10 A DISCOURSE 



INTROD. But, after all this, there are who suppose some previous seminal dis- 

 ""^^^^^ position to be lurking, and dispersed in every part of the earth (in what 

 moleculae, or subtile contexture, they cannot discover) which though 

 haply not at first so perfect as the maturer seeds of their after peculiar 

 plants ; yet such as are fit for the sun and influences to operate on, till 

 they have prepared, discussed, and excited the seminal and prolific virtue 

 to exert itself and awake out of sleep, in which they lie as in their causes, 

 freeing themselves from those impediments which hindered their speci- 

 fication and nativity. This conception the learned Gassendus would 

 illustrate by the latent fire in flints, which never betrays itself till it be 



here be remarked, that the Druids, in several of their religious ceremonies, had a delicacy 

 superior to most of the ancients ; for in gathering the mistletoe they always used a golden 

 hook : whereas, among other nations, a hook of brass was thought good enough for the 



like purposes : ^ 

 Falcibus et messae ad hinam quaeruntur ahenis 



Pubentes herbae, iEN.lib.iv. 



Partim succidit curvamine falcis aenae ovid. met. lib. vii. 



In Sophocles, Medea is described as gathering her magic herbs with a brazen hook, 



and afterwards putting their juice into brazen pots. Virgil, with great poetical 



elegance, compares the golden bough to the mistletoe, on account of its being an adven- 

 titious plant, and of a golden colour : 



Quale solet Sylvis brumali frigore viscum 

 Fronde virere nova, quod non sua seminat arbos, 

 Et croceo foetu teretes circumdare truncos. 

 Talis erat species auri frondentis opaca 



nice ; sic leni crepitabat biactea vento. jEtf. lib. vi. 1. 209. 



The story of the golden bough shows that the Druids were not singular in attributing 

 great magical powers to scarce and beautiful plants, ritually gathered , and offered to 

 the Gods : 



Hoc sibi pulchra suum ferri Proserpina munus 



lustituit. . .EN. lib. vi. 1.142. 



^ Ergo alte vestiga oculis, et rite repertum 

 Carpe manu ; — — — lb. 1.245. 



And here it may not be improper to remark, that ancient customs are a considerable 

 time before they can be effaced, even in countries that have experienced the calamities of 

 conquest; for in France, as Keysler infonns us, something of the Druidical ceremonies, 

 relative to the mistletoe, subsists in the province of Aquitain. " In Aqultania quotannis 

 " Prid. Kal. Jan. pueri atque adolescentes vicos, villasque obeunt, carmine stipem 

 "petentes, sibique, atque aliis pro voto, in exordio novi anni acclamantes, Au Guy! 

 " L'an neuf !" 



