3 A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 



As foon as it is dark on the evening 1 

 before Michaelmas-day, the Welfh peo- 

 ple kindle great fires near their houfes, 

 #nd generally, where they can have it, 

 on a large iione upon an eminence. 

 Thefe they call Coelcerth, or bonfires, and 

 Rowlands, in his Mona, fuppofes this cuf- 

 tom to have originated with the Druids 

 .and to have been intended by them as an 

 offering of thankfgiving, for the fruits 

 of the harveft. The Druids had alfo 

 another at the vernal equinox, to im- 

 plore a bleffing from the Deity on the 

 fruits of the earth. On Michaelmas-eve, 

 feveral hundreds of thefe fires may fome- 

 times be feen at once, round each of 

 which are numbers of the labouring peo^ 

 pie, dancing hand in hand, " in merry 

 " glee," fhouting and finging, in the 

 moil riotous and frantic manner. In 

 many places they retain a cuftom of each 

 throwing ftones or nuts into the flame, 



by 



