are found guilty of a species of barbarity, which can proceed only from a mistaken notion of the temper of the Deity, formed on the scale of human feelings, by the worst and most tyrannous of mankind. Nations, famed in the progress of their history for politeness and humanity, have, at an early period, endeavoured to render propitious the gods of their own fabrication, by staining their altars with votive human blood; and this excess of cruelty was practised with religious fervour by the British Druids. It is said that offenders against the law were usually chosen for this hor rid purpose; but it appears that, if criminals were not at hand, such of the innocent as were abject and unfriended, were sacrificed without scruple. A recollection of this practice is desirable, as it is connected with those vestiges of Druidical antiquity which will be briefly noticed in an ensuing page; but for a detailed account of the sanguinary custom, I willingly refer the reader to the regular historians of Druidism, or to the sources whence they chiefly acquire intelligence, the writings of Pliny, Cæsar, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus.

Owing to the deep secrecy of their consultations, and their prohibition of the use of letters, it is quite impossible to prove, at present, the extent or varieties of intelligence possessed by the British Druids; but the Roman and Greek writers bear ample testimony to their knowledge and erudition. Their private schools formed a kind of university for the youth of Gaul. Their skill in astronomy and natural philosophy is admitted by the most polished of contemporary writers; and it is said that their systems in various branches of learning were of so complex, if not profound a nature, that a student would employ twenty years in obtaining a complete knowledge of them.*

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The Theological doctrines of the Druids, together with their systems of morals and philosophy, and other lessons in art and science, were delivered in a multitude of verses, which it must needs take a long time to impress on the memory of the learner. Some relics of these have been supposed to exist in the Historical Triads, published in the Welsh Archaiology.-Clad in robes

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To pass unnoticed the proficiency which they are believed to have attained in Astronomy, Geography, Geometry, and Metaphysics, it may be observed, that their skill in mechanics is evident from those stupendous vestiges of their religious structures, which remain to the present day, subjects of admiration with the most ingenious.

That they were acquainted with the science of legislation has been already mentioned; but we have few opportunities of ascertaining their talents in this important branch of knowledge. As the laws of the Britons were not written, but were formed into verses, and preserved by the Druids, all who endeavour to present a view of them are compelled to call largely upon the aid of probable conjecture.

We may, however, notwithstanding the probable amalgamation of the customs of the Britons, with those of invading nations, still discover some distinct points in the modern doctrines of our English law, which, from their great affinity and resemblance to the Druidical tenets and discipline, are fairly referable to a British original. Among these may be first mentioned, the very notion of an oral, unwritten law, such as is, in its elementary principles, the common law of England, containing the grand fundamental rules of our legal polity; which being delivered from age to age, by custom and tradition merely, would appear to be primarily derived from the practice of the Druids.

A less equivocal remain of the British institutions, is to be found in the partible quality of lands, by the custom of Gavelkind, which still obtains in many parts of England, and was the universal course of descent in Wales, until the reign of Henry the Eighth.

To these, likewise, may be added the ancient division of the goods of an intestate between his widow and children, or next

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of white, and mounted on a slight eminence, the Druids probably poured forth such verses, while instructing crowded congregations of Britons in the fanciful tenets of their religion.

of kin; which has been revived by the statute of distributions.

The tenure of lands in Gavelkind, the most important of the British legal remains, exists principally in the county of Kent, although it is to be found in certain portions of many other counties; and was probably, in ancient times, the general custom of the realm.* The principal distinguishing properties of this tenure are, that the tenant is of age sufficient to aliene his estate by feoffinent at fifteen;† that the estate does not escheat in case of attainder and execution for felony, according to an ancient maxim "the father to the bough, the son to the plough ;" and (which is by far the most important deviation from the general rule of modern law,) that the lands descend not to any one son only, by right of primogeniture or otherwise, but to all the sons together; a course of descent formerly the most usual throughout the whole of England, varied only by the customs of particular districts.

The state of the useful arts amongst the various British tribes, together with their commerce, customs in war, and familiar habits, before the interference of the Romans, are necessarily subjects of curiosity and interest.

