154 



DRUIDS. 



Countric* 

 :l lil. 11 

 ihcy Wi-:e 

 fuuuci. 



certainly cannot look for, or export, any te-timony on 

 tills subject more direct and satisfactory tliau th.it of tin- 

 people who professed DruidiMii ; lor it ought always to 

 be recollected, that it is not tin- opinion of ( .rsar, but 

 die opinion entertained in Caul. i.vh the passage we 

 have quoteil gives ; and those who contend that Ca>sar 

 was mistaken in asserting that DruidlMn originated in 

 Britain, (..inong whom may be particularly mentioned 

 Smith in hi> Gaelic Antiquities, who talks of it as a con- 

 jccture or inference of Cwsar's,) ought to be instructed 

 tliat tlie error, if it be one, proceeded mo.-t probably from 

 the Dniids themselves. On this point, therefore, we have 

 as clear and direct evidence as we can possibly expect ; 

 and without bewildering ourselves in conjectures re- 

 specting the source from which Druidism proceeded into 

 Britain, we may conclude that this country was one of 

 it- mo. t ancient, if not its original place of abode. 



III. The fact that Druidism originated in Britain, if 

 it be allowed to Ix; sufficiently established, will remove 

 many difficulties respecting the countries in which it 

 jiiv. ailed; for if it wire originally British, we are not 

 in-tided in concluding that it is essentially and radi- 

 cally Celtic. " Since it must have begun to exist long 

 after the Celts left their original settlements, it must be 

 considered as British, not Celtic ; and it would be as ab- 

 surd to extend it to all the Celts, because it originated 

 ;. mong one branch of them, as it would be to expect to 

 find the institution of secret tribunals in the 13th cen- 

 tury, among the Swedes as well as among the Ger- 

 mans, merely because they are both Gothic nations. 

 The supposed netestury connection between Celtic po- 

 pulation and Druidism, has prevented antiquarians from 

 examining the question, respecting the countries in 

 which it can actually be proved to have existed, with 

 clearness and impartiality." (Edinburgh Review, July 

 1804-. ) There is only one objection, which, in our opi- 

 nion, can be brought against the hypothesis,, that it is 

 strictly speaking British, and iiot essentially Celtic ; if 

 it were so, it is not easy to account for its adoption by 

 the Celtic tribes of Gaul; for it is not likely that they 

 would borrow a religion from the Britons. Perhaps the 

 truth may be, that Druidism existed in its most ancient 

 nnd pure state among the Celtic tribes of Britain, who, 

 inhabiting a country to the west of Gaul, may be sup- 

 posed to liave been a more ancient family of Celts, than 

 those who inhabited the latter country, and there-fore 

 resorted, as the parent stock, for the purpose of initia- 

 tion in the more solemn and secret mysteries of religion. 

 This conjecture, however, it must be confessed, is at 

 variance with the British origin of Druidism. 



The two grand and leading points of enquiry respect- 

 ing the countries in which 1 )ruidism actually prevailed, 

 are, whether all the Celtic nations were Druidic, and 

 whether it is to be found in nations not of Celtic origin? 

 We are persuaded that there is no evidence of the exist- 

 ence of Druidism any where, except in Celtic Gaul, 

 and in part of Britain ; and that Mr Pinkerton is per- 

 fectly correct in maintaining, that the Druids were 

 " not known beyond present North Wales on the north, 

 and the river Garonne, the bounds of the Celtic in Gaul, 

 on the south. A line drawn by the Severn in Britain, 

 and the Seine in Gaul, forms the eastern bound, while 

 the ocean forms the western." (Pinkerton's Enquiry, 

 vol. 1. j). WG.) On this point, as on the preceding one-, 

 we mu.>t examine the positive authority of the Greek 

 nnd Roman historians, where it is to be found, and also 

 t'le presumptive evidence, drawn from other sources. 

 Caesar, in his account of the Druids in Gaul, states, that 

 they were accustomed to meet annually on the borders 



of the territory of the Carmites which was regarded as Druid*, 

 the middle region of Gaul. Now, in the first pl::ce, .~~' 



bv the word Caul, when used by itself, this author al- I' ""'* 

 ... , i i ,"' wnien 



most invariably means ( eltic Caul ; and in Out second ,| u . v wtre 



place !iis common usage of the word, it i plain found, 



that Celtic Gaul must here have been meant, since the 

 Carmites cannot, with any propriety, be consider, 

 the centre of Gaul, if Aqnitania and Bclgic Gaul were 

 included. Besides, Ciesar, in the very commencement 

 of his description of Gaul, informs us, that the inha- 

 bitants of the three divisions differed totally in language, 

 institutions, and laws; and in another place he 

 that the Belgre were of German origin ; but from tin- 

 same authority, we leant, that the Germans had no 

 Druids. Hence, it may fairly :nul satisfactorily be in- 

 ferred, that Druidism was confined to the Celtic di- 

 vision of Caul. We shall now examine the principal 

 ancient authorities respecting the actual site and limits 

 of Druidism in Britain ; and in the first place, it is 

 worthy our particular notice, that ' Ca-sar, though he 

 describes the Druids in Gaul so minutely," though 

 they appear to have excited his particular attention and 

 curiosity, " and though he mentions the received opi- 

 nion, that their institutions had originated in Britain, 

 and were, even in his time, taught there with more 

 strictness and purity than in Gaul, yet gives not tin- 

 least hint, that while he was in Britain, he had seen any 

 Druids, or collected any information concerning them." 

 ( Edinburgh Jinieir.) The inference is obvious and in- 

 disputable. In those parts of Britain which Cipsar vi- 

 sited, DruidiMii did not exist; nor is it likely, if it had 

 ever flourished there, that such a circumstance would 

 have escaped his investigation. The first, and the only 

 author, we believe, wno mentions the existence of 

 Druidism in Britain, is Tacitus ; nor, in his account of 

 the transactions of the Romans in this country, does he 

 mention it, till they had advanced as far into Wales as 

 the island of Anglesey. In his life of Agricola, where 

 he has detailed all the particulars respecting Scotland, 

 with which, it may be supposed, that general supplied 

 him, he makes no mention of Druidism. As the super- 

 stitions and ceremonies of the Druids, by their singula- 

 rity and cruelty, actually appear to have excited, in a 

 very strong degree, the curiosity and abhorrence of the 

 ancient writers, we may justly conclude, that their si- 

 lence respecting them, is a sufficient proof that they 

 did not exist in the countries which they describe. 

 With respect to Germany, and other countries not ge- 

 nerally deemed Celtic, in which, according to some an- 

 tiquarians, Druidism prevailed, as there is no direct 

 authority for this opinion, it will be more properly 

 considered in the following observations on the pre- 

 sumptive evidence for the existence of this religion be- 

 yond the limits which we have prescribed for it. 



The first mode by which many antiquarians endea- 

 vour to prove that Druidi.-m prevailed over a large por- 

 tion of Europe, display- a remarkable want of logical 

 correctness. " Wherever authorities for its existence in 

 any country, which they deem Celtic, are not to be 

 found, they appeal to the stone monuments, which, 

 they say, are to be discovered exclusively in countries 

 formerly inhabited by the Celts. Or, on the other hand, 

 assuming it as a fact, that all the Celts were Druidical, 

 they ngard these remains of antiquity, as a sufficient 

 indication, that the country in which they are found, 

 was formerly the seat of a Celtic population. All the 

 parts of this argument are assumed. But even if we allow 

 the truth of both the circumstances upon which it is 

 founded ; viz. tliat all the Ccltoe were Druidical, and that 



