(_To the Editor._)
Your interesting columns have afforded me much gratification by the
sketches of the manners of various nations. I am a thorough Englishman
in principle, with a sprinkling, however, of German in my veins, and
as the early history of this country is a point of great interest, if
_The Mirror_ can allow, I will offer a few _reflections_.
Caesar, speaking of our ancestors, calls them, in blunt and plain
Latin "_Barbari_." Now Caesar was a disappointed man; he knew but
little of this land, he invaded it wantonly, and left it gladly. The
Briton was by no means so luxurious as the Roman, but it is wrong to
call him a barbarian.
As priests generally (in such periods as those to which we allude,)
take good care of themselves, and as the Druids were the chiefs, let
us take a few cursory observations upon their manners and customs.
The Druids were _priests and magistrates_. They were divided into
three classes:[7] the bard proper, whose province was philosophy and
poetry; the Druid, or minister of religion; and the ovate, or mechanic
and artist. These classes were all obedient to one superior--the
Archdruid.
[7] Vide Introduction to Owen's Translations of the Elegies of
Llywarch Hen.
The etymology of the word _Druid_ has long been a subject of dispute,
many deriving it from the Greek word [Greek: drus], an oak, because it
has been affirmed that their mysteries were carried on in oak groves
and forests; but as the latter fact is doubtful, consequently the
etymology founded upon it is shaken. It has been already stated that
the Druids were magistrates and philosophers, and very few
etymologists will cavil with me if we fix it at once upon the Celtic
word _druidh_, signifying "_a wise man_."
The theological tenets of the Druids were of a most interesting
character--professing future punishments and immortality. Their heaven
partook of the nature of the Elysian Fields, while their hell[8] was
as horrible as the most violent fanatic could depict it. It was a
gulph of darkness, where the baneful animal crept, where the cold,
gliding serpent maddened the sinner with his envenomed tooth, and
hissed the dirge of horror, while the lion prowled along with his
noiseless paw, and hungry wolves devoured those whom for their crimes
on earth the Druids (unable to conquer or correct) condemned to
"Those dark solitudes and awful cells."
No sacred ceremonies could be performed but in the Druid's presence:
they were the guardians of religion, the interpreters of mysteries;
and the foolish "_cunning man_" of the north, who is often consulted
in these days relative to strayed cattle, intended matches, &c. is a
relic of the _"druidh," the wise man_ of the ancient Celts.
[8] Gaelic Antiquities, p. 21.
Sun worship was the original creed; but as abuses crept in, other gods
were variously introduced at the altars, Mercury being the most noted.
The Druids were astronomers, and they divided time, not by the days
but nights;[9] a custom as old as any with which we are acquainted, as
it appears Genesis i.5: "And the _evening_ and the morning were the
first day." Whence we say, to this day, a "se'en _night_"--a "fort
_night_."
[9] Vide Richard of Cirencester.
As the sun was the object of adoration, no wonder that mysteries were
also performed to the moon, riding in silver splendour through azure
space; smiling from her height upon the departed and unseen luminaries
which had sunk over the distant hill, the fearful mind would watch the
lamp of night as a guardian world, or deity, and in the fervour of
gratitude, or under the impulse of fear, would address her as the
mediatrix between man and his deity.
The chief times of devotion were at the summer solstice and the winter
solstice, (whence the YULE clog), mid-day, or midnight--a zenith being
their period. The new and full moon was duly reverenced. On the sixth
day, a high officiating Druid gathered mistletoe; a ceremony conducted
with great solemnity. It was cut with a golden knife, caught in a
white robe, and not allowed to touch the ground. The shadow of this
Druidical rite exists in the peculiar privileges of kissing under the
mistletoe at Christmas times.
Lustrations were used, sacrifices were made, and the altar reeked,
some say with human gore. The victim being dead, prayers succeeded;
the entrails were examined, and certain portions were consumed upon
the fire altar:
"Crepitant preces, altaria fumant."
Intemperate drinking generally closed the sacrifice, and a fresh
strewing of oak leaves reconsecrated the altar. It is remarkable that
drinking--hard drinking--should have been practised by the priesthood
in those remote periods, but as they were pagan heathens any
animadversions can be made in safety. I cannot digress upon it. White
bulls were sacrificed, and it is a singular coincidence (too striking
to be the effect of chance) that white bulls were sacrificed by the
Egyptians to Apis.[10]
[10] Herodotus describes the subject more minutely.
The Druids inculcated an utter disregard of death, themselves showing
a good example, being ever foremost in the battle strife, urging on
their countrymen to deeds of valour; not doling out their maxims in
slothful indolence, and acting the reverse of their doctrine:
Certe populi qui despicit arctos
Felices errore suo, quos ille timorum
Maxumus, haud urget Lethi metus: inde ruendi
In ferrum mens prona viris, animae capaces
Mortis, et ignavum rediturae parcere vitae.
_Lucan. Phars. L. i._
Thrice happy they beneath their northern skies
Who that worst fear--the fear of death--despise--
Hence they no cares for this frail being feel,
But rush undaunted on the pointed steel;
Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn
To spare that life which must so soon return.
The Druids were wont to teach in small cells, but lived in large
buildings and fared sumptuously. Some of the cells are remaining to
this day, as at Ty Iltud, in Brecknockshire.
From these observations it is apparent that a portion of men
extraordinary in their vast power over the human mind, and possessed
of superior knowledge, were here before Caesar's arrival, and that our
ancestors were not such barbarians as the proud Roman would lead us to
consider them.[11]
[11] See also "the Druids and their Times," from the German of
Wieland, p. 20 of the present volume.