But as over the whole population to prove their case. regards Caledonia certainly, and over all Britain in a modified degree, evidence is to be found not only to confirm the direct testimony of Cæsar and Tacitus, which by itself might be deemed sufficient, but also to establish the fact that the Druidical was the religion of the inhabitants of Britain at the period of the Roman invasion, and in Caledonia continued to be so until the introduction of Christianity.1 In the chapters of the Life of Agricola, in which Britain and its inhabitants are described by Tacitus, Caledonia and the Caledonians are particularly mentioned, and their solemn rites and sacrifices are noticed. Writing of the Britons generally, he says that the Gauls and Britons have the same religious rites and the same superstition, and the two languages differ but little. The same historian mentions the ferocity of the unconquered part of the British nations-that is, the Caledonians--whom Agricola defeated by land, and whose country he circumnavigated with his fleet. The intimate knowledge that he must have acquired of the Caledonians in his various campaigns assures us that had the religion, sacrifices, and the language of the Caledonians been different from those of the other Britons, Tacitus would not have failed to learn and record the fact. Druids and Druidesses of the Celts and Gauls are mentioned in the third century, as connected with events in the lives of Aurelian and Diocletian. They are mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus 1 We have the authority of Cæsar and Tacitus for the religion of Britain and Gaul being the same--the Druidism of Britain being the most perfect. PAGAN RITES AND SACRIFICES. 65 and Ausonius in the fourth century, and their practices are noticed in the sixth century by Procopius. The history of the Druids since the Christian era is thus epitomised by Gibbon :-" Under the specious pretext of abolishing human sacrifices, the Emperors Tiberius and Claudius suppressed the dangerous power of the Druids; but the priests themselves, their gods, and their altars subsisted in peaceful obscurity till the final destruction of paganism." The Druids were not only the priests of the Celtic race in Gaul and in Britain, but also exercised judicial powers, and wielded such unbounded influence that, unless where they were denounced by the Romans, and the people of the country were under the control and protection of their conquerors, no contemporary superstition could have existed. In Caledonia the Romans are known to have left no more abiding memorials of their earlier victories and later hostile processions through the eastern half of Scotland than an intense hatred of themselves and their British allies. The various septs in Caledonia, when they formed a league to resist the Romans under Agricola, held public conventions, with solemn rites and sacrifices; and when St. Columba commenced his mission, and Christianity was introduced, it was in the face of a Pagan religion full of ceremonies, and possessing an establishment of priests. This we learn from the biographer and successor of St. Columba -St. Adamnan-who not only had the records of the monastery to refer to, but listened to the details of the works 1 Gibbon's Decline and Fall of Roman Empire, chap. ii. VOL. I. of his predecessor from those who had been eye-witnesses of some of the miracles performed by St. Columba. Among other acts recorded of him, it is mentioned that he raised the dead, controlled the winds, changed water into wine, brought rain in time of drought, and caused a fountain to flow from a rock; that his prayers brought victory to kings, and his maledictions discomfiture to enemies. St. Columba also drove out from Ireland a remnant of demons who had evaded St. Patrick, and remained in Donegal when their brethren were expelled from the Island of Saints. Both St. Patrick and St. Columba made use of their bells in overcoming the demons.1 When to this is added that he had the gift of prophecy and held communion with angels, we need not wonder that the Christian saint confounded the Pagan magicians in Caledonia. He also restored to health the infidel magician Broichan, who had been governor to the Pictish king. Pliny says the magicians of the Celts were by them called Druids.2 A magician is still in Gaelic called Druidh; the same word is used for a sorcerer. Ban Druidth is a sorceress or witch. Drycrocft, the Anglo-Saxon expression for witchcraft, is derived from the Celtic Draoi, magic; Draoidheadh, magician. 3 4 1 Reeves, Vita St. Columbæ, p. 206. Ancient Laws of England. See also 2 Pliny, Nat. History, b. xvi. chap. Reeves, pp. 47, 73, 149, particularly xcv. 3 Druidheacheachd-magic, witchcraft.-Armstrong's Gaelic Dictionary, and Highland Society's Dictionary. 4 Thorpe's glossary attached to the note commencing in p. 73—“ Magi is the Latin word always used in the acts of the Irish saints as equivalent to the vernacular term Spaoite, Druids, or Spuid, as in earlier compositions. In an Irish These remarks refer more particularly to Caledonia, as its inhabitants had not been subjected to the Romans, and were less liable than the Britons of the south to the objection that the population contained an intrusive element not of the Celtic race. Besides these reasons, the monuments and sculptures, which are more immediately the object of inquiry, being situated in that part of Britain, might of itself be a sufficient explanation. Yet the primitive memorials, practices, and superstitions that survived the introduction of Christianity into Britain, were in all parts of the island so similar, that there can be little doubt of a general identity in the forms of Paganism that prevailed in South and in North Britain; and that the Druids, acknowledged to have the sole power in all matters connected with religion, possessed in fact nearly unlimited control over all other departments. It is therefore of great consequence to ascertain, as far as possible, the characteristics of the Druids, and the religion and general system of which they were the directors. THE DRUIDS.1 Although not essential, it is still of some importance to the subject under examination, to inquire how the Celtic MS. at Wurtzburg of St. Paul's 1 It may be worthy of consideration whether the Gaelic word carnach, used for a Druid and for a priest, is not connected with the conical heaps of stones on which carn-fires were lighted, and whether the word Druid, used in Gaelic for circle, may not be derived from the circular fanes that were occupied, if not erected, by the Druids. priesthood received the name of Druids. The common opinion that it was derived from the oak is strongly supported by the name of that tree,1 not only in the Celtic dialects, but also in the Greek, Persian, and Sanscrit languages. By the Druids the oak was considered peculiarly sacred. It was an object of their worship-the living representative of a deity. Groves of oak shaded their blood-stained altars and witnessed their mysterious rites. Boughs of oak were employed in all their religious ceremonies; and its leaves, either as ornaments or emblems, were worn by the Druids.2 Some authorities combat the arguments in favour of the name Druid being derived from the oak, and maintain that it is from Draoi, magic. May not Draoi itself have a common origin with the name of the oak in Celtic, Sanscrit, Persian, and Greek? The word Druid is in early ecclesiastical writers always translated magician.3 The misletoe, when found growing on the oak, was cut with great ceremony, and accompanied by sacrifices offered by the Druids.4 But even when found on other trees the In 1 An oak-tree is in Welsh and Armorican derw, in Irish dair, in Gaelic darach, darrah, in Greek drus. Sanskrit a tree is druh, in Persian dirakht. The name given to the Druids by Diodorus Siculus, b. v., is Saronidæ, which confirms the derivation of Druid from the oak. For Pliny, b. iv., says the Saronic Gulf, encircled with groves of oak, derived its name from the ancient Greek name of that tree. Σαρονιδες is given in Hesychius, Lexicon, Batav. 1766, no. 1157, as signifying oaks in the ancient |