nothing great in creation but man, nothing great in man but his soul, which never died. When they, therefore, adopted symbols as mute teachers, which spake not but to the initiated, they wanted something more than the Hellenic symbol of Quaic or natura, personified under a myriad of names. They, therefore, fixed upon a symbol of human nature which alone was capable of moral treatment, and expressed it by converting the two horses of the biga into one, to which they gave the human face, that no doubt might be entertained as to its real mythical character. The animal propensities of human nature are represented by the equine body, and his rational powers and moral capacity by the human head. They no less clearly indicated the mythical character of the Hellenic conductress, by changing it into various forms, and removing it into a higher region external to the symbolized figure, thus teaching that, if human nature is to be properly guided and restrained in its course, it must move in obedience to the guidance of a superior intelligence, and to the influence of a wisdom from above. On some coins the conducting figure is altogether removed from the face of the coin, and only hands holding the reins are presented to the eye. This necessity of superhuman aid, actually taught that there were also superhuman enemies which human nature alone could not successfully resist.

Mr. Lambert, who confounds the mythic horse with the celestial guide, did not see this. Nevertheless, he writes very much to the purpose :

"It is but natural to admit, that from the moment when that Druidic thought was first expressed upon the coins, the next step would be to ascribe to it the character of a victorious divinity successfully combating against malignant influences, consequently the genius of evil, a species of Typhon, the symbol of darkness opposed to light, was depicted on the coins as an armed being, sometimes with wings, always overthrown and trampled under the feet of the Androcephalous figure-ugliness, leanness, and monstrous forms, were usually assigned to

the personified Typhon. These characteristics can be easily recognized on the coins of the Cenomanni and Andecavi. The evil genius lies on the ground opposed to the beneficent Deity, who is in the skies. He is the evil principle or matter.

"Typhoeus, who is undoubtedly the Greek representative of the Egyptian Typhon, united, according to Apollodorus, the limbs and figures of men and wild beasts; other ancient authors describe him as winged or covered with feathers. He is thus exactly represented on some gold coins of the Cenomani."

These Gallic coins contain numerous other symbolical figures, which not only throw a flood of light upon the esoteric doctrines of the Druids, but serve to prove that the great primary truths of religion, such as we find them expressed in the Book of Job, were from the earliest period known to the priests and rulers of the Celtic race. But they, like the sages of other nations, although "professing themselves wise, became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and reptiles." In their vain imaginations, they represented the divine intelligence by which this world is governed, not only by a human being, but also by an eagle and a dragon, which on the coins are found occupying the place of the mythical conductress, and, like her, holding the rein of the Androcephalous figure. Her place is also occupied by the symbol Sor, which is continually found in all parts of Gallic coins, and is supposed to indicate the revolutions of the sun and moon. Here also, according to Lambert, the Isiac Bark is distinctly seen in the hands of the conductress, borne along in its heavenly course, who at other times holds also in her hands the mystic key and sacred.peplum. Here, also, are to be found the eye, emblematic of Divine Providence; the lyre, of celestial harmony and various types of the solar ray, among which the figure V or A is conspicuous. "The symbols," says Mr. Lambert, "which accompany this figure all tend to make us believe that it is only another symbol of the luminous ray. In fact, by

what accessories is this type attended ?-By globes, by radiant stars, by spoked wheels, by circles simple and concentric, and half-circles. I believe that there is a close affinity between all these various emblems which occur in characterizing the solar divinity, in a manner easy to be recognized by the initiated, but well calculated to baffle all attempts on the part of the profane to decipher the unknown signs."

"The Druids," wrote Cæsar, "prelect at large on the stars and their motion, on the size of the universe and of the earth, on natural philosophy, and the force and power of the immortal gods, and transmit their doctrines to their youthful disciples."

These doctrines, whether true or false, were held tenaciously by the Armoricans and their allies in Britain until the advent of our Saviour; and the disciples of their school were far better prepared to receive the glad tidings of the Gospel than any other people then living. Missionaries of the apostolical age found willing hearers among the disciples of the Druids in Britain, and willingly received the tidings of salvation.

By the Church, then established in Great Britain, was preserved, amidst all trials and persecutions, the faith, pure and undefiled. Nor did the Britons think it incompatible with that faith to keep their own time-honoured traditions and ancient tongue; and well is it for the truc history of mankind that they did so, as we can, by the help of the monuments, written and unwritten, connected with their race, break through that wall of darkness which the vanity or wickedness of the Greeks of History built up between themselves and the past, and see what kind of men were those primeval people who brought into Europe, among other patriarchal inheritances, the knowledge of a pure religion and of the one true God, and whose children, nevertheless, abused this knowledge, gradually concealed it from the public eye, and substituted for it that abominable system which we denominate the Greek Mythology. The series of Gallic coins served to illustrate the language and literature of the Cumri on most important points; and

much that was dark and obscure in the mystic poems of • Taliessin and other bards, when read by the light of the coins, became intelligible; but these illustrations will require further research before they can be submitted to the public.

A comparison of a greater number of the uninscribed coins of the Britons than are at present within my reach, both with each other and with the Gallic coins belonging to the same. class, must be instituted before they can be satisfactorily classified.

It seems, however, certain that all those gold coins found in various parts of Great Britain, and which have an impression only on one side, must be referred to a much older date than any pieces which bear inscriptions, and can in no way derive their origin either from the Macedonian biga or a Roman denarius. An examination of all the tin coins (see Coins, Nos. 10 and 11) would be very desirable, as probably they may be still older than even these gold pieces of ancient fabric and unborrowed types.

The Pentagon on a Greek Coin.

A FEW OBSERVATIONS

ON

CERTAIN VERY ANCIENT TRADITIONS AMONG CERTAIN PRIMITIVE NATIONS.

IN reading the second volume of the Life of the late learned and lamented Carnhuanawc, I came upon a striking passage contained in a letter written by him in the year 1840, to the lady who has ably written his life, and edited his literary remains. She had requested him to give her all the information he could command respecting Druidism. His answer, after professing his own difficulties, and almost total ignorance of the subject, thus proceeds

"I ought to inform you there is one person living who professes to be a Druid, and to have received the secret of the order from his father and others, and he is Mr. Taliessin Williams, of Merthyr Tydfil, son of Iolo Morganwg, and he is the only one of the order now surviving. He is as secret and mysterious as Abaris himself could have been, if Abaris was a Druid. All that he will say is, that Davies and all the rest knew nothing about the matter, and he says that he himself was, for twenty years, under a sort of Druidical training with his father, and that the system is of so sublime and intellectual a nature, that, unless he can find some one qualified in such a way as to be a worthy member of the order, the secret shall die with himself. Of course in such a case it is impossible to form an opinion. Sometimes I have been able to discover, in conversation, a tendency to approve of the doctrine of metemp sychosis. But, as far as my own experience goes, I assure you I have not been able to form the most distant idea of ancient Druidism from anything that he may have said. I will confess that he has now and then staggered me a good deal, by referring to some ancient bardic lines, when I have doubted the antiquity of his system. For instance, this /|\ which they say contains the elements of the bardic alphabet, as there is no letter in that alphabet that is not formed of one or more of these lines; and also that all