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As Mr Davies has fucceeded fo well in this attempt, we would recommend to him to extend his commentary to the writings of Ovid, where he will find a great deal more about Galatea. He who can find Celtic traditions in Virgil, will have a noble field for the exercife of his fancy, and the display of his credulity, in the Metamorphofes of Ovid.

In page 146. Mr Davies confiders the antiquities found at Stonhenge, Abury, and other parts of Britain, as Druidical. As this opinion, which appears to us to reft on very questionable grounds, has been very generally received by the writers of this country, it may be worth while to confider the authorities and arguments on which it is founded. It is neceffary, however, to premise some few obfervations on the origin and ancient extent of the Druidical fuperftition.

No writer, we believe, has ventured to offer any thing more than mere conjecture refpecting the origin of Druidifm, except Mr Pinkerton. To him, conjecture was almost entirely unknown, fince it implied diffidence and modefty. He had gained credit for research and learning: he knew the impofing effects of dogmatical and bold affertion: and, when he was unable to find the very few materials which he required for the fabrication of authority, he came forward with his own oracular and fenten. tious decifion: Druidifm was palpably, Phoenician.'* In proof of this affertion, Mr Pinkerton refers us, in a note, to the 68th page of his Differtation on the Goths; but in this paf, fage, instead of supporting his opinion by authorities, he merely amplifies and repeats the affertion. The god Baal, Bel, Bele nus; the tranfmigration of fouls; the cofmogony and theogony (of the Druids) are wholly Phoenician. As not a fingle author is quoted, we are at a loss to difcover where Mr Pinkerton learns ed all this. The opinion, we believe, is fupported by no writer but Baxter, Horfley, or Macpherfon: and, to them we can fcarcely believe he would refer on fuch an occafion, when we recollect the anathema he has pronounced against those who are guilty of blending authors of the first and fixteenth centuries, that is, authorities with no authorities. 't. Till Mr Pinkerton brings forward the evidence, on which he grounds his affertions, B b 4 that

Pinkerton's Enquiry, I. 17.

Enquiry, I. 409. Aufonius, indeed, mentions. Belenus in two paffages, in connexion with the Druids; but it cannot from them be inferred, either that it was the Belenus of the Phoenicians, or even that he was worshipped by the Druids. Befides, Aufonius, A. D. 379, is very infufficient evidence of the original and pure religion of the Druids.

that the tranfmigration of fouls was a Phoenician doctrine-and that the cofmogony and theogony of the Druids were wholly Phoenician; we must be excused for not taking the trouble to prove the contrary. We have been too frequently disappointed in fearching for thofe authorities, to which Mr Pinkerton exprefsly refers, not to be more than ufual fufpicious, where he does not preferve even the form of reference. So completely fatisfied is this author, however, of the truth of his own hypothefis, that he is obliging enough to explain the whole procefs of the matter, and to inform us that the Phoenicians gave our ancestors their religion in exchange for tin. Druidifm was taught by the Phoenicians to the inhabitants of Cornwall, where they traded for tin. ' But, in the first place, though it is highly probable that the Phoenicians were acquainted with the main land of Britain, yet we have no evidence that this was actually the cafe. Herodotus, Strabo, &c. mention only the Caffiterides as having been visited by the Phoenicians. But, independently of any thing elfe, it is furely fufficiently improbable, that a few traders, intent only on gain, and, of courfe, not very zealous about the religion of their native land, fhould take the trouble of establishing any fuperftitious rites among the barbarous natives of Britain. Druidifm, too, with its human facrifices and gloomy rites, does not feem to have been fuch an attractive or feducing form of fuperftition as to be rea dily introduced into a country by the occafional intercourfe of foreign merchants; and, what appears indeed to be decifive of the question, no veftiges of this faith are to be found in Spain, where the Phoenicians firmly established themselves, and built the city of Cadiz; and where, of courfe, it is much more probable, that they would be difpofed and able to introduce their ceremonies and belief.

