becaufe flax (lino) forms the principal revenue of the territory of Lendinara, and the wealth of its inhabitants. He afterwards paffes, continues Malmignati (Ib. p. 348), to a fine piece, fuperbly ornamented, enriched with precious ftones, and furrounded with magnificent pictures. "They are the valuable race of Malmignati, that race whofe brilliant exploits equal the fplendour of day: celebrated from the east to the weft, they will fhed around a luftre which will dim every other; and I know not whether it will be in the facred labours of Apollo, of Minerva, or of Mars, that they will moft diftinguish themfelves." Poi gli conduce in bella stanza ornata torno. Questa è la ftirpe Malmignata amata, Chiara per l'opre egregie a par del giorno: Quefta dal auftro a l'aquilon pregiata, Ne' sò fe più d'Apollo, o di Minerva The enumeration of the great men of the houfe of Malmignati then occupies fourteen octaves, from the beginning of page 349 to the middle of page 352: firft of all we fee, p. 349, a judge clothed in his black toga: Quel là primier di nera toga ornato. "Barthelemy Malmignati, who tires the hundred months of Fame, and forces the beaux efprits into filence :" Stancò la Fama, ed ammuti gli ingegni. This is probably the orator, of whom we have spoken above. There is alfo (p. 351) one Gafpar Malmignati, profeffor of theology in the University of Padua, and who would have attained to the Roman purple, if death had not cut him off in the flower of age: Gafpar mirate là, che fa negli anni Morte immatura in fu l'età fiorita. He fays (Canto 17, p. 361)" that these great men are the light not only of Lendinara, but alfo of Ita ly, and even of all Europe: Poiche mirò di Lendinara Armillà, Anzi d'Italia, anzi d'Europa, i lumi. A little farther onwards, Julius Malmignati does not blush to add (Canto 16, p. 352), "with regard to this brilliant frame, this border, enriched with gold, but without any portrait, it will one day present to us the features of Julius Malmignati, who will walk in the steps of the Virtues: we must wait until time unfolds thefe brilliant qualities, thefe distinguished talents, which are now feen only through the covering of a veil, and till his muse fublime has celebrated the glory of the King of France, then, perhaps, he may be presented with a lis d'or, as he has already received," &c. &c. Quel Quadro poi che così ornato appare Effer dovran di Giulio, a cui le chiare E che del Franco re con alti carmi Cantato havrà la gloria al fuon de l'armi. Ei forfe fia degli aurei gigli a parte, He afterwards enumerates (pp. 352-3) all his works, giving the lift which we have already quoted, and terminates his panegyric in this manner: "then the magician was filent; and Flora demanded when this portrait of the virtuous Julius Malmignati would appear; this image fo interefting to every man, who is not either vile or contemptible. The magician promifes to fatisfy her impatience the enfuing morning at fun rife." Qui tacque il Mago; e dimandogli Flora, Quando nel quadro fia pinta l'imago, Che di mirar che le virtudi honora, Se vil non è, ciafcun effer del vago: Promife il mago a la nafcente Aurora Far le lor voglie fatie, e'l defir pago. See what he fays of this fame portrait in the firft octave of the feventeenth canto, p. 361. He does not hesitate to fuppofe, that all the world will be eager to fee his portrait; that they will regard it as an object of great value; and that it will conftitute the most valuable ornament of this palace, which contains the pictures of the greatest men. In the fame octave, alfo (the first of the 17th canto, p. 361), he informs us, that he was very young when he wrote his Henriade. Poiche mirò di Lendinara Armillà, Anzi d'Italia, anzi d'Europa, i lumì, Flora non men di voglia arde, e sfavilla, Pafcer nel quadro incerto avida i lumi. Mirollo al di nafcente: aura tranquilla Dimoftra; e tra verdi anni, alti costumi Traggon tutti a vederlo; e di gran pregio Ciafcun itimollo, e d'ornamento egregio. Enchanters, magicians, nightmare, fuccubus, angels, demons, and faints, are very important perfonages in this eccentric performance; where we find all at once piety, and even controverfy, polemical theology, morality, lafcivious defcriptions, obfcenity, and verfes more worthy of the Vendemmiatore, and of the Stanze in lode della menta, than of the majefty of the epic poem; for example. E vergogna, e timore in un l'affale, Lei ricoprir LA PICCIOL PARTE INCOLta. And again:. Che nulla invidia al BEL GIARDIN DI FIORA* L'altr'ha fovra le mamme, &c. &c. But the moft remarkable thing in the poem of Malmignati is, that (Cant. 6, p. 129 et feq.) Henry IV, is carried up into heaven, during there fees the places that are inthe night, in a car of fire, and tended for Chriftian princes; and (Cant. 22, p. 468 et feq.) St. Louis appears to him, and exhorts him to embrace the Catholic religion: Henry yields to his perfuafions; and the denouement of the Henriad of Malmignati is the SAME as that of the Henriad of Voltaire, which was posterior to it by a whole century! In our next Number we shall give two interefting memoirs, ferv ing as a corollary to the preceding curious piece of biography. A SYSTEM OF COSMOLOGY, INTENDED AS AN INTRODUC- [Continued from page 344.] AS the Druids poffeffed fo great a degree of power, both in civil matters as well as in religious, a more particular account of them may juftly be expected, at least as far as we can gather any information refpecting them from antient authors; for it cannot be expected that much should be obtained concerning an inftitution, the members of which made a mystery of their religion and philofophy, and held it as an