.A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 



proper, for the cruel victims of their al- 

 tars. This power, which was the chief 

 prop of the Druidical authority, they re- 

 tained to the laft. 



The difciples of the Druidical Bards 

 underwent a noviciate of twenty years, 

 during which time, they learned an im- 

 menfe number of verfes, in which they 

 preferved the principles of their religious 

 andcivilpolity,byuninterrupted tradition, 

 for many centuries. Though the ufe of 

 letters was familiar to them, they did 

 not deem it lawful to commit thefe 

 verfes to writing, in order that, by this 

 means, they might flrengthen their in- 

 tellectual faculties, and keep their myf- 

 terious knowledge from the contempla- 

 tion of the vulgar. 



uj 



The metre, in which thefe oracular in- 

 flru6tions were communicated to the 

 people, was called Englyn Milwr y or the 

 Warrior's Song; and is a kind of triplet 

 That the Englifli reader may 



have 



