THE OAK AND THE MISLETOE. 171 ecclesiastical authorities after the introduction of Christianity.1 The oak, although pre-eminent among trees held sacred both in Palestine and in Britain, was not the only member of the forest that was looked on with reverence among the Jews and the Celts. From various ancient authors we learn that the Druids offered human sacrifices and performed other barbarous rites in sacred groves; and Pliny informs us that the Druids made use of the branches or leaves of the oak in all their religious ceremonies, and considered whatever grew on it as sent from heaven. The misletoe in particular, when found on the oak, was cut with magical ceremonies. The priest, clad in a white robe, using a golden sickle, cut off the misletoe, which was received by those below the tree in a white cloak. Two white bulls were then sacrificed, and prayers concluded the ceremony of appropriating this auspicious gift of the gods.3 At Loch Siant, in the Isle of Skye, there was an oak copse which was deemed so sacred that no person would venture to cut the smallest branch of it.1 In the eighth century St. Boniface found it expedient for the advancement of Christianity to cause an oak tree to be cut down that was 1 Liber Poenitentialis of Theodore, xxvii. 18; of Ecgbert; Canons of Edgar; Laws of Cnut; Thorpe's Ancient Laws of England, vol. i. p. 379; vol. ii. pp. 34, 191, 249. 2 Amongst the Celts the wych-elm, elder, and mountain-ash seem to have been regarded as possessing occult powers. Under the elm, as well as under the oak, appears to have been a chosen place for the performance of ceremonies, and burning incense to idols, as practised by the Jews (Hosea iv. 13; Ezek. vi. 4-16; Isa. i. 29; and lvii. 5, 6.) 3 Pliny, Nat. Hist. b. xvi. c. 95; Mon. Hist. Brit. p. 104. 4 Martin's Western Isles of Scotland, pp. 140-142. dedicated to a heathen deity.' Joan of Arc was accused of having gone alone to make garlands, and crown the fairy oak of Bourlemont.2 It was on a fire made with oak sticks that Dame Alice Kyteler in 1324 was accused of boiling hellish compounds, in the skull of a felon, for objects of sorcery. To protect himself from evil spirits the Highlander with an oak sapling draws a circle round himself; and on the eastern coast of Scotland withies of oak and ivy are cut in March, at the increase of the moon, and being twisted into wreaths or circles are preserved until next March. After that period consumptive persons were passed thrice through these circles in the belief that they would be cured." 4 In Mithraic coins a tree or plant is commonly represented rising apparently from various terraces; or it may be only intended to represent an altar beneath the shade of a tree. This is the more likely, as we know that to light and heat, to the sun and moon, the devotees of Mithras in the East erected their altars under trees and in groves; and we find the worship of the groves used in the Bible as synonymous with the adoration of Astarte or the lunar deity. 1 6 On the continent of India various trees and plants are And his example is said to have been followed in later periods.-Universal History, Ancient, vol. xviii. p. 565; vol. xix. p. 77. 2 Trial of Dame Alice Kyteler, published by Camden Society, p. xii. Wright's Sorcery and Magic, vol. i. p. 29. * Pennant's Tour in Scotland, vol. ii. p. 46. 5 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. P. 171. Edit. 1821. Of the worship of Mithras and Astarte in Britain there are proofs from existing altars and other remains, but these altars are all of the Roman period.--See Wright's Early Inhabitants of Britain, pp. 268-271, etc. etc. consecrated to different gods, and in Ceylon the Bó, or sacred fig-tree,1 is dedicated to Gautama Buddha. There a tree, springing from successive terraces raised on each other, represents not only a religious emblem but a historical fact. Such a tree now exists in the deserted but still highly venerated city of Anuradhapoora, the ancient capital of Ceylon. Neither is there anything incredible in the assertion, nor miraculous in the fact, that this sylvan object of religious veneration has occupied its present position for more than twenty centuries. This alone would make it be regarded with interest, and its history may fairly claim to be considered authentic. But regarding the subject now under consideration it requires notice as having been referred to as the probable original of the tree in the sculptured stones of Scotland. At the same time I must express my dissent from that theory, although the emblematic trees of Buddhist and Druid may have been symbols derived from a common origin in periods of remote antiquity. 2 The sacred tree of Anuradhapoora is the principal object of pilgrimage in that city which contains so many and such vast monuments reared in honour of the relics of Gautama Buddha, and as memorials of his visit to sites which are now occupied by these mounts of masonry. The tree was originally a slip from that under which Gautama reposed when he became a Buddha, after his long sojourn in the wilderness, his fast of forty-nine days, and his final victory over Márya and 1 Ficus religiosa. 2 Transactions of Royal Society of Scotland, vol. xxi. part ii. 1854-55. a legion of demons-i.c. death, deadly sins, and evil passions.1 That slip is now represented by the sacred tree of Anuradhapoora, at which place it arrived B.C. 307 in charge of the. priestess Sanghamitta. The representation of a plant in a vase, commonly seen in Buddhist temples, is intended to depict this shoot in the golden flower-pot in which it was brought to Ceylon.3 The sacred tree of Anuradhapoora may now with sufficient accuracy be termed a grove; it occupies the terraces, and some of its limbs project through the masonry in the sides of four square platforms raised on each other, each stage being of so much less size than that on which it is built as to allow of a path around, from which steps lead up to the higher terraces. The tree stands in the centre of an enclosed space, in which are remains of buildings reared in its honour, and many trees or shoots that have sprung from its roots or its seeds. The long-continued existence of this tree would appear incredible, were it not for the self-renovating powers of the Ficus religiosa. And those who have seen this venerated memorial will acknowledge that to eradicate all its members would be a task as difficult as it would be unworthy. None 1 From Mara, death, lust, cupidity. 2 Sent by Dharmasoka, king of India, to the king of Ceylon. In that island the form of the leaf of this tree, under the native dynasty, was not allowed to be painted or sculptured on any article which was not royal property. 3 Vance describes the sculpture representing a tree in a flower-pot which was found amongst the ruins |