ance of a future existence, by going fearlessly to battle to encourage the armies; leaving the settlement of their accounts until they met in another world; casting letters on the funeral piles of their friends, to be read in the next life; burying the accounts of the departed, and lending money to be repaid there; and by voluntarily embracing death at the immolation of some esteemed person, to enjoy their society in an eternal state. The writings of the Bards contain their dark and uncertain notions of moral virtue, and the retributions of a future existence. Man is placed, according to their doctrine, in the circle of courses, good and evil being set before him for his selection; and upon his making choice of the former, Death transmits him from the earth into the Circle of Felicity. If, however, he become vicious, Death returns him into the Circle of Courses, wherein he is made to do penance in the body of an animal, and then permitted to reassume his human form. The length and repetition of this probation, is determined by the vice or virtue of the individual; but after a certain number of transmigrations, his offences were supposed to be expiated, his passions subdued, and his spirit dismissed to the Circle of Felicity. Such is a summary of the complex Theological Triades; and only one more of the Druidical doctrines deserves to be mentioned, which has been preserved in its original form by Diogenes Laertius: it simply commands,

"To worship the Gods,

To do no evil,

And to exercise fortitude.

The principles of this Theological system having increased these hymns to about 20,000 verses,

their study frequently occupied 20 years; and they were preserved only in the memories of the Druids and their disciples, since it was held unlawful to commit them to writing. When they were taught to the nation, they were delivered from little eminences, of which many are yet remaining, though their signification was never given, excepting with the greatest reserve; but the Druidical students were instructed in the most private manner, in caverns or recesses of thick forests, that their lessons might not be overheard. Even after the establishment of Christianity, something of this plan of instruction was still followed; since a collection of its doctrines was formed in the Druid measure, adapted for Bardic recitation, and entitled the Triades of Paul.

The purer parts of the Druidical Theology, are considerably more ancient than the introduction of those numerous false deities with which it was corrupted in its late ages; since some of its professors interdicted the worship of idols, or any other form intended to represent the Godhead. These were probably the followers of the first Druids, and those who fixed upon the Sun, as the great reviver of Nature, and the chief emblem of Him who is the life of all things. The later Druids were probably those who united the most conspicuous parts of an animal in an image, to express the several perfections of the Deity, since it was contrary to the principles of the Celtic religion to represent Gods in the human form. Such were probably the effigies alluded to by Gildas, when he notices" the monstrous idols of our country, almost surpassing in number the very devilish devices of Egypt, of the which we behold as yet some,

both within and without the walls of their forsaken temples, now mouldering away, with deformed portraitures, and terrible countenances, after the accustomed manner. "It has been argued that idolatry was not introduced in Britain until after the invasion of the Romans; but subsequent to that event, the British Deities were principally the same as those of Rome and Greece, adored under Celtic names. The Supreme Being was worshipped under the form of an oak, and called Hæsus, or Mighty. In their representation of this Divinity, the Druids, with the consent of the whole order and neighbourhood, fixed upon the most beautiful tree they could discover, and having cut off its side branches, they joined two of them to the highest part of the trunk, so that they extended like the arms of a man. Near this transverse piece was inscribed the word Thau, for the name of God; whilst upon the right arm was written Hæsus, on the left Belenus, and, on the centre of the trunk, Tharanis. Towards the decline of Druidism, however, when a belief in the unity of God was lost in Polytheism, Hæsus is sometimes said to have been identified with Mars, who presided over wars and armies, though it is also believed that he was adored under another name, in the form of a naked sword. To him were presented all the spoils of battle; and if, says Cæsar, they prove victorious, they offer up all the cattle taken, and set apart the rest of the plunder in a place appointed for that purpose: and it is common in many provinces to see these monuments of offerings piled up in consecrated places. Nay, it rarely happens that any one shows so great a disregard of religion, as either to conceal the plun.

suppose

der, or pillage the public oblations; and the severest punishments are inflicted upon such offenders. The divine attribute of universal paternity, furnished another Druidical Deity, adored under the name of Teutates, composed of the British words Deu-Tatt, or God the Father. He was at length transformed into the Sovereign of the infernal world, and considered as Dis, or Pluto, with the Greeks and Romans; though some him to have been adored as Mercury. Nor did the Britons omit to worship the Heavenly bodies, since they had many temples erected to the Sun, which was known under the names of Bel, Belinus, Belatucardos, Apollo, Grannius, &c., expressive of its properties. The adorations paid to the Moon, appear to have been equally great; and the temples dedicated to it were generally near and similar to the former. With these principal splendours of the skies, the Britons also worshipped the Thunder, under the name of Taranis, but a great number of the Gods of Great Britain were deifications of men, who had been victorious princes, wise legislators, or inventors of useful arts. They were, in general, the very same as those adored by the Greeks and Romans, and it is even probable that they were of greater antiquiquity in Gaul and Britain; since they were Celtes by birth, princes of Celtic tribes, and were origiginally known by names significant in the Celtic language. Added to which, the Greeks and Romans discovered a great propensity to adopt the Deities of other nations, whilst the more barbarous people were tenacious of the faith and customs of their ancestors. One of the greatest of

these Demi-Gods was Saturn, the first of the Titan race, whose name signifies Martial, or Warlike. The original name of Jupiter is Jow, a Celtic word, meaning Young, because he was the youngest son of Saturn, whom he dethroned; whilst his elder brothers Neptune and Pluto, acted only as subordinate princes in his empire. The Romans afterwards extended his name by the addition of Pater, Father. Mercury was adored in Britain under the form of a cube, and Cæsar calls him "the chief Deity with the Gauls, of whom they have many images, accounting him the inventor of all arts, their guide and conductor in their journies, and the patron of merchandise and gain.” He was the favourite son of Jupiter by Maia, and received from his father the government of the West of Europe, where he procured his Celtic name, composed of the words Merc, merchandise, and Wr, a man. There were also many other imaginary Deities, anciently adored in Britain, and of female Divinities; these were Andraste, supposed to have been Venus or Diana; Onvana, Minerva, Ceres, Proserpine, &c. It has also been believed, that the British worshipped the Serpent and the Bull; and that there was scarcely a river, lake, mountain, or wood, which was not supposed to have some genii residing within it, in honour of whom treasures were presented, and gold, food, and garments, cast into the waters.

4. Sacred places of Druidism.-When Tacitus is describing the manners of the Germans, he states that it was a feature of their religion to consider it unlawful to enclose their Gods within walls, as detracting from the sublimity of their conceptions concerning them. "Hence," he continues, "they