The conjecture, that the Druidical fuperftition was taught the Gauls by Pythagoras, refts on no better foundation than the opinion of Mr Pinkerton. The Druids, indeed, coincided with that philofopher, in the belief of a tranfmigration of the foul; though it appears, from the practical ufe which they made of this doctrine, in inciting their followers to a contempt of death, and to the practice of virtue, that they differed from Pythagoras, by confining the tranfmigration of the foul to human bodies. But the coincidence of two fuperftitions in a point like this, certainly affords a very weak prefumption, that the one

Enquiry, 1. 17.

was

+ Keyfler. Antiq. Celtic. p. 116. 117. and the authors quoted by

him.

was borrowed from the other. If, however, we fuppofe this to have been the cafe, we should rather be inclined to adopt the opinion advanced by Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eufebius, * that Pythagoras in his travels went into Gaul, and there learned the doctrine of the Metempfichofis. It is but fair, however, to mention that there is a paffage of Ammianus Marcellinus, which feems to favour the Pythagorean origin of the Druids. This paffage has hitherto obtained lefs attention and credit than it deferves, from having been supposed to contain only the opinion or evidence of Marcellinus himself, who lived A. D. 360, when the ceremonies and traditions of the Druids were wearing out: but whoever examines the context, + will be convinced, that Marcellinus derived the whole of the information which he gives refpecting the Gauls, from Timagenes, who lived in the time of Auguftus, and appears to have been a diligent, well-informed, and learned author. The paffage to which we allude, is the following: Inter hos Druide ingenii celfiores, ut autoritas Pythogora decrevit, fudalitiis adftricti confortiis, quæftionibus occultarum rerum altarumque erecti funt, et defpectantes humana pronuntiarunt animas immortales.' It may be doubted, how ever, whether Timagenes did not intend merely to point out a refemblance between the Druids and Pythagoreans, in the inftitution of fraternities; though, certainly, if we adhere to the obvious meaning of the words, we muft conclude, that, at leaft in the opinion of Timagenes, the Druids acknowledged the authority of Pythagoras.

We are ignorant of the reafon which has led antiquarians to reject or to overlook the opinion which is ftated by Cæfar to have been generally entertained, in his time, in Gaul, refpecting the origin of Druidifm. To us, it appears the best support

ed,

Clement. Alexand. Stromata, lib. VI. & Eufebii Præpar. Evangel lib. X. c. 2.

+ Ambigentes fuper origine prima Gallorum fcriptores veteres, notitiam reliquere negotii femiplenam: fed poftea Timagenes et diligentia Græcus et lingua, quæ diu funt ignorata, collegit ex multiplicibus li bris cujus fidem fequuti obfcuritate dimota, eadem diftinctè docebimus et aperte. Amm. Marcell. lib. XV. § 9. edit. Lugd. 1591.-For the character of Timagenes, fee Quinctilian, lib. X. c. 1. and Horace, Epift. lib. I. Epift. 19. l. 15, 16.

A paffage of fimilar import is to be found in Diodorus Siculus, lib. V. p. 212, where he is fpeaking of the religion of the Celts The opinion of Pythagoras prevails among them (vixves wag aulois 9. αυτοις Пudayogs Moyes) that the fouls of men are immortal, and live again after a certain period, entering into different bodies.'

ed, and the most probable of any that have come down to us from antiquity. Cæfar evidently took confiderable pains to learn eve ry particular relative to the Druids; and it may be remarked as a proof both of the accuracy and extent of his information, that on this fubject, as well as on many others which he firft inveftigated, fubfequent authors have done little more than tranfcribe his accounts. He ftates it to have been the received opinion in Gaul, that Druidifm originated in Britain; and the fact, which he exprefsly mentions, that in his time thofe who wished to become adepts in its myfteries, commonly went to Britain for that purpose, ftrengthens the traditionary account of the place of its origin. If it be true that Druidifm originated in Britain, the commonly received opinion, that it is strictly and abfolutely a part of the Celtic religion, will be greatly weakened. Since it must have begun to exift long after the Celts had left their original fettlements, it must be confidered as British, and not Celtic; and it would be as abfurd to extend it to all the Celts, because it originated among one branch of them, as it would be to expect to find the inftitution of fecret tribunals in the thirteenth century, among the Swedes, as well as among the Germans, merely because they are both Gothic nations. The fuppofed neceflary connexion between Celtic population and Druidifm, has prevented antiquarians from examining the question, refpec ing the countries in which it can actually be proved to have exifted, with clearness and impartiality.

