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mainly, that these remarks apply ; they are universally applicable, 

 varying only in accordance with the degree of imaginative and 

 creative faculties. Do my hearers need to be reminded of the 

 early history of the Celtic inhabitants of the British Isles; the 

 symbolic sacrifices of the Druids ; or the pagan theology of the 

 Danes, Norsemen, and Anglo-Saxons'? Even now Symbolism 

 lingers in our own habits and most cherished customs to a degree 

 we scarcely suspect until we come to analyze them. The 

 Mistletoe which we inherit, as well as the Oak, the Ivy, and the 

 Holly, in their symbolic uses, from those very Druids of whom I 

 have been speaking, becomes very useful about Christmas time, 

 and gives a decided zest to our parties and friendly gatherings : 

 ay, and occasionally leads to the use of another symbol for which 

 we have a great respect, viz., the Ring — -the emblem of eternal 

 union — a symbol we may trace through every style of Art, 

 Christian and Pagan, until it vanishes into pre-historic time, fit 

 emblem of its own appropriateness. The exchange of Easter Eggs 

 is another symbolic custom inherited from a remote ancestry ; but 

 how many think of its beauty as a type of the resurrection of the 

 soul to a future state 1 containing, as every egg does, the germ of 

 life. The primitive habits of our country people of Cumberland 

 and Westmorland teem with customs of distinct symbolic origin, 

 although in many instances little suspected or understood ; and 

 those of the Highlands of Scotland have been made familiar to us 

 by the works of the great northern wizard. Sir Walter Scott. I 

 will only advert to one of these, viz., the custom which formerly 

 prevailed of sending the Fiery Cross, the symbol of war, to 

 summon help from the neighbouring clans. 



The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 

 A slender crosslet formed with care, 

 A cubit's length in measure drew — 

 The shaft and limbs were rods of yew. 



Wo to the clansman who shall view 

 This symbol of sepulchral yew. 



