates. Another signification Krevlon^ and that signifies cruel and merciless ; for they did execute justice most righte- ously, and punisht offendors most severely. Drud sig- nifies also glew and pnd, that is, valiant or hardy. Drud is also dear or precious, unde venit Drudanieth^ whiclvis Dearth. 'Jhese Drudion among the Brittons by their ofBce did determine all kind of matters as well private as publick, and were Justicers as well in religi- ous matters and controversies, as in Law matters and controversies, for offences of death and title of Laws. These did the sacrifices to the Heathen Gods, and the sacrilices cou'cl not be made without them, and they did forbid sacrifices to be done by any man that did not obey tl^cir, decree and sentence. AH the Arts, 2n THE HISTORY Sciences, Learning, Philosophy, and Divinity that was taught in the land, was taiight by them ; and they taught by memorj'-, and never wou'd that their know- ledge and learning shou'd be put in writing : v/hereby when they were supprest by the Emperor of Rome in the beginning of Christianity, their Learning, Arts, Laws, Sacrifices., and Governments were lost and ex- tinguisht liere in this land ; so that I can find no more mention of any of their deeds in our tongue than I have set down, but that they dwelled in rocks, and WGC'ds, and dark places, and some plsces in our land, had their names from them, and are called after their names to this day. And the Hand of Mo7ie or Angle- sea is taken to be one of their ehiefest ^ats in Britain^ because it was a solitary Hand full of wood, and not inhabited of any but themselves ; and then the He of Mone, which is called Anglesea, was called f/r Ini/s Dovji/Il^ that is, the Dark Hand. And after 'that the Drudion were supprest, the huge groves which they favor'd and kept a- foot, were rooted up ,iind that ground tiird. Then that Hand did yield such abundance and plenty of corn, that it might sustain and keep all Wales with bread ; and therefore tlie)^ arose then a Proverb, and yet is to this day, viz. Mon mam Gymbrv^ that is, Mon the mother of Wales, Some do term the proverb tims, Mon mam Gynedd^ that is, Mo7i the mother of North-wales, that is, that Mon was able to nourish and foster upon bread all Wales or North - Wales. And after that this Dark Hand had cast out for many years such abundance of corn where the dis- OF THE DRUIDS. 225 closed ^voods and groves v/ere, it surceased to yield corn, and yielded such plenty of grass for cattle, that the Countrymen left off their great tilling, and turned it togi'azing andbreeding of cattle, and that did continue among them wonderful plentiful, so that it was an admirable thiiig to be heard, how so little a plat of ground shou'd breed such great number of cattle ; and now the inhabitants do- till a great part of it, and breed a great number of cattle on t'other part, II. As for tl'ie second Question, I do refer the ex- position of it to those that have written of the Flamens m Latine. The Driiiion m Britain, according to their manner and custom, did execute the oiHcc and function of the Flamens beyond the sea : and as for their ha- bits^ I cannot well tell you liow, nor what manner they were of.. IIL To the third Question : there were four sever" al kinds of Degrees, that were given to the Professors of Learning. The first was, Dlsg'cbliyshaSy and that was given a man after three years studying in the art ©f Poetry and Musick, if he by \m capacity did deserve it. The second degree wasrDiSGiBLDisGYBLiAiDB> and that was given ta the Prof^ffor of Learning after six years studying, ifhe did deserve it The third degree was DiSGiBLPENKERDDiAiDD ; and that was given to the Prosessor of Learming after nine years studying, if he deserve it, ^nd the fourth degree was Penkerdd or AthrOf and Athro is the highest degree of Learning a- mo&g US;, and ia Latine is called Doctor. All these S24 THE HISTORY degrees were given to men of Learning as well Poet^i as JMusicians. Ali these foresaid degrees of Learning T.ere given by the King, or in his presence in his Pa- lace, at every three years