100 



The Aniiqullies of the [No. 32, 



When the victim has been selected, it is brought to a thick and dark 

 forest where a pile of wood and brush is erected. The officiator, hav- 

 ing received a piece of money from the offerer, approaches, having in 

 one hand a bunch of the leaves of the sacred tree, and in the other 

 a short thick club. After waving the leaves many times around the 

 victim and making many salutations to the East, he strikes it with the 

 club on the back part of its head, which generally proves fatal in the 

 first instance. Immediately whilst the limbs are yet quivering, all 

 present throw up their hands and eyes to heaven, and exclaim, may 

 it be an offering from — naming first one and then another of their 

 several places." 



" The waving of leaves then continues." 



The subjoined account of one of theDruidical sacrifices is extracted 

 from the article Druids in the Encyclopoedia Britannica. 



" They prepared every thing ready for the sacrifice under the oak, 

 to which they fastened two white bulls by the horns ; then the Arch- 

 Druid, attended by a prodigious number of people, ascended the tree, 

 dressed in white ; and with a consecrated golden knife or pruning 

 hook cropped the misletoe which he received in his fagum or robe, 

 amidst the rapturous exclamations of the people. Having secured this 

 sacred plant, he descended the tree, the bulls were sacrificed, and the 

 deity invoked to bless his own gift." 



Since writing my account of the antiquities at Fair-Lawn I perus- 

 ed the article " Druids" in the same book, and found the account of 

 the sacred enclosures of the Druids so singularly corroborative of my 

 views, that I make no apology for inserting it. 



" The consecrated groves in which they performed their religious 

 rites were fenced round with stones, to prevent any persons entering 

 between the trees except through the passages left open for that pur- 

 pose, and which were guarded by some inferior Druids to prevent any 

 stranger from intruding into their mysteries. These groves were 

 of different forms ; some quite circular, others oblong, and more or 

 less capacious, as the votaries in the districts to which they belonged 

 were more or less numerous. The area in the centre of the grove 

 was encompassed with several rows of large oaks set very closely to- 

 gether. Within this large circle were several smaller ones' sur- 

 rounded with large stones ; and near the centre of these smaller cir- 

 cles were stones of a prodigious size and convenient height, on which 

 the victims were slain and offered. Each of these being a iiind of 

 altar, was surrounded with another row of stones, the use of which 



