flaming torches in their hands, and with wild gestures and dishevelled hair, imprecating the wrath of heaven on the sacrilegious foe. Very little is known concerning the secret doctrines and fundamental principles of Druidism. The common policy of those who endeavour to subjugate the human mind by superstitious practices, throws a veil of mystical obscurity over the engines of the base attempt; and the Druids adopted a method of secrecy most perniciously effectual, by religiously prohibiting the use of letters amongst their association. From the few remarks contained in Roman and Greek writers who have treated on this subject, it is evident that they taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul; but, according to Cæsar and Diodorus, they publicly instilled the notion of the transmigration of the spirit into other bodies. It is not improbable that the Druids secretly cherished a pure and simple belief in the existence of one God, the great Creator of themselves and all around, above, and beneath them; but as the emoluments of their brotherhood were derived from the blind veneration of bigotry, they raised a long train of phantasies for the delusion and amusement of the human imagination. Under their influence, the Briton was induced to worship the sun, the moon, and the minor luminaries of the heavens; streams were deified by them, and honoured with devotional rites; warlike Princes were exalted after death to the rank of gods. .. In a religious system calculated to stimulate and render profitable the mundane hopes and fears of mankind, offerings, sacrifices, and the practices of augury and divination, would necessarily form primary objects of attention; and the want of simplicity in the mode of faith would, as naturally, be attended with a studied solemnity of ceremonials. The Druids held it unlawful to adore the Gods within walls and under roofs. Their places of worship were invariably in the open air, and covered only by the canopy of the heavens. Here they formed huge temples, (if such a term may be bestowed on their religious structures,) consisting of To of ranges of unhewn stone, which enclosed a circular area. increase the solemn effect of the scene, by conducting the devotee to the vicinity of the altar through mysterious gloom and deep tranquillity, their stupendous temples were usually surrounded with thick groves of oak; and even the majestic trees of which these groves were composed, were consecrated by druidical superstition, and associated with the attributes of divinity. When the priests performed religious ceremonies, they wore garlands of oakleaves. The misletoe which grew on these sacred trees was regarded with particular reverence, and was gathered for religious purposes with much pomp and ceremony. On this important occasion, as we are told by Pliny, one of the Druids, clothed in white, ascended the tree, and with a knife of gold cut the precious branch, which was received into a sagum of pure white. Sacrifices and a banquet concluded the festival. The wild and gloomy spot of druidical worship was sometimes surrounded by a ditch and a vallum of earth; and was often chosen on an eminence, as such a situation allowed a free view of the heavenly bodies. It is probable that religious ceremonies were performed daily in these sacred recesses; and it is known that the Druids held certain fixed festivals. The sixth day of every moon (from which day the Britons dated the commencement of the lunar month,) was appropriated to devotion; and several annual festivals were observed with great solemnity. On all occasions of public danger, or triumph, the rude grandeur of this captivating but perverse religion, was exerted to its greatest possible extent. Frequent sacrifices formed an essential part of the Druidical superstition. The living creatures sacrificed to the gods by these priests, were sometimes entirely consumed by fire upon the altar; but more frequently a portion only was thus offered in oblation, and the remainder was divided between the officiating Druid, and the person who presented the sacrifice. Unhappily the victims were not always of a kind which allowed of such an innoxious participation. In the early stages of heathenism, most nations ara 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 horrid 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.* To • 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 of 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 of 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 portious 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 feoffment 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 Belga. 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 manuers, as they proceeded chiefly, or entirely, from the effects of different stages of civilization on people who entertained the same national opinions. § The great circular * Blackstone's Comm. Vol. II. p. 84. Seld. Analect. 1. 2. c. 7. + 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, thus |