92 



Inspiration, Science, and ImmortaliUj, vere supposed to be de- 

 rived. "It purified the votaries of Druidism for the celebration 

 of certain mystical llites which commemorated the preservation 

 of mankind in the ark, and the great renovation of nature." I 

 give the passage in the poem, with Mr. Davies' literal transla- 

 tion, and the explanatory note he has appended to it. 



•'Dawn ei lif Dofydd 



Neu pren puraur fydd 



Ffrwythlawn ei gynnydd 



Eei ias berwidydd 



Oedd uch pair pumwydd." 



(Kadeir Taliesin.) 

 "a flood which has the gift of Bovydd, or the tree of pure gold 

 which becomes of a fructifying qualitj-, when that Brewer gives 

 it a boiling who presided over the cauldron of the five platits." 



Note — "Pren Puraur, the tree of pare gold — the Mistletoe — Virgil's Aurum 

 frondens, and ramus aureus — which the Arch- Druid gathered with a golden 

 hook. Amongst the extraordinary reported virtues of this plant, was that 

 mentioned by our Bard, of promoting the increase of the species, or pre- 

 venting sterility. The names of the Mistletoe in the Welsh language 

 preserve the memorial of its ancient dignity. It is called Pren Awyr, the 

 Etherial tree : Pren Uchelvar, the tree of the high summit; and has 

 four other names derived from Uchel, or lofty," ("page 280.) 



There is no mention made in the poem of any particular 

 tree, from which the Mistletoe was to be gathered, nor of the 

 ceremony requisite for doing so, but there can be little doubt 

 from other authorities, that it must have been from the Oak. 

 "Nor must the admiration of the Gauls for the Mistletoe be un- 

 noticed," says Pliny, "The Druids (thus they call their chief- 

 priests,) hold nothing in greater veneration than the Mistletoe, 

 and the tree on which it grows, provided only, that it be the 

 Oak. They select groves of Oak trees, standing by themselves, 

 and perform no sacred ceremonies without green oak foliage. 

 Indeed, they truly believe, that whenever the Mistletoe grows 

 upon the Oak, it has been sent from heaven, and they consider it 

 a sign of a chosen tree. * But the Mistletoe is very rarely found 



• Mr. Davies in his Celtic researches says that "the Apple was the 

 next most sacred tree to the Oak, and that orchards were planted in the 

 yicinity of the sacred groves." (Mr. Lees in Phytologist 1851 p. 357.) But 

 in his "Botanical Looker Out" it is said, that Mistletoe from the Hazel 

 ■was preferred by the Druids, next to that from the Oak, but on what au- 

 thority I know not. 