established rule never to commit any thing relative to either to writing. They had the fole care of all religious matters, which they fo artfully and dexterously introduced into every other concern, both public and private, that no * It feems that Malmignati had in view the following verfes from the Stanze in lode della menta, fol. 28 verfo, edit, de Venice 1574 in 12; and p. 128, v. 3, dell' opere burlefche, in Ufecht al Reno, 1771, 12mo. E ciò qualora il fanguinofo fiume Efce turbando il bel giardin d'amore. ૨૧૧ thing could be done without their approbation. Their antiquity is fuppofed to be of the fame date with that of the Brachmans of India, Magi of Perfia, Chaldees, or priefts of Babylon, and Affyria, and with the oldeft fects of philofophers. And confidering the furprifing conformity of their doctrine, notwithstanding their vaft diftance from each other, we shall hardly be able to account for it on any other fyftem than the one propofed in the beginning of this work, refpecting the origin of nations, and the peopling of Europe; for what communication can we poffibly imagine to have taken place in thofe early times, particularly between those foreign fects and the Druids of Britain, amongst whom was the grand feminary of the druidifh fyftem, whither the Gauls fent their own Druids for inftruction? In Britain refided the Archdruid, to whom they appealed as to their dernier refort in all doubtful or controverted cafest. It is much more reasonable, therefore, to derive that great resemblance obfervable between them all from thofe remote times when they were in fome meafure but one people, and to fuppofe that each tribe carefully preferved their knowledge, and carried it into thofe parts of the world where they fettled. The exceffive power diffufed throughout the druidifh tribe refembled that which was afterwards confolidated into one, in the perfon of the Pope: they chofe the annual magiftrates of every city, who had, during that year, the fupreme authority, and fometimes the title of king; who yet could do nothing without their approbation and advice, not fo much as call a council. They ufed the fame arbitrary power in their courts of judicature, and all other cafes, and Laert. in procem. & Polyhift. t Cal. Com. L. iv. Cal. Com. L. vii. were esteemed the chief of every Gaulish commonwealth; they had the fole management and inftruction of youth in every thing but the training them up in the art of war, from which fervice they were exempt, as alfo from all kind of tribute, which did not a little increase their number of difciples, for their order was not fixed to any particular families or nation of Gaul, but every man had a right to stand candidate for admiffion into it, if approved of by the fociety. Their Grand Druid was choten from among them by the plurality of votes; and when any difpute arofe, it was often terminated, as in cafes among the laity, by the fword! As they committed nothing to writing, they put all their myfteries and learning into verfe, which in time were multiplied to fuch a number, that it took them twenty years to be perfect in them. Their fequestered way of life exempting them from all thofe worldly evils which diftress and therefore weaken the mind, their abftemioufnefs and celibacy, their bodies inured to cold, and hardfhips, living chiefly in the woods, with a nervous fyftem, in confequence, preferved in its natural vigor, will account for the extenfive powers of memory they muft have poffeffed, as it does for the great abilities and various kinds of knowledge which many of the monks undoubtedly poffeffed. The three fundamentals of their religion were, the worship of the deity, and of a plurality when that was introduced; abftaining from all evil; and in behaving with intrepidity on all occafions. To enforce thefe, they taught the immortality of the foul, and a life after this, of blifs or mifery, according as they had lived. They pretended to great fkill in fome branches of geography and aftronomy; fuch as the knowledge of the dimenfions and form of the earth, the motions of the planets and their influence, for they profeffed aftrology; and if what Diodorus Siculus has preferved to us, out of Hecateus*, may be depended on, the Druids of Britain could, as with telescopes, fhew the moon nearer, and difcover therein mountains. This is only an inftance out of many which might be brought to prove that the arts have, at different times, been loft, and revived in fucceeding ages; which can alone render credible the prodigies of skill we find recorded by hiftorians, as exhibited in the works of the antients. And though we cannot fuppofe the Druids to have attained to the perfection of the prefent day in the optician's art, they may, however, have made telescopes and other inftruments of greater powers than one would at first be inclined to fuppofe. The fair fex were held in high efteem among the Gauls in general,even to a degree of fuperftitious veneration, and their fayings often received as prophetic; from whence it became very easy for them to gain a ftep farther towards the facred character, by the admiffion into the order of the Druids; and we accordingly find Druideffes among them, poffeffed of great power, fufficient to determine the refolutions of an whole army, or the council, according to the augurial decifions which were drawn from the infpection of the bodies of the prifoners taken in war, on being cut up, and the intrails viewed by thefe delicate ladies, who always feized on thefe wretches, and put them to death. There were three claffes of the Druideffes the chief of them, as moft refpected, and who were thought to be always endowed with a fpirit of prophecy, made a vow of perpetual virginity. The next were those who, though allowed to marry, were yet obliged to abftain from the matrimonial intercourse, : *Lib. iii. c. 11. 