end, or by his License from him in some fit place thereunto (appointed) upon aA open disputation had before the King or his Deputy iti that behalf, and then they were to have their reward according to their degrees. Also there were three khids of Poets. The one was Priidiidd : t\m other was Tevluwr : the third was Klerwr, These three kinds had three several matters to treat of. The Pruckidd w as to treat of Lands, and the praise of Princes, No- He3, and Gentlemen, and had his circuit among them. The Tevluwr did treat of merry jests, a.nd domestical pastimes and affairs, having his chcuit among th^ Countrymen, and his reward according to his calling. The Clerwr did treat of invective and rustical Poetry, differing from the Pnidudd and Tevluwr \ and his cir- cuit was among the Yeomen of the Countiy, As for their habits, they were certain long apparel down to the calf of their leggs or somewhat lower, and were of diverse colours. IV. To the fourth Question; I say, the Bard'^\T(S a Herald to record all the acts of the Princes and Nobles, and to ^we arms according to deserts. They were al- so Poets, and cou'd prognosticate certain things, and gave them out in metre. And furtlicr, there were three kinds of Beirdd (the plural of Bardd), viz. Privardd, PQSW^rclcl; Arwyd4vardd, Tfec Prmirdd (phirally.) ()T THK DRUIDS. H5 Wdre Merlin Silvester, Merlin Ambrosias, find Talies- sin ; and the reason they were called Priveirdd was^ because they invented and taught such Philosophy and other Learning as were never read or heard of by any tnan before* The interpretation of this word Pru vardd is Prince, or first learner^ or leai*ned man : for Bardd was an appelation of all learned men, and pro- fessors of Learning, and Prophets^ as also were attri- buted io them the titles of Privardd, Posvardd, and Artvyddvard* Bardd Telyn. And they call Merlin Ambrosius by the name of Bardd Gortheyrn, that is, Vortiger*s Philosopher, or Learned man^ or Prophesyer. Bardd Telyii is he that is Doctor of the Musicians of the Harpj and is the chief harp in the Land, having his abode in the King's palace : and note no man may be called Privardd, but he that invehteth such Learning, and Arts, or Science, as were never taught before* The second kind of Bardd is Posvardd^ and those Posveirdd were afterwards Prydiddion : for they did imitate and teach what the Priveirdd had set forth, and must take their author from one of them ; for they themselves are no Authors, but registers and pro- pagators of the Learning invented by the others. The third kind is Arwyddvard, that is by interpretation ah Ensign-bard, fend indeed is ^ Herald at Arms ; and his duty was to declare the Getiealogy and to blazon the Arms of Nobles and Princes, and to keep the re- cord of themj and to alter their Arms according to their dignity or deseif*. These were with the kings and Princes in all battles and actions* As for their Gar-^ F ^ ^26 THE HISTORY ments, I think they were long, such as the Prrjdlddion had ; for tliey challenge the n^me of Beirdd ut siipra. Whereas some writers, and for the most part all fore- ners that mention the Beirdd, do write that Bard has his name given him from one Bardus, who was the first inventor of Barddonielh, and some say he was the fnirth King of Brittain ; I say it is a most false, erroneous, and fabulous surmise of foren writers, for there never was any^ ofr that name either a king or- a King's son of Brittain. But there was a great Scho- lar and Inventor both of Poetical verses and muskal Lessons that was some time King of Brittain. His name was Blegywrijd ap GeisijUt, and he was the fif- ty-sixth supreme king of Great Brittain, and dy'd in the 2067th year after the deluge, of whom it is writ= ten that he was the famousest Mnsican that ever lived in Britain. iSTo T^riter can show- that BA!?d had his name from Bardus, it being a primitive Brittish wbid that has the foresayd significations. And Burddonieth (which is the art, function, and profession of the Bardd) is also used for Prophesy and the interpreta- tion thereof, and also for all kinds of Learning a- mong