4:68 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



worship of the common ancestor ; and the periodic sacrificial 

 feasts were occasions on which all the descendants assembled. 

 Describing the origin of gilds, Thierry writes : 

 &quot; Dans 1 ancienne Scandinavie, ceux qui se reunissaient aux e&quot;poques 

 solennelles pour sacrifier ensemble terminaient la ceremonie par un 

 festin religieux. Assis autour du feu et de la chaudiere du sacrifice, ils 

 buvaient a la ronde et vidaient successivement trois cornes remplies de 

 biere, 1 une pour les dieux, 1 autre pour les braves du vieux temps, et la 

 troisieme pour les parents et les amis dont les tombes, marquees par des 

 monticules de gazon, se voyaient 93, et la dans la plaine ; on appelait 

 celle-ci la coupe de Famitie. Le nom d amitie (minne) se donnait aussi 

 quelquefois a la reunion de ceux qui offraient en commun le sacrifice, 

 et, d ordinaire, cette reunion etait appelee gkilde.&quot; 

 And Brentano, giving a similar account, says &quot; Gild meant 

 originally the sacrificial meal made up of the common contri 

 butions ; then a sacrificial banquet in general ; and lastly a 

 society.&quot; Here we find a parallelism with the observances of 

 the Hindoo joint-family, consisting of clusters of relatives 

 carrying on the same occupation, who meet at feasts which 

 were primarily sacrificial to ancestors; and we find a 

 parallelism with the religious observances of such clusters 

 of similarly-occupied relatives as the Asklepiadee among 

 the Greeks; and we find a parallelism with the gild- 

 feasts of the ancestor-worshipping Chinese, held in honour of 

 the patron saint : all suggesting the origin of those religious 

 services and feasts habitual in early gilds of our own 

 society. To state briefly the further likenesses of 



nature : We have, in the primitive compound family, 

 the obligation of blood-revenge for slain relatives ; and in 

 early gilds, as in ancient Sleswig, there was blood-revenge 

 for members of the gild. We have, in the compound 

 family, responsibility for transgressions of its members ; and 

 gilds were similarly responsible : the wergylds falling in part 

 on them, after murders were compounded for by money. We 

 have, in the compound family, joint claims to sustenance 

 derived from the common property and labour ; and in the 

 gild we have the duty of maintaining incapable members. 

 Within the family there was control of private conduct, eithei 



