202 CHAPTERS ON BRITISH BOTANY. [July, 



cens seven-j and >S^. reflexum nine -angled ; M^hilst S. rupestre and 

 S. forsteriammi are multifarious. 



CHAPTEES ON BRITISH BOTANY. 



CHAPTEE II. 



On Dhtjidical oe Ancient British Eotan¥. 



Hume's notice of Druiclisai. — Yerstegan and Sheringham on the Antiquities of the 

 English Race and Nation. — Knowledge of Plants possessed by the Druids and 

 Bards,-^ — Loranthus euro'paus not the J\Iistletoe of Britain, and hence not of the 

 Driiids. — Birch. — Vervain. — Selago. — Samolus. — Primrose. — Ivy. — Triads. 

 — TrefoQ. — Eowan-tree (Rantree). — St. Jolm's Wort. — Fern. — Botany of 

 Cerdvv^en.^Contents of the Mystic Cauldron. 



The religion of Druidism was prevalent in the western parts of 

 Europe^ and in the isles of Britain its head-quarters were esta- 

 blished. "No idolatrous worship/' the eloquent historian of 

 England writes^ " ever attained such an ascendant over mankind 

 as that of the ancient Gauls and Britons ; and the Romans, after 

 their conquest, finding it impossible to reconcile these nations to 

 the laws and institutions of their masters, while it maintained 

 its authority, were at last obliged to abolish it by penal statutes, 

 a violence which had never, in any other instance, been practised 

 by those tolerating conquerors.''^" 



Verstegan, the learned panegyrist of England and of the En- 

 glish nation, in his work on the Antiquities of the English race, 

 says that "the Druids had no knowledge of letters" (Restitu- 

 tion of Decayed Intelligence, etc., p. 93). This opini6n is stre- 

 nuously opposed by Robert Sheringham, who some years subse- 

 quently to Verstegan wrote on the origin of the British nation. 

 He asserts (De Origine Gentis Anglorum, p. 127) that the Druids 

 had acquired both the knowledge of letters and other arts from 

 the Greeks, — " Nam ut literas, ita disciplinas illas a Grsecis com- 

 parasse videntur." Here the learned author quotes Caesar, who 

 states that they, the Druids, were in the habit of discussing doc- 

 trines on the power and authority of the immortal gods; also 

 about the universe, the magnitude of the earth, the motions of 

 the heavenly bodies, and the nature of things ; and this instruc- 

 tion they imparted to their disciples. 



* Hume's History of England, vol. i. p. 5. 