us that the Beii'dd ^xeie authors oil Y. As for the fifth' Question, the King had always a chief Judge resident in his Court, ready to decide ail controversies that then happen'dj and he was call- ed Egnat LlijS. He had some privilege given him by the King's houshold officers, and therefore he was to determine their causes gratis. As for the tri anheb- OF THE DRUIDS. ^17 ko7' 'bi^enm^ I think it superfluous to treat of them here, seeing you have this matter in my Book of Laws jnore perfect than I can remember it at this time. Look in the Table anionj^ the trioedd knfraith, and those^are set down in two or three several places of the Bcok. And if you cannot find it there, see in the office of Egiiat Lbjs, or Fen tevlu, or tfffeiriaid !/i/s, and you'll be sure to find it in some of those places. I do not^tind it in my Book of Laws, that there were 'duy officers for^thie Law that did dwell in the King's Palace, but oncly his Egnat Llifs, that w^as of any name, or bore any great office : for. he was one of the ■iri anhebJco?^ brcnhi, VL As for the sixth Question, I say that tliere were resident in the Gountrv but Egnat Comot, that I can understand. But when an Assembly met to- .' f ether for the title of Lands, then the Ring in his own Person came upon' the Land ; and if he could not come, he appointed "some Deputy for him. There came with the King his chief Judge, and called unto him his Egnat Komot, or County-Judge, together with some of his Council that dwelt in the Komot, where the Lands lay that w^ere in the controversy, and the Free-holders also of the same Place, and there came a Priest or Prelate, two Counsellors, and two i2/r/.??ofr7/ or Serjeants, and two Cljampions, one for the Plaintiif and another for the Defendant ; and when all these were assembled together, the King or his Deputy viewed the Land, and when they had rjewed ^29 THE HISTORY it, they caused a round Mount to be cast up, ^nd up- on the same was the Judgment- Se^at placed, having his back toward the Sun or the Weather. Some of these Mounts were made square and some round, and both round and s(iuare bore the name of Garseddev^ dadle^ that is, the Mount of Pieadir;^. Some also have the name of him that was chief Judge or Deputy to the King in that judicial Seat ; and it was not lawful to make an assembly nowhere for title of Lands, but up^ on the stands that were in controversy* These Gor- sedde are in our Country, and many other places to be seen to this day ; and will be ever, if they be not taken down by men*s hands. They had two sorts of Witnesses, the one was Gwyh^ddyQid^ and the other (' Amhiniogev, The GwijhyddijQld were such men as , were born in the Komot, where the Lands that were in controversy lay, and of their ovvn perfect knowledge did know that it w^as the Defendant's right. And A?nhimogcv were such men as had their Lands mear- ing on the Lands that were in controversy, and |iem- tned upon that Land, And the Oath of one of those Amjiiniogevy otherwise called Keidimd, was better than the Oath of tw^in that Were but Gwybyddyeid. Look in the Table of my Book of Laws for the de- finitioUOxKEIDV/ElD^AiMHINIOGEV, andGWYRYDDYEID, and how the king did try his Causes ; and that v/ill manifest it more at large. The Mayer and the KangeUauT had no authority amozigst the Brittons for any lands but the king s lands ; and they v/ere to set it and let it, and to ha'^^e their -ircuit amanL;st tho OF THE DnUTDS. Q20 king-'s tenants ; and they did decide all Controversies that happened amongst them. Vide in the Table of my Book of Laws for the Definition of Maijer and Kangellaxor. VII. To the seventh Question, I say that there were in this land about a hundred superial Khigs^ that governed this land successively : that were of the Brittish blood : yet notwithstanding there were un- der them divers other Princes that had the name of kings, and did serve, obey, and belong to the superial king, as the king of Alban or Piydyn or Scotland, the king of Kymherij or Wales, the king of Gwneydd, or Venedotia- Yet notwithstanding the same lav/ and government was used va