The duties of legislation devolved upon the second order of Druids. It was their province to enact, expound and enforce the laws; taking cognizance of their breach they sat as judges, either to acquit or punish, since from their decision there was no appeal. Crimi nals found guilty of the gravest offences, they condemned to be burned in osier cages; and, here may be incidentally contradicted the popular fallacy of innocent victims being offered on Druidical altars. Historical researches combined with recent discoveries, have most satisfactorily shewn that British augurs never predicted future events by the manner in which blood oozed from the palpitating forms of human sacrifices; and, that the consuming of living men by fire, with the Druids, was entirely a judicial proceeding, and not a religious rite. In truth, execution and not sacrifice.7

cold grave," "The dark grave," "The silent grave. It is not unnatural that amongst the Celtic nations the notion should have existed that the place of eternal punishment for evil-doers was in coldness, since it formed a diametrical contrast with their belief that to be in the lightsome beams of the sun, the emblem of their religion, was happiness. But the Sun was not worshipped, as has been erroneously supposed, but only regarded by the Britons as the symbol of the Supreme Moral Light of the Universe.

6 The ceans themselves were amenable to the Druid decrees.-In fact, Dio Chris., says of the British ceans- -it is the Druids who reign in reality; and the ceans, though they sit on thrones, feast in splendour, and live in palaces, are only instruments for executing their designs.

7 Much stress has been laid upon the fires seen kindled in Anglesea, to burn the Romans. But we must remember that the intrusion into "Holy Places," by an invading force, was a criminal procedure. And that the Druids looking judicially upon the wholesale robbery attempted to be perpetrated by the Romans, felt it to be their duty to condemn the robbers to the flames. Nor were the Druids deceived

It is much to be regretted that the Druids should have considered these laws, like their religion, too

in the character of the invaders,-for no sooner was the isle conquered, than they deprived its possessors of their territories, and reduced them to slavery. Nevertheless, it is not impossible that instances might have occurred of the propitiatory sacrifice of a single victim, offered when the public mind was darkened by the dread of or suffering under the infliction of some unusual occurrence, and if so, we find similar distortions of Divine will in Holy Writ: "Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice."-"Enflaming yourself with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks."-Isa. lvii. 5. 7. But the immolation of human sacrifices is not a proof of a deficiency in civilization--because, even the Greeks and Romans were guilty of like cruel customs. Aristomenes the Messenian sacrificed three hundred men, among whom was Theopompus, one of the kings of Sparta, to Jupiter of Ithome. Themistocles, in order to procure the assistance of the gods against the Persians, sacrificed some captives of that nation. Bacchus had an altar in Arcadia, upon which young damsels were beaten to death with rods. Such sacrifices were frequently offered to the manes and infernal gods. Hence Achilles slew twelve Trojan captives at the funeral of Patroclus. Eneas is another example of the same practice. Authors cited by Suetonius, affirm that Augustus, in honor of his uncle Julius Cæsar, (who was by this time deified by the Romans), sacrificed three hundred Romans, partly senators and partly knights, upon an altar erected to the new deity. ` Degrading as this conduct seems to us, we must nevertheless remember, that the All-Wise Being who rules this earth permitted it te His own ends, that it might hereafter exhibit His works, and shew, how wilfully, weak men "changed the glory of the uncorruptible God."

8

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Molmutius Dunwallo was the first cean who wore a golden crown, and primarily collected and digested the laws previously obeyed in this realm. His code was termed the Molmutian. Giuethelin, who reigned nearly a century afterwards, married a lady named Martia, who was deeply accomplished in all kinds of learning." This queen undertook the task of

sacred for committal to writing. But it is clear, from the special ordinance against any other mode than memory, for the transmission of their knowledge in these points, that they were acquainted with written arbitrary characters. The normal alphabet they used, was originally imported from the Phoenicians. It consisted of about fourteen letters. During the lapse of ages. that swept over the Druid schools, and gathered to their fathers successive professors of learning and literature, the characters and the orthography imperceptibly varied; the latter particularly in the substitution of the vowels, insomuch, that at Cæsar's era, that general was enabled to correspond with Cicero at Rome, in Greek; avoiding, had his missives been intercepted, the danger of his intentions and future operations being exposed to his foes.

