treated as a self-evident proposition: and, instead of endeavouring to establish the fact, various writers have proceeded to trace its consequences. For Druidic antiquities it would be in vain to search; instead of temples and other edifices, they consecrated the misletoe, and the oak on which it grew. Nor can it be evinced by the testimony of early writers, that this system ever extended to either of these countries. Dr Usher indeed informs us, that a certain Irish book mentions a

rum, Vandalorum Religione, p. 254. Amst. 1648, 8vo.) But their genuine interpretation undoubtedly is, that among this people sacrifices were not frequent, or were not much regarded. These authors are therefore easily reconciled with each other.

Pithoeus, with a degree of good sense which writers on this subject do not often display, has contented himself with remarking, that it is sufficiently evident from Cæsar, that the Germans had no Druids; and equally evident from Tacitus, that they had an order of men not very dissimilar. (P. Pithoei Adversaria, f. 7. b. Paris. 1565, 8vo.) It is moreover cer tain that when Tacitus wrote his tract De Moribus Germanorum, the order of Druids was totally extinct. Those who expect to meet with any evidence of their existence at so late a period, will therefore find themselves disappointed.

f See a fanciful dissertation written by General Vallancey, and entitled, "The Oriental Emigration of the Hibernian Druids proved from their knowledge in Astronomy, collated with that of the Indians and Chaldeans." (Ouseley's Oriental Collections, vol. ii.)—General Vallancey's subsequent observations on the Hibernian Druids I do not completely comprehend: "Dairi, a common name in Ireland; Draoi signifies a wise man, a conjurer, a necromancer, but has nothing to say to the Gaulic and Celtic Druid. The Draoi were never in holy orders in Ireland, which marks the difference between the Magogians and the Gomerites." (Prospectus of a Dictionary of the Language of the Aire Coti, or Ancient Irish. p. 32. Dublin, 1802, 4to.)

g" Nihil habent Druidæ, ita enim appellant suos Magos, visco et arbore in qua gignatur, si modo sit robur, sacratius."

Plinii Naturalis Historia, lib. xvi. §. 95.

certain order of men by the name of Druids". This however is no incontestable evidence: for the word druid originally denoted a wise mani; and in this instance as well as in many others, might still be applied with a reference to its primitive signification. Adomnan relates, that St Columba and his followers were, on some occa- " sion, disturbed at their devotions by the intrusion of the Pictish Magi. The term Magus is of very extensive application. In various instances it may undoubtedly be found employed as a translation of the word Druid: but there is no necessity for concluding, that in the present instance it could not possibly have been used in any other sense,

Mr Ledwich, a writer of no ordinary acuteness or learning, has lately revived the notion, that "Druidism was professed by all the Celtic tribes, how widely soever dispersed." In support of this conjecture, no competent evidence has ever been produced. From the observations which occur in Cæsar, it appears highly probable that the system was confined to the south of Britain, and to the opposite districts of Gaul. But, in order to establish his hypothesis, Mr Ledwich finds it expedient to explode the testimony of this authentic writer." The order and superstition of the

h "Druidas liber Hibernicus vocat, et viri sancti adventum ante triennium prædixisse narrat.”

Usserii Britannic. Eccles. Antiq. p. 852.

i Pinkerton's Dissertation on the Scythians, p. 68.

į Adomnani Vita Columbæ, lib. i. cap. xxxviii. apud Pinkerton.

Druids," he observes," are first noticed by Julius Cæsar: whoever compares his account of them with those of other Roman and Greek writers, will instantly perceive one capital omission, their worship in groves; nor do his details in general agree with those delivered by succeeding authors. Indeed he was early charged by Asinius Pollio as neither faithful or exact. It was not to be imagined that a man like Cæsar, ever pursuing great designs of ambition, and stunned by the din of arms, cared much about Druidic dogmas: or even had he leisure, what fruit could be expected from the minutest investigation, when profound secrecy shut up every avenue of information?" That several ancient writers have occasionally departed from Cæsar's authority, must readily be admitted; but the question, whether these writers enjoyed equal opportunities of procuring information, will still remain undecided. The charge of omission will be found irrelevant. The practice of worshipping in sacred groves was anciently of such general prevalence', that in the casual view which Cæsar proposed to exhibit, this circumstance must have appeared unworthy of a conspicuous place. He has however informed us, that

k Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, p. 308.