every Prince or king's domi- nion, as was in the superial king's proper dominion ; unless it were that some Custom or Privilege did be* long to some place of the kingdom more than to an- other : and every inferior king was to execute the Law upon ail transgressors that offended in their do« minion- In the time of Kassibelanus there arose some con* troversy between the superial king Kaswallawne and Ararwy king of London, one of his inferior kings, a« bout a murther committed^ The case ' is thus. The superial King keeping his Court within the dominion of one of the inferior Kings, a controversy falling be- tween twain within the Court, and there and then one was slain, the Question is, Whether the murtherer ought to be tried by the ofRcers and privilege of i^VLt ^30 THE HISTORY superior Ring, or of the inferior King". I tlunk that 4he murtherer ought ^to be tried b}^ the L-aw and Cus- tom of the inferior king's Court, because it is more seemly that the superior king's Court, which did in- dure in that Oountiy but a ^veek or twain, or such like time, should lose his privilege* there for that time, than the inferior king's Court should lose ^it for ever. Vidf in libro meo de legibiis. It may seem to those tliat liave judgement in histories, that this was the very cause that Ararwy vv-ould not have his Icinsman tried hy the Judges and Laws or privilege of Kas^vallawne, whose Court did remain in the dominion of Ararwy but a little while, but would have the felon tried by his Judges and his Coiu:t There is no mention made of Ta faith any where amongst tlie Brittons before the destruction of Brittain, but that there were in Brittain but one superial Crown and three Ta-riith or Coronets or Prince's Crowns ; one for the Alban, another for Wales, and the third for Kerniw or Kornwale. There were divers others called kings which never wore any Crown or Coronet, as the kings of Di/ved in South Wales, the king of Krcdigion^ and such, and yet were called kings, and their Countries were divided as you shall see in the next Question., YIIL To the eighth Question, I sa)'-, that accord- ing to the primitive Law of this Land, that Dijfmval Moel Mvd made, for before the Laws of Dyfnwal Moel Mvd the Trojan laws and customs were used in this Lftnd, and we cannot tell what division of Lands OF T FIE DRUIDS. 251 tliey had, nor what officers but the Druldion, he divide ed all this Land accoidino- to this manner, tlius : Tri- hud y gronln haulcl, or thrice the leHgth of one Bar' e/ Corn maketh a ISIodvedd ov inch, three Muduedd or Inches maketh a Pa If ox a Palin of the hand, three PaJf ox Pahn maketh a Troedvcdd or foot, three feete ox Trocdvedd maketh a JCdni or Pace or a stride, three Kam or strides to the Nald or leape, thiee JX'atd or leape to the Grwmg, iliat is, ciie breadth of a Butt of Land or Tir-, and 7nU of those Tlr maketh jMUtir^ that is, a thousand 7Vr or mile. And that was his measure for length which hath been used from that time to this day; and yet, and for superficial measur- ing" he made three ■ hud groniri haidd^ or Barley Corn length, to the 3Iodvedd, or Inch, three JSTodvedd or. Inch tO'the Palf or hand breadth, three Pi^df to the Troedvedd or foot, four TrocdtK'dd ox foot to the Fcr- iav or the short yoke, eight '2'roedvcdd or foot to tlie Neidlav, and twelve Trocdvedd or foot in tlie Gisall- liav and. sixteen. T.^oedvedd in the Illriav. And a Pole or Bud. so long, that is -sixteen foot- long, is thei breadth of an Acre of Land, and thirty Poles or Ilodj that length, is the length of an Erw or Acre by the Law, and four Erio or Acre maketh a Tyddyn or IMessuage, and four of that. Tj^ddijn or jMessuage maketh a Rhandis, and four of those Rhandiredd maketh a Gafel or Tenement or Iloult, alid four Ga^ FEL maketh a-TiiEF or Tow^nship, and four Tuef or Townships maketh a Maenol or Maenor, and twelve Maenol or JMaenor and dwy dref or two Tov/n- THE HISTORY ships maketh a Kwmvvd or Gemot, and two Kwmwd or Goinot maketh a Kantref or Cantred, that is a hundred Tovv^ns or Townships. And by this reckon- ing every Tybdyn containeth fourERW, every