1830.] a Talc of the Ancient Britons. 277 



care, presented a more formidable obstacle than ever to the progre9s of 

 the Roman arms. 



It was towards the close of a long summer evening in May, that the 

 united forces of the Silures, the Ordovices, and some neighbouring tribes, 

 under the command of the Arch-Druid, assembled to the number of 

 between sixty and seventy thousand in the recesses of one of those thick 

 forests with which Carmarthenshire was formerly over-run. Aware that 

 the decisive moment of his country's destiny was at hand, the supreme 

 pontiff resolved to take this, perhaps, his last opportunity, of solemnly 

 appealing to the patriotic feelings of his countrymen. Accordingly, 

 all the different sects of the Druids were brought together from the 

 remotest quarters of Wales, and, at this particular juncture of our tale, 

 stood silent at their respective posts, awaiting only the departure of day 

 to commence their solemn sacrifice in honour of Hesus, their god 

 of war. 



The spot where they were assembled was an open space, hemmed in 

 on every side by thick plantations of the sacred oak. In the centre was 

 an enclosure, the sides of which were formed by large broad pillars of 

 unhewn stone, arranged in a circular form, left open at the top, and 

 with a considerable space between each. In the middle of the area thus 

 formed, stood the cromlech, or altar, consisting of four wide stones, one 

 of which was placed in a sloping direction over the others, which were 

 disposed edgewise, and profusely strewed with oak-leaves. At a dis- 

 tance round the altar, stood in trembling reverence the silent troops of 

 the Silures, filling up the plain with their numbers; and nearer, the 

 different sects of the Druids, the Bards, the Eubates, and the nobler 

 order of Druidesses. Within, arrayed in a white robe of serge, which 

 flowed down to his ankles, stood the Arch-Druid himself, with a green 



flass amulet suspended round his neck by a silver chain, a wand in his 

 and, and two milk-white bulls, their horns wreathed with the hallowed 

 misletoe, beside him. While a vestige of light yet lingered in the west, 

 he stood silent, and apparently absorbed in prayer ; but no sooner had 

 the shades of night fallen, than he summoned his attendant priests ; and 

 instantly, as if by magic, a thousand torches flashed through the dark- 

 ness of the forest. The ceremonies of the oblation then commenced. 

 The steers were offered up to Hesus, and as their blood flowed 

 round the cromlech, the Bards chaunted their hymns j after which, 

 the vast multitude drew in a closer circle round the outer temple, 

 from the highest point of which the Arch-Druid addressed them 

 on the mysteries of their religion on the sacred public duties they 

 would ere long be summoned to perform and on the eternal bliss 

 that awaited them hereafter, should those duties be fulfilled in a worthy 

 spirit. Death, he assured them, was but a partial change of the human 

 frame, which would be for the better or the worse, according to each 

 individual's deserts. Nothing perished nothing became extinct. An 

 inherent principle of vitality pervaded the material universe. The soul, 

 after it quitted its fleshly tabernacle, transmigrated into other bodies. 

 The spirit of the patriot roamed the desart in the majestic similitude of 

 the free-born lion ; or as the eagle, whose gaze can pierce the sun, tra- 

 versed the regions of air, exulting in the consciousness of strength, and 

 light, and liberty. In the fulness of years, such transmigrations ceased 

 and the immortal soul, its task on earth fulfilled, mounted on seraphs' 

 wings to heaven. 