1 except one fingle time in the whole year, that they might bring children; after which, they returned to their office, which was to affift the Druids at their religious functions. The laft were only attendants on the others. The first class, being from an early time of life devoted to their profeffion, entertained no ideas but thofe that were laid before them, and may eafily be fuppofed reconciled to their fituation: the state of the fecond feems most to excite our pity. There was another order held in high efteem, the Vates or bards, which have often been confounded with the Druids, but were, in reality, inferior to them; their office being only to fing the praises of their heroes, and to accompany their fongs with inftrumental mutic. Notwithstanding all the fevere edicts of the Roman emperors, both Chriftian and Pagan, against the Druids, there were ftill veftiges of that inftitution, and even of the worst part of it, long after the converfion of the Gauls to Christianity, and even to the middle of the fixth century. It has been fuppofed by fome, that the Druids were fo called from Druys, the fourth king of the Celtes, mentioned by Berofus as a man of uncommon learning for thofe days; but, as Camden thinks, the opinion of Pliny is more probable, that the word was derived from the Celtic and Greek word A; Drus, an oak, which tree was held facred by the Celtes as well as the Scythians. Of the oak and its mifeltoe, we have spoken before: the account given by Pliny of the manner of gathering it, is all that need be added. He tells us, "that the Gauls called the mifeltoe by a name which fignified---cure all, as it is' fcarce, and rarely found: when any of it has been difcovered, they go with a great ceremony and refpect to gather it. When the Druids have prepared the facrifice and the ban quet, which usually followed, one of them, clothed in white, gets up the tree, and with a fickle of gold cuts off the mifeltoe, which is received in a white fack; which done, they pray God to give a bleffing to his own gift, and those who are favoured with it.” With refpect to this fuperftitious veneration for the oak, it does not feem difficult to account for it, if we confider that fometimes the moft infignificant and trivial things have been chofen for particular purposes, to which in reality they bore not the leaft relation, but merely from a natural fitness they poffeffed to facilitate thofe purposes, from whence a conftant and common practice in the ufe of them on thofe occafions foon obtained; to which if we add the confideration of their having been more convenient for religious functions, under certain circumftances, and of their having therefore been appropriated to that end by the minifters of religion, though without afcribing any thing holy to them in their own nature, we may easily conceive how, in length of time, a fuperftitious veneration for the things themselves, which were only the inftruments, may foon arife, and in the course of ages, the occafon, which was the connecting idea, being loft fight of, but thofe means being still affociated with religious ideas, the one becomes as facred as the other, or rather becomes part; and the fhadow is taken for the fubftance. Thus it feems this high efteem for the oak was common to the Gauls, the old patriarchs, and the Jews, though' not in the fame fuperftitious degree. Abraham is recorded to have pitched his tents in the plains of Mamre; yet, in the original, an oaky grove is plainly fignified, in the opinion of the best Hebrew fcholars he planted groves of them, and whereever he pitched his tent, he built an altar to the Lord. Thefe large trees were undoubtedly chofen in thofe hot countries for the fake of coolness and fhade; and were in great, efteem by his defcendants, not only on account of their ufefulness and long duration, but out of regard to him who planted them. This regard by degrees grew into pofitive fuperftition, not only among the Jews, but also the Chriftians, Mahometans, and other nations; for we are informed that the oaks under which Abraham dwelt were ftill fhewn in the time of Conftantine, and reforted to with great devotion by Chriftians, Turks, and even Pagans: fo that it may easily be fuppofed, that among the antient Gauls, who were lefs eniigatened, ideas in a ftill higher degree fuperftitious and abfurd would foon be added to thofe more natural ones, of refpect and veneration, for the firft establishment of their religion, and the memory of the Patriarchs. It was neceffary to be more par ticular in this enquiry into the religion of the Gauls, as it was the fource and foundation of the religions of most other countries; and, when taken together, with the mode in which the origin of nations and the fpreading of the first people has been accounted for in the beginning of this work, will be very ferviceable to the reader as an introduction, in his historical studies, to thofe of all other nations. The Gauls were formed into different fiates, each of which had its particular form of government; fome monarchical, others aristocratical, or partly democratical. Tacitus reckons no less than fixty-four of these states, who were bound to form every year a general council of the whole Gaulith people, by fending each a delegate to affist at it. Thefe little republics were fo extremely jealous of each other's power, that they were obliged to enter into combinations against each other, and the fmaller ftates put themfelves under the protection |