There is not a fingle authority for the exiftence of Druidifm any where, but in Celtic Gaul, and in part of England. The argument, which is drawn from the existence of monuments fupposed to be Druidical, will be confidered afterwards: at prefent, we shall state the fubftance of thofe paffages, from the ancient writers, on which we ground our pofition. Cæfar exprefsly fays, that the Druids ufed to meet annually, on the borders of the territory of the Carnutes, which was confidered the middle of all Gaul. Whoever examines the polition of this territory, will immediately be convinced, that Cæfar, in this paffage, ufed the term Gaul in its limited and ftrict fenfe; fince, if Aquitania and Belgic Gaul had been included, the territory of the Carnutes could not with any propriety have been deemed the centre of Gaul. With regard to England, Cæfar, although he defcribes the Druids in Gaul fo minutely, and mentions the received opinion, that their inftitutions had originated in Britain, and were, even in his time, taught there with more strictnefs and purity than in Gaul, yet gives not the leaft hint, that while he was in Britain,

"

Cæfar. de Bello Gallico, lib. VI. p. 115. edit. Plant. 1616.

Britain, he had either feen any Druids, or collected any inform ation concerning them. We may therefore reasonably conclude, that Druidifm was not known in those parts of Britain with which he was acquainted. Tacitus is the firit, and, we believe, the only author, who takes notice of the existence of Druidifm in Britain. Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Pliny and * Solinus, all of whom fpeak of its exiftence in Gaul with aftonishment and abhorrence, feem not to have heard of any part of Britain, in which it prevailed. The Romans appear to have ad→ vanced far into Wales, before they met with it. Tacitus, in his annals, relates, that Suetonius Paulinus was opposed in his attempt on Mona (Anglefey) by the army of the Britons; and, that, after he had defeated them, he deftroyed the facred groves, of the Druids. No mention is made of Druids in any other part of Britain; though, had Agricola collected any information refpecting them, or met with any traces of their worship, dur ing his expedition into Scotland, we cannot fuppofe that Taci tus would have neglected to notice them, in his life of that ge neral. As the druidical fuperftitions were fo fingular and fo monftrous, we may confider ourselves juftified in regarding the filence of the ancient writers refpecting them as a fufficient proof that they did not exist in the countries which they de fcribe. If, therefore, we are to fix the boundaries of Druidiím strictly according to the notices which thefe authors afford us, we must coincide in opinion with Mr Pinkerton, that there is no authority at all for druids being known, beyond prefent North Wales on the north, and the river Garonne, the bound of the Celta in Gaul, on the fouth. A line drawn by the Severn in Britain and Seine in Gaul, forms the eastern bound, while the ocean forms the western.' ‡

It is of fome confequence to afcertain, by the fame appeal to authorities, the nature of the places in which the Druids performed their religious ceremonies; fince almost all Celtic writers, whenever authorities for the existence of Druidifm in

any

* Pliny, however, fpeaks of Britain as fo entirely devoted to magic in his time, as to feem to have inftructed the Perfians; but his expref fions are so vague and general, that they cannot relate to Druidifm ex. clufively. Plin. Nat. Hift. lib. XXX. c. 1.

Pliny and Suetonius relate that Tiberius forbad or abolished Druid ifm among the Gauls: and the former author confiders mankind as greatly indebted to the Romans, for having put an end to fuch a monitrous and cruel fuperftition. Plin. lib. XXX. c. 1. Sueton. Tiberius, P. 544, edit. Schildii.

Pinkerton's Enquiry, I. 406.

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