514 
tions, should have been called an army 
of Alemanni, or a//-men, whether it was 
led against Clovis or Arthur. 
The following passage throws much 
light on the religious tenets of the 
Druids: 
«© They mention three regions of exist- 
ence, which, it is very curious to observe, 
they denominate cylchau, or circles.* 
“In the cylch y Ceugant, or the circle of 
the all-inclosing circle, there was nothing 
either alive or dead, but God (Dun), and he 
only, could pervade it. The circle of Giryn- 
vyd, or felicity, is that which men are to 
pervade after they have passed through their 
terrestrial changes. But the circle of Abred, 
or evil, is that in which human nature 
passes through those varying stages of its 
existence which it must undergo, before it is 
ualified to inhabit the circle of felicity. 
<«¢ All animated beings have three states of 
existence to pass through. he state of 
Abred, or evilin Annwn, or the great deep ; 
the state of freedom, in the human form ; 
and the state of love, whichis happiness, tu 
the nev, or heaven. All beings, but God, 
must therefore undergo three angen, or ne- 
cessities. They must have a beginning in 
Annwn, or the great deep; a progression in 
-Abred, or in the state of evil; and a com- 
pletion in the circle of felicity in heaven. 
«Tn the evil state of Abred there are three 
angen, or necessities. There must be evist- 
ence in its least possible degree, which is its 
commencement. There must be the matter 
of every thing, from which proceeds in- 
‘crease, or progression of existence, which 
-eannot be in the other states, and there must 
be the forms of all things whence discrimi- 
wating individuality. 
' «© The three necessary causes of the state 
of Abred, are to collect the matter of every 
nature, to collect the knowledge of every 
thing, and to collect power to destroy Gwrth 
(the opposing) and Cythraulf, and to divest 
ourselves of evil. Unless every state of be- 
ing is thus passed through, there can be no 
erfection. 
«The three chief infelicities attached to 
the state of Abred are, that we incur neces- 
sity, oblivion, and death ; and these things 
are the divine instruments for subduing evil 
(Driwg) and Cythraul. The deaths which 
* «« We cannot avoid recollecting here, that the great druidical temples of Stonehenge 
aud Avebury, the simaller remains in Cornwall, that formerly in Jersey, now removed to 
Lord Conway's park, and others, exhibit circles of stones, as the essential form of their 
structure. 
+ «© Cythraul is the British name for the devil; it means the destroying rinciple SiG 
may have been derived from the antient mythology of the nation : 
served the name in the text. 
t << Obryn literally meghs,.<* something nearly equivalent.” It therefore implies a de- 
graded transmigration adequate to the fault committed. 
- $ : 
§ «This literally means ‘a corresponding animal,’ or a transmigration into some fero- 
cigus animal. 
| «¢ The book of bardism, containing these tenets, has not yet been printed. 
it wil! appear in the fourth volume of the Welch Archaiology. 
POETRY. 
follow our changes are so many escapes fronr 
their power. 
«© Flumanity must necessarily suffer, 
change, and clroose; and as it has the li- 
berty of choosing, its sufferings and changes 
cannot be foreseen. 
Tp passing through the changes of being 
attached to the state of Abred, it is possible 
for man, by misconduct, to fall retrograde 
into the lowest state from which he had 
emerged. 
*¢ There are three things which will in- 
evitably plunge him back mto the changes 
of Abred. Pride,—for this he will fall to 
Annawn, which is thelowest point at which 
existence begins; falsehood, which will re- 
plunge him to Obryn{ ; and cruelty, which 
will consign him to Cydvil§ : from these he 
must proceed again in due course, through 
changes of being, up to humanity. 
** From this exposition we see that the 
bardic transmigration was from Annwn, 
through the changes of Abred to the felicity 
of heaven. These changes never ended till 
man had fitted himself for heaven. If his 
conduct in any one state, instead of improv- 
ing his being, had made it worse, he fell 
back into a worse condition, to commence 
again his purifying revolutions. 
«« Humanity was the limit of the degraded 
transmigrations. All the changes above hu- 
manity were felicitating. 
«« To acquire knowledge, benevolence, and 
power, is the object of the human. state ; 
and these, as they require liberty and choice, 
cannot be attained in any state previous. to 
humanity. Knowledge, benevolence, and 
power, are the arms by which Drwg and 
Cythraul are to be subdued: humanity is 
the scene of the contest. 
«« T will now only add, that to have tra- 
versed every state of animated existence, to 
remember every state and its incidents, and 
to be able to traverse every state that can be 
desired for the sake of experience and judg- 
ment, is that consummation which can only 
be attained in the circle of felicity. In this 
circle man will be still undergoing rotations 
of existence, but happy ones, because God 
only can endure the eternities of the circle 
of infinity without changing. Man’s happy 
changes in the circle of felicity will exhibit 
perpetual acquisition of knowledge, beauti- 
ful yaricty, and occasional repose. | 
- I have therefore pre- 
he 
) I believe 
But copious extracts fron 