Rhan- dir containeth sixteen Erw, and every Gafel contain- eth sixty- four Erw. Every Town or Township containeth two hundred fifty-six Env or Acres, these Erws being fertile arable land, and neither meadow nor pasture nor woods. For tliere was no^ thing measured but fertil arable ground, and all o- thers were termed wastes. Every Maenol containeth' four of these Townships, and every Kwmwd contain-^ eth afty of these Townships, and every Cantred a hundred of these Townships, v/hereof it hath its name. And all the Countries and Lords dominions were di-' vided by Cantreds or Cantre, and" to eveiy of these" Caxtreds, Gomots, MAENOB^v TowNs, Gafels were' given some proper names. And Cwlax) or Country was the dominion of one Lord or Prince, whether the Gv/lad Were one Cantred or two, or three or four, or more. So that when I say he is gene from Gwlad to Gwlad, that is, from Countrey to Coimtrey, it is rheant that he is gone fmm one Lord or Prince's dominion ta another Prince's dominion; as for example, Vvhen a man. committeth an oiTence in Gwynedd or Noethwales^. which containeth ten Cantreds, and fleeth or goeth to Fowys, which is the name of another Country and prince's dominion, which containeth ten other Can- treds, he is gone from one Countiy or dominion to another, and the Law cannot be executed upon himg. OF THE nniTins. 233 for he is gone out of the Country. Tegincrs is a Count- ry and containeth but one Cantred, and Di^frvn Ghvyd was a Country, and did contain but one Cantred. And when any did go out of Tegings to Dyfrvn Ghvyd^ for to flee from the law, he went out from one Count- ry to another. And so every Prince or Lord's domi- nion was GwLAD or Country to that Lord or Prince, so that GwLAD is Pagus in my judgment. Some- times a Cantred doth contain two Comot, sometimes three, or four, or five ; as the Cantrefe of Glamorgan or MoRGANWG containeth five Comots. And after that the Normans had won some parts of the Country, as one Lord's dominion, they constituted in that same place a Senescal or Steward, and that was called in the Brittish tongue Swyddog, that is an Officer 4 and the Lordship that he was Steward of was called Swydd or Office, and of these Swyddev were made ShireSo And GwYDD is an Office be it great or small, and Swyd- DOG is an Officer likewise of all states ; as a Sheriff is a Swyddog, his Sheriff-ship or Office, and the Shire whereof he is Sheriff, is called SwijdcL So that Swydd doth contain as well the Shire as the Office of a Sheriff, as Swydd Amwythig is the Shire or Office of the Steward, Senescal, or Sheriff of Salop, &c. IX, As for the ninth Question, The greatest and highest degree was Brenhi, or Teyen, that is, a kinj^ ; and next to him was a Twysog, that is a Duke ; and next to him was a Jarll, that is an Earl ; and next to him was an Arglwydd, that is a Lord ; and next to him was a Banvn, and that I read least of. And next ta G 9 23t THE HISTORY that is the Breh^ or Vchehr, v.h^cV may be called the Squire : next to this is a Gwreavge^ that is a Yeoman ; and next to that is an Alffvd ; and next to that a KaetK which is a Slave; and that is the meanest amongst these nine several Degrees. And these nine Degrees had three seveml tenures of Lands, as Maerdir, Vche" loi^dir^ Priodordir, Thei^ be also other names and degrees, which be gotten by birth, by office and by dig- nity ; but they all are contained under the nine afore ^ said DegreeSo X. As for the tenth Question, I do not find nor have not read' neither to my knowledge, in any Chro- nicle, law, History or Pbetry,.and Dictionary, any such word: but I find in the Laws and Chronicles, and in many other places this word i?Aay7/ to be used for the oath of one hundred' men^ or* two hundred or three hundred;.or such like number, for to excuse some hein- ous fact; audi the more heinous was the fact, the more men must be had in the Rhaith to excuse it ; and one must be a chief man to excuse it amongst them, and that is called PJilios, appellant. Hibernis gentilis sermo Gaolac dicitvir, quod idem Gonat significatque, ac Armoricorum Gallec, qua