In presenting remarks on these topics, it would be desirable to distinguish, in every particular, between the primeval Celtic inhabitants, and the more recent migrators from Gaul, the Belgæ. But, even if such a minute discrimination were attainable, it is probable that many variations of custom to be noticed between these settlers in Britain at dissimilar periods, were inconsequential in the history of human manners, as they proceeded chiefly, or entirely, from the effects of different stages of civilization on people who entertained the same national opinions. § The great cireular

Blackstone's Comm. Vol. II. p. 84. Seld. Analect. 1. 2. c. 7.

Ibid.-Lamb. 634.

↑ Ibid.-Lamb. Peramb. 614. In support of such a remark, it may be observed that Mr. Whitaker, after a mature consideration of the accounts transmitted by ancient writers,

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circular temple of the primeval inhabitants was consistent with the fundamental religious principles of the Belgæ, and was adopted by them, as is believed, with no other alteration than such as regarded artificial improvement. Cæsar, although he notices the superior civility of the Belgæ, states no distinction between their religion, or political constitution, and those of the inland Celtic tribes. Succeeding ancient writers usually describe the various petty nations, whether Celtic or Belgic, under the general name of Britons.

Viewed in this light, as tribes possessing the same forms of religion and of government, but dissimilar in their respective stages of progress towards refinement, we shall find that the Belgæ introduced to this island some arts calculated to afford them a marked pre-eminence in commercial pursuit and personal comfort. But, whilst admitting the superior polish of the Belgæ, and their greater knowledge of arts, both useful and ornamental, we must not, with a hasty boldness of contrast, suppose that the primeval and inland tribes were quite ignorant of the arts which render life D decent,

thus delivers his opinion concerning the probable similarity of national features between the Celta and the Belge: "Nor was the difference great in itself, betwixt the Britons and the Belga. They both constructed their edifices in the same manner, used the same stated pieces of brass or iron bullion for money, had the same fondness for keeping poultry and hares about their houses, and the same aversion to seeing them upon their tables. And they both painted their bodies, both threw off their cloaths in the hour of battle, both suffered the hair of their head to grow to a great length, both shaved all but the upper lip, both had wives in common, and both prosecuted their wars on the same principles. In all these particulars, the great and principal strokes of the national character, the Belgae and Britons universally agreed. Several of the latter likewise concurred with the former, in their attention to agriculture, and in wearing garments of woollen. And the only distinction betwixt them was one, which was no difference of manners at all; that the Britons, being dislodged from that side of the island which was immediately contiguous to Gaul and Spain, and the only part of it which was visited by the foreign traders, were no longer able to pursue the commerce which they had previously carried on, and were obliged to resign it up to the Belga." Genuine Hist. of the Britons asserted, p. 84-85.

decent, or were destitute of a system of commercial interchange, calculated to enhance the value of their natural possessious. Trackways, remote from the utmost frontier of Belgic encroachment, penetrated the inland recesses of Britain through the territories of all her tribes; and that the Celta possessed a foreign commerce, however limited, is well known.

The great characteristical line of distinction, between the first settlers in Britain and those of a more recent date, consisted, according to the account transmitted by Cæsar, in the practice of agriculture; which was introduced to Britain by the Belgæ, and was successfully cultivated by that people in their portions of the island. This useful art (the adoption of which, assuredly, constitutes an important era in the rise of civilization) would ap pear, from the commentary of Cæsar, to have been chiefly confined to the south-western coast, and, consequently, to districts inhabited by Belgic Britons. The inland, or Celtic tribes, according to that commentary, despised agriculture, but were actively engaged in pasturage; through the exercise of which art they supported themselves, using chiefly as food, milk, and the produce of their numerous cattle.

With agriculture, the source of national wealth, and thence of growing refinement in manners, it appears that the Belgæ introduced to our island a manufacture, essential to the comfort of man in a rude state, and of primary importance as he ascends in the scale of civilization. This was the manufacture of woollen cloths, which has since proved of so much importance to this country, as to have been emphatically styled the "source of all its riches, and the basis of all its power." At the era of Cæsar's invasion, the common use of garments, composed of manufactured wool, was confined to the Belgic Britons. But a mode of dress, at once eminently productive of comfort and comparative elegance, was not likely to be restricted for ages to any particular tribes ; and it does, in fact, appear that the Celtic chieftains had adopted the use of woollen vestures, when they first became known to the Romans.

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