119 
I think the account of the altar much to be noted in connec- 
tion with the Pythagorean notion of the Number Three, which 
either as a number or in a triangle denoted the universe in 
connection with God, the Absolute in itself, the Uncon- 
ditioned.* 
The whole subject of the golden branch reminds of the 
language of Isaiah (xlv. 8), “ Drop down, ye heavens, from 
above, and let the skies pour down righteousness ; let the 
earth open, and let them bring forth salvation , and let righteous- 
ness spring up together/' especially as the previous verse 
has by way of contrast to the dualism of the Persians. In 
Zechariah (xiv. 8) the typical branch is shown to be a person : 
(< Behold I bring forth my servant, the Branch." “ The 
primary idea of the Hebrew word is that of shining forth ;"f 
so by a kind of play upon words, very common in the Hebrew, 
we have the word rendered ’ Avar o\r) in the LXX. of Zechariah; 
and in the gospel, (( The day spring from on high hath visited us, 
to give light to them that sit in darkness .... to guide our 
feet into the way of peace." J 
Do we not then begin to see that the word Druid may have 
been one full of meaning and of the loftiest possible pretension ? 
Does it not imply that as sacrificing priests they were mediators 
between heaven and earth ? Mystically they were alike, the 
oak (Taronowy) and the branch of pure gold which it bore. 
Each one of the mysterious confraternity partook of the divine 
majesty of the god of lightning, who was indwelling in the oak, 
and also of the heavenly qualities of the branch which it bore. 
Supreme dominion and the credit of possessing the properties 
of the “ all-healing " plant § of heavenly birth, were in them- 
selves a large endowment, especially with the added attribute 
of the highest wisdom. 
This derivation of the word suggested in the work above 
quoted appears to me probable. Bru or Bar (another form) 
“ must have once signified equally an oak and the thunder 
and the Thunderer is identified with the tree " in a passage 
of Taliesin quoted by Williams || to whom I refer for full eluci- 
dation of the subject, also for the proof that the Greek 
is identical with the Welsh gwydd, so that we have in Druid 
the exact rendering of the oak and the mistletoe, “ the branch " 
* Smith’s Diet, of the Bible , sub voce “ Tabernacle.” 
t Ges. Lex. in loco. J Song of Zacharias in Luke i. 
§ Omnia sanans , Pliny; “guthil” German, uchel-fel , heavenly honey 
Le Gui, pp . 76-77. 
|| Gomer, p. 107. With the digamma. 