voce Gallomm linguam in hodiernum usque diem intelli- gunt, ut in ambarum gentium scriptis videre est. Etiamsi in sequent! Parallel© aliquando litteroe et syllabiE quaedam non levem discrepantiam prse se ferre vid':'j ntiir ; eadem tamen illis est potestas, et sonus idem. Sic at, ajf, et es finales Armoricae, respondent ach, agh, et as Hibernicis. Chiy initialis cum Ji, h cum p, d cum /,/cum v sa^pissime commutantur. Std de hisce fusius, et similis argumenti omnibus, in Disstrtatione, quani de veterum Lingua Gallonun, cum j rin.um Romanorum arma experti sunt, annuente summo numine, scripturi sumus. OF THE DRUIDS. 237 Oxoniae, 19 DecemhriSy Anno a Ckristo natOy 1698. Armorice, HiBERNICE. LaTINE- Isel. Iseal. Hum lis. Iselhat. Isealacht. HmiiiiiatiOo Oun. Uan. A^nns. Oanic. Uanin. Aj^ntllus. Flt-ni. Klemh ♦. Aculeus. Dt-n. Duine. Homo. Denbihan, Duinebuineacb, HomunciOc Caret. Caraici f. Amicus. Carantes. Carrantas j|. Amicitlao Guvr. Coir. Jus. Hirr.hat. Oi eachagb. Elongatio, Bluaz. Bl'.afftiuin. Annus. Amni-r. Ams^i4•. Tenjpus. G ronan» Gruaa *• Arena. A sen. Assil. A sinus. Dall. Dall. Caecns. Dallaf. Dalligh. I aecitas. Gotialen. Gualua. HumeruSo Querch. Coire, Avena. Ives. Ives. Etiam, Guile. Oile. Alius. Poiq Pog. Osculum. Scubellen. Scuab. Stopa. Scuba f. Scuabapfb. Verrere, Scopa. Lezron. Leasrach. Femora. Mat Maith. Bonus Mat^raet. Mairhghnioth, Beneficium* Ma(iele2. MaitUeas. Bonitas. Cam. Cam. Curvus. Ber. Bear. Veru. Losq Lo-cath, UstlO. Quirrec, Carrie. Rupes. Gouris, Cris. Cin^u'um. Lu lu. Luoth. Cinis. Couoer. Caiihir, Cathedra. * Oath etiam Hibernice. t Cay a Hibernis Australibus. % Cardis etiam Hibernice. • Gariibh m\\am Hibernice. 23S THE HISTORY Cabonn. C'abun. Capo. Girtouen. Gualan. Caibo. Moall. Mauic Ctiivus. Dtrven. D.n-t. Quercus* GiiOI. Gaur. Caper. Eai ty me. A ri ma thi. In Domo mea» Quv. Cu. Caais venaticus. Caull. Cal. Biassica. Aiicuff. Neaih. Coelum. Coar. Crir. Cera. Gaian. GMragh. Taig. rairne. Cla^.'U''. Coulm. CoUiim. Columba. Evel, eguis Kvail, eguis Ut. Quillocq. Cuillocii. Goillus Gallinaoeus. Ilm. Inm. Aer. Athir. Coluber. Laes. Lis. [)omus regia. Guniff. Gurigh. Ova poueie. Golott; Folitigh. Tegere. Crouezr. Cnathar. Cribra. Criditf. Creiimih. Credere* Creven. S'creavog. Cniiforn. Ty. Ti *.. Claf; ( bibb. Drouchoberer. Drocbob'i,. Lnesmam. Leasii.hathir, Miiitin. Viadin. Mor. Muirf, Tru^arez. liocare^ Coch. Cac,. Que ni esq. M^eascagh, Otfeien. Aittiii,^. Manach. Manhch* Mis.. . Mi. Boucq. Bog, Maru. Ma IV. Btigale. BuachvlII, Quelgeueni Cuileog, Gupneil. GineaU Nedelec. Nolluic, Dij. Du, Buat. DuRch, CroMouen. Cioa, Beuzet. Baite. Vis, F 's^^a, puteus. Foil 11 '11. I^'ugere. Gt^uu. Patibulum. 9 Vavis ^uberna" ^ culum. Grniium. Pmgue-lo. Auspicium.. Lu Ins, Insubn Lingua. Laigus. Liber. Fugnus. Domus. Ae^er. MalesicuSo \ nverca. Mane. Misericordia, Mt rda. Mi'^cere. Mis^a. Monacbus. Mensis, Mollis. ATorfiius. Pue ulus. Musca. Na-ci. V N'atiyitatis I Christi festum. JSijfer. Nigredo. Xnces. M-ersus. II Doac ettaTTi Hibernlce. t Morli rt Moir etiam. !| Hand dabium quin a LaUno offero d^ducendura sJt. 5>40 THK mSTORY Ui. Ui tel Ou C)vum» Plu qnen. Blusc. Plijsqueu un ui. Blusc na hui. Ezn. Ean, Avis. Fznic. Kan in. Avicula^ Fziietaer. | Ivanadaifo Auct-ps. Ditgus. Uiabhuin- Otiosu*. Laeshann. Leasamm. Cognomen. 3vin. Igliuin. Unguis. Colo. Calog. Palea. Bnia. Aran. Panis^ Rannaifc Rann;!gh. Dividere, Quetren. Ke.ivrin. Partjculac Golvtn. Gc'lvun. Passcr. Crochen. Ci ocean. Ptliis. Crib. (ir*. Pecten. Collet. Cailte. Ptrdiius. Tat. At hair. Pater, B»ain. Br m. Ventris crepitus. Tio'^t. Truith. Pes. Trufcz. Truaighe, Compassio. Leui>. Lan. Pi en us. Goue};iff. Gi.lagh. riere. Goucluan. Gul.in, Fe us. Av.l, AvulL Mai us, arbor. Squcvcnt S( avail. Pulmo, Biemaff. Breanagh. Pulrescere, foetere. B'ein. Brein, Putidiis, Doun. Dovuin, Profundus, QueigueL Cuip^eul. Colus. .