24 A TOL'R ROUND NORTH WALES, 



Bard, and Ovate. Of thefe there was 

 one chief head, called the Arch Druid, to 

 whom the whole rendered an implicit 

 obedience, and by whom they were 

 guided in conducting their moft impor- 

 tant affairs.* He was efteemed fu- 

 preme throughout the whole nation, and 

 to his tribunal the people annually af- 

 fcmbled, and in appeals that were 

 made to him, he gave a final judgment, 

 to which the parties were obliged to 

 abide.-f- On the death of the Arch 

 Druid, the next in dignity and reputa- 

 tion fucceeded him ; but if the merits 

 of feveral were equal, the election was 

 made by the collected votes of the in- 

 ferior orders. J The habitation of the 



tifli word derw, an oak, andj</</, a termination of nouns. 

 o -i ~Bardd fignifies the branching or what fprings from, derived 

 from bar, a branch, or the top. Qvydd implies the difciple, 

 from ov, raw, and ydd, above explained. Jones's Bards, p. 2. 

 * His omnibus Druidibus prceeft unus, qui fammam in- 

 ter cos habet auftoritatem. Caf/ar, Lib. vi. 5. 13. 

 + Ibid. + Ibid. 



Britim 



