The Britons held some dim faith in an overruling Power and in a life
beyond the grave. They offered human sacrifices to that Power, and
when they buried one of their warriors, they buried his spear with him
so that he might fight as good a battle in the next world as he had
fought in this one.
Furthermore, the Britons had a class of priests called Druids, who
seem to have worshiped the heavenly bodies. These priests also acted
as prophets, judges, and teachers. Caesar tells us that the Druids
instructed the youth about the stars and their motions, about the
magnitude of the earth, the nature of things, and "the might and power
of the immortal gods."
More than this, the Druids probably erected the massive stone columns
of that strange stucture, open to the sky, whose ruins may still be
seen on the lonely expanse of Salisbury Plain. There, on one of the
fallen blocks, Carlyle and Emerson sat, when they made their
pilgrimage to Stonehenge[1] many years ago, and discussed the life
after death, with other questions of Druid philosophy.
[1] Stonehenge: This remarkable structure is believed to be the
remains of a pre-historic monument to the dead, which was, perhaps,
used also as a place of worship. It stands on Salisbury Plain about
nine miles northeast of the city of Salisbury. (See map facing
p. 38.) It consists of a broken circle of huge upright stones, some
of which are still connected at the top by blocks of flat stones.
Within this circle, which is about one hundred feet in circumference,
is a circle of smaller stones. The structure has no roof. The recent
discover of stains of bronze or copper on one of the great stones,
seven feet below the surface, strengthens the theory that Stonehenge
was constructed by the race who used bronze implements and who were
later known as Britons (S2). Consult Professor C. Oman's "England
before the Norman Conquest"; see also R. W. Emerson's "English
Traits," and O. W. Holmes's fine poem on the "Broken Circle,"
suggested by a visit to Stonehenge.