The Bards have been supposed to rank the lowest amongst the Druid orders. But this fanciful division we are inclined to include amongst popular fallacies.

remodelling the code, which was called after her the Martian law. These laws subsequently amalgamated still form the basis of the common law," far excelling the statute law both in theoretical and practical wisdom."

9 Unfortunately not only the Druids, but the Magi of Persia, the Brahmins of India, the Chaldeans of Assyria, the Pabas of the Mexicans, the Priests of Egypt, in fact, we may say, with one exception, the whole of the priests of antiquity, alike refused to commit any of their secret doctrines to writing. Their intention was to hide the truth, so that it should not be lost, but yet concealed from the multitude. They had, moreover, two sets of doctrines, which effectually differed from the other, and still more tended to veil their craft. One system they communicated to members of their own order alone, which, on admission into the sacerdotal fraternity the neophites were sworn, in the most impressive manner, to keep

The Bards according to Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xv. c. 9, "celebrated the noble actions of illustrious persons in heroic poems to the sweet sounds of the lyre." Diodorus Siculus likewise says, lib. v. c. 31., that they "are excellent and melodious poets, and sing their poems, in which they praise some, and satirize others to the music of an instrument resembling a lyre." The same authority also states that even when contending armies were on the point of battling, the presence of a bard singing "sweet and melodious songs" has calmed the rage of the warriors and prevented the shedding of blood,

The weight of evidence furnished by the classic authors causes the beam to preponderate, on the side of the bards constituting one of the chief orders amongst the Druids.2 Even the most warlike of the ceans es

profoundly secret from all the rest of mankind. In the Irish translation of the Scriptures, the Magicians of Egypt are called the Druids of Egypt; and the same appellation is given to the Magi, or Wise Men of the East mentioned in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

'Sons, of "Jubal; the father of all such as handle the harp." Gen. vi. 21.

2 The Bards were the professors of oratory,-and they educated the British ceans and warriors who were "famous for their eloquence." Tacitus says, "the British chieftains before a battle fly from rank to rank, and address their men with animating speeches, tending to inflame their courage, increase their hopes, and dispel their fears." The arts of oratory were much studied, and the harangues of the chieftains possessed much energy, sweetness and elegance. Great attention was paid to purity of language, for the ears of their critical auditory would neither permit the employment of a coarse term, nor the vicious construction of a sentence. addresses abounded with metaphors derived from their eastern origin. They compounded the primitive particles to a great extent, instances will be seen in their etymologies, p. 42, 51, etc., ante.

Their

teemed it a privilege to be enrolled in the order of the Bards, as it bestowed upon them powers they otherwise would not have possessed.

The Druids were richly clad in long robes agreeably to the regulations of their order; the priests wore long beards; and the hair of their heads short while other people kept the hair of their heads long and shaved off their beards with the exception of the upper lip. When religiously officiating they wore white surplices, breast plates of gems, crimson hoods and gold chains around their necks.5 They were limited to six colours in their braccæ.6

The costume of the ceans was most magnificent and ostentatious; they wore golden torques as emblems of

The Bards too composed the triplicated sentences called The Triads, which were used to perpetuate tradition, and in which, they set forth every thing relating to their religion, history and science, that the same might be committed to memory and handed down with the greater ease. The theological triads are as follows:

I.-There are three primeval Unities, and more than one of each cannot exist,

One God;

One Truth; and

One Point of Liberty, where all opposites équiponderate.

II. Three things proceed from the three primeval Unities,

All of Life;

All that is Good; and

III.-God_consists necessarily of three things,

The Greatest of Life;

All Power.

The Greatest of Knowledge; and The Greatest of Power-and of what is the greatest there can be no more of anything. Cory's Mythol. Eng. 70.

4 Richardson in his Travels, vol. i., says in describing the tombs of Egypt: "Intermixed with the figures we frequently meet with the more agreeable pictures of entertainments, with music and dancing, and well-dressed people listening to the sound of the harp, played by a priest with his head shaved, and dressed in a loose, flowing, white robe, shot with red stripes." The dress of the Druids.

Toland's Specimens of the Critical History of the Celtic Religion and Learning.

6 The Druids certainly allowed the ceans to wear seven colours in their braccæ, whilst they contented themselves with six. Indivi