^cmilaf. SciiiUagh Solvere. Seg.l. Segul, Secale, Bouzar. Bovar, Surdus, Logoden. Lmliog, iMus. Taii.8. '1 arv Taurus, Giiyader. Fia Aprilis t*' Junius ^. Julius A. September J* October c. November d« December e, Janu^iFius r. Febiuarius o, Septimana. Dies Lunae« Ueus. An^ li. Civjtas. Hoedus. Creator, Tartarus. Quadragesima* Indigentia* Furor. Aequitatio. Aper. JM e&ra. H 2 VOCABULARIU Armorice- nibernicum. Armorice. HlBERNICEo ■ A. • Latine- Aer. Aur. Aighin Or. 'Aer. Aurimi. An Ar, Aras. Terra. A13.. Oile. Alius. Angon Ancoire. Anchora. Argant. Arm. Argiod* Armo Argentum. Arm a. Alt. Ait. Saltus. Ane, Ene. Anam. Anima. Aval Aval. B' Fomumc Bara» Barin. Pan is. Brun. Bnmn. Venter, rrfa^ milla. Brech. Braigh. Brachium. Bu. Bo. Bos. Broch. Broc. Vas fictile vel ligrteum Berr. Bearr. Brevis: Bresych. Praysseach. Rrassica. Bach, Bagl. Batta, Bachull. Baculus. Brenn, Brennyn. ( Biennin, 1 Breatlieamh. } Rex, Judex. Bardd. Bard. Poeta. Baar. Barra. Vectis. Breur. Brathair, Prater. Bren. Breun. Foetidws^ OF THE DRUIDS:. 243 Buch, Bouch. - j Euc. i C Caper mas. Ci, Cun. Cren. Cu, Cun, ranis, canes. Cruinn. Rotimdus. Crou. Cruaigl?.o Durus. Carr. Cam V V a^^ns aut ^ Cat, Caz„ Cat. •Feiis. Canab. panaibo <^'anabis« CantoL ' | CoinneoL < andela„ Craou, Cracuen, Cru, Cnuo Nux. - Coir. Cein ^ era. CauL CaL cvaulis vel |Brassica. Cist, Caiste. Cista, Can, t ann, CaintiCo i anticum. Cana. < anagbo ( nnerc. Cambn Seomra» < amera. Cam. (am. C'arvus. Cant. Cant, C eud. (^entum. Canol. c anal. <■ analis. Caru, CarOo Carr-fhiggb ( erviis. Chaden. Caddan. Catena. CoiinicL Cunin, Cuniculus. Cale. CoilL Sylva. Car. (^ ara. ( harus. Croug". qTOS. Crnx. Cumn, corcn. (^oroin. ( orona. Corf. (orp. Corpus. Coch. Coch, Corkire. ( ^ occus, ( Purpureus. Crin. Crian. . Aridus. Coq. Cocuire. V oquus. Carchar. Carcan. Career. Caban. Caban. Casula, Caleb. Cailce. Creta. Cans. ■ Caise. Caseus. ^•14 THR HTS:T0RY r D. Dcm. pair- Quercus. ^ Dun, Dun, Collis. Daign » Deor, Gutta, lachryms. Deilen. S Duille, ( Duilleog.. Foliunia Dour. Dorn. Pugnus. Dour. Dun Aqua. Doun. Domhaiii. Profundus. Bh Deiz. De« Dies. Der„ Deag, Deich. Pecenio Poiun Dolas. Dolor. Dug. ( Duibhee* Dux. Dor. Dorus. Ostium, Pag. , Daggear. Pugioo Dreuc, 1 Droch. Malus. DoL Dal. Vallis„ Pen. Puine. Homo, E. i Eduyn, Eadban. Videlicet. Erigea. Eirigh. F. Surgere, Tom. Fuim. Furnus. Tin. Fin. Subtilis. Tin. Finn. Candidus. TillT. Fear. Nundinae. Foen* Feur. Foenum« Tiivyris Sreun. Froenum. Fron. Sron, Sroniu. Nasum, Nares. Fa]s„ Falsa. Falsus. Fc-iJat Fallagb, Fallere, Forch. Fore. Furca. Fuim* Foirm. Forma. Fest. Fcasta* Festus. OP THE DRUIDS. ^5 G. Gouin. Pldn. Vinum. Greun, Grain. Granum. Gaour. Gabhar. Caper. Glu, Glut, Gieu. Gluten. Groin. Grinn. 1 Porcorum \ proboscis. Glas. Glas. Viridis. Glin. 1 Glun. Genu. Gloar. Gloir. Gloria. Glaif. Claidheamb, Gladiu5. Goaz. Giagh. Anser. Gard. Gardin. ' Hortus. Garni, Gairm. Beatus. Hun. Sun. Somnus, Henn. Sean. L Imiiaigh. Vetus. imaich. ImagOo Isge. Uisge. L. Aqua. Lin. Linn. Stagnum, lacui. La. Lamh. Manus. Lin. Lion* Linum. Lili. Lili. Lilium. Lug. Lug. Corvus. Laguen. Lag. Lacuna, stagnuic Lech. Leac. Rupes. Lin. Lin in. Linea. Liffr. Leabiial. Liber. Lance. Langa. Lancea. Lace. Nask. I ^^^-^!a^'J«llg Mis. Mi. Mensis. .T^Iiiin. MulinHo Moleridinumc Mantel. MantaL f Muliebre \ pallium. Mai. Mala. Sacci genus I\IocIi» Muc. Porcus. i\Iam. Mathaii*. Mater. Migu. Measgaho Miscere. Mor, Man Muir, Mara. MarCo Mel. Mil. MeL ^lilL Mile. Mille. Mali Mallachts. jMalus, sceie- 1 ratus. Maestr. I^Iaghisdin lilagister. March. 3'Iarc. Equus. Marge Meirg. N„ Ferrugo. Nos, Noiche. Nox. Neu, neueso Nua, Niiath» Novus. Nef. Neamh. Nubes.. Nith, Neis. Nead. Nidus, Neuth. Snaithe. Filum. Neza, Niddu. Snaighthagh. Nere. Niul, Niful. NeulL Nebula. Naouo Naoi. Novem. Nith. Nigheann. Ne|)tis. Natur. Naduir. O. Natura. OIL on, iiile. Omnis. Orgouii. OrgoilL Superbus. Ober. Obiiir. Opera. Oleu, EoL Ola. Oleum. Office. Offig. Ofncium. Once. Unsa. Unci a. On Ore, Terminus^ OF THE DRUIDS, 247 R Pemp. r Pemp, vox an- \ tiqua. C^uinque, Pis. Pis. Pisum, Pez. Pisa. Frustum, Pris. Pris. Pretium^ Porth. Purt. Portus, Forfon Purfur. Purpura, Post. Posta. Postis, Punt. Puiita. Pondo, PobL Pobul. Populus, FerilL Pericl. Periculum, Plant. Planta. Planta, Fare. Pairc. Virid'ariuni, Ful, FouL PolL R, S Stagnum, La- }^ cuna^ Sinus, IlhodI, Ramha, Remus, Kaden, Radin, Ratliin, Filix, , Khy, Riogh, Dominus, Rex., Rac, Rach, Enim, naiiv Raeson, Resun, Ratio, Rot, Rhod, Rliotha, lit; Rota, Rousin, Rosin, Resin a. Ros, Rosen, Rosa, Rosa. Segal, Saeth, S. Sopa, Seagull Saghid, Sapo, Secale, Sagitta, Sug, Sgub, ysgub, Sul. Su, Scuab, ' Solus, Succus, Scopa, Sol, Lux, Siell, SeL Seala. Sigillum^ g4S TFIR HISTORY T, Taru, Taro, Tarbh, Taurus, Tur, Tor, Turns, Tumbe^ Tumba, (Tumulus, Se- ^ pulchrum, 3> Tir, Tir, Terra, Tec, Deach, Domus, Termen^ Tearmonn, Terminus, Ti, Ti, Tigh, Domus, Taran, ( Torman, f Tarneaoh, Tonitru, Torch, Torch, Torques, Titl, Tiodal, Titulus, Teyrn, Tighearna, Dominus, Rejv, Teyrnas, TighearnaSj Dominatio, Tasg, Taisce, Vertical, Tonn, Tunn, Cadus, Teuth. Tuath. fons. Uy, Oibh, 0%^m. Ui, G^r. Fearo Vir, A SPECIMEN OF THE ARMORICAN LANGUAGE* THE BEATITUDES, Matt. viiL 1. 8^c. EurUs btas e^ort peUryen ve$ asperet rac touantelez an euf»- fdon a appatchant ante. Eurus bras eo an re debort* TiBTi rdc an douat a possedinU EurUs bras eo an re a gouelf rdc conSolet de^int. Eurus btds eo an f& ho de^ tez ndoiin ha fediet, rac ju5* sassiet vezinti Eurus bfds eo an re trngd'^ reaus o detezo. Eurus bras to dn re o deves ho Cdloun naeti rac gullet a fdini Done. Eurus bras eo an fi? pad* ficq^ racgualcet aeiint bugaU Done, Eurus bran ioanre pere a andur persetion a palamouf dd justice rac toudnteleii an ^uffdon io de%^. Blessed are the poor in Spi-i rit> for the kingdom of Hea-< ven is theirSj &c. pKONaXCIAtlOK. Old as sha, &c. C as s. k final / is mute. Double ^^ as 1? Consonant* Ga, go^ gii^ hard ; G(?, f^i soft* On as ni iri Opinion^ H is aivV.iys pro- nounced* JConsonatit ftsin Dutch. A final it as A Z has a particular prpnuncia* tion* Jf, an. Diminutive terminations; as Mdp, Ma- pic; Meri'h, Merchic: Grueck, Gruechic^ or Qrucch bJia^^ 250 OF THK DRUIDS. The Sum of the Te n cofu an ittt nou da Done (I rreis a a caliu, a neis da entf, hac a creis da eiiten- dare/it. lea caro ia nessaff eueldi/t da hit nun. The tt n Commandments m verse. I. En un Done parfaet ez cr edify Ha parfaetamant a quir^, IL Duue e vaert ne t&ax^ quet, Ncf dememes nettm erhet III, An Sulyon hac an Gonelyon Din A obse'iiif gant pedennou, IV, Da tat da mam hep h'iut fell A enory hac ez bevy pell. V, Movntrer yvez ne vizy quet, A zolontez var^ a effet VI, Luxurius mirma vizy^'t Is a dre cfftrt na dre desir, ' VII. Latzerez na miret ma daoH den En ep guys ne ry bizu* icquen^ Law and Gospel, Thou jsha t love the Lord thy God vvith all thy heart, wiih all tliy soul, and with all thy understanding". Thou shall lov. thy nei gfes bour as thy own self. In English prose, L One dnely God shall thcu believe, And perfectly love. II. By God in vain thou shalt not swear. Nor likewise by any otber thing. III. Sundays and Holydayf shalt thou keep In servin-sf God devoutly, W. Thy f.ither and mother shal^t thou- honour. That thou raayst lead a. long life. V. Thou shall likewise diy no murther, By Will nor Deed. Y%, Nor shalt thou be luxu- rious In Deed or Desire. VII. Th- XL shalt not keep the goods of another Privately or by force. THE HISTORY 251 VIII, Nac a euep denfals Vill. Tliou sha't not btar testenj/ Gaon € lech guir ne I'wiry. IX, Na desii tuffr au qu- icq bizuicquen, jSemet gaut priet ep muif quen, X, Madaon da kentez ne hoantai quet, Eiiit ep raesoun ho mint. The Lord's Prayer. Hon Tat pehiny so en evf- fou, Hoz hano bezel sanctlfiet. Ho rouantelez devet demp. Ho volontez bezel graet en douar euel en euff. Rait demp hizyau hon bar a pemdizyec. Ha par done t dem hon off an- con, euel mapardonomp dan ces, as wc forgive iliose ihac fase witness No. ly in any \vi<;e. IX. I'hou shait i ( t Ao the works of Ihe flesli. But in marriage onely. X. Thou shall not covet thy neighbours ^oods To ktep them without rea- son. In English, Our Father which art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy name. 'J"h} kingdom com«. Thy will be done on C^arth, as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And for'o het disquen-^ net e» >fftrnaou, ha dan ticde dtz res^u