1 Rubenius, in the compass of a short chapter, has demonstrated, that the practice of worshipping in sacred groves prevailed in almost every ancient nation. (P. Rubenii Electa, lib. ii. cap. xxxiv. Antv. 1608, 4to.) And another learned writer remarks, that this practice derives its origin from a period long anterior to the days of Moses. (Bellenden. De Statu Prisci Orbis, p. 15. edit. Parr.)

the Gaulish Druids annually assembled in the territory of the Carnutes" in luco consecrato:" for although loco is the reading in the common editions, and even in that of Joseph Scaliger, yet the emendation of Casaubon is too happy to be rashly exploded". If Cæsar had been altogether indifferent with respect to the system of the Druids, he would not have allowed them to interrupt the course of his narrative. Those circumstances which he thought worthy of being related, he must certainly have thought worthy of being investigated. Cæsar, it is true, was engaged in the prosecution of mighty plans; but at the same time he was capable of minute enquiry. The soldier who condescended to write a treatise on grammatical analogy", would probably consider the remarkable system of the Druids as entitled to a share of his attention. And it cannot rationally be supposed, that the avenues of information were more closely shut against him, than against succeeding enquirers.

Casauboni Notæ ad Laertium, p. 1.

n Quintilian. de Institutione Oratoria, lib. i. сар. vii.

• The most effectual mode of diminishing the authority of the commentaries ascribed to Cæsar would be, to refer them to the catalogue of spurious productions. Their genuineness was actually called in question by Ludovicus Carrio: but the arguments which he suggested, have, I believe, made very few converts to his opinion. Certain MSS., it is alleged, bear the inscription, Commentarii Julii Celsi; and the work has been quo ted as the composition of this writer by John of Salisbury, and Vincent of Beauvais. The origin of this confusion may however be easily traced to. the circumstance of Celsus's having revised the commentaries, and mark

THE introduction of the use of letters into Scotland cannot perhaps be referred to its precise æra. If we consent to believe that the Druidic system extended itself to the north of Britain, we must at the same time suppose the other event to have taken place at a very remote period of our history: for the Druids, as we learn from Cæsar,

ed his copies with this inscription: Caii Julii Cæsaris per Fulium Celsum Commentarii.

Lipsius has replied to the objections of Carrio in the compass of a few lines (Epistolica Questiones, lib. ii. epist. ii. Antv. 1577, 8vo.): but a more curious view of the subject is exhibited by M. de la Monnoye. (Menagiana, tom. iv. p. 80.) This last writer has also shown, that the life of Cæsar which was first ascribed by Vossius to Julius Celsus, contains internal evidence of having been composed at a period so late as the fourteenth century.

Whether Carrio had advanced this hypothesis in one of his publications, or merely in a private letter to Lipsius, I am unable to discover. It does not occur, where it might have been expected, in his Antique Lectiones, published at Antwerp in the year 1576. He is also the author of a work entitled Emendationes et Observationes, Lutetiæ, 1583, 4to.; but this was published six years after the Epistolica Questiones of Lipsius.

"

Without admitting the spuriousness of the commentaries, it must certainly be acknowledged that the text is very far from being completely emended. Of its numerous corruptions at a former period, Lipsius has exprest himself in decisive terms: "Fas sit dicere. In Commentariis Cæsaris sæpe quæro Cæsarem. Multos in illam purpuram pannos insutos video: nec in dictione ipsa spirat ubique naribus meis aura illa, et, ut sic dicam, stacta puræ antiquitatis. Lege, relege. Multa otiosa reperies, disjuncta, intricata, interpolata, repetita: ut omnino non absit, quin ad hunc veluti prisci operis statuam novellà aliqua accesserit et imperita manus.” (Lipsii Electa, lib. ii. cap. vii.) Since the days of Lipsius, Cæsar has exercised the sagacity of a numerous race of critics; but the success of their attempts does not seem to preclude the necessity of other labourers in the same field. We ought however to recollect, what both Lipsius and Carrio appear to have forgotten, that as Cæsar is known to have finished his commentaries with rapidity, the work which now bears his name might be expected to display imperfections.