534 
CLANS. 
and in broken ranks, no regular troops could withstand them. They 
received the bayonet in the target which they carried on their left 
arm ; then turning it aside, or twisting it in the target, they attack 
with the broadsword, the enemy encumbered and defenceless ; and 
where they could not wield the broadsword, they stabbed with the 
diik. The indissolubility of these associations has been already no- 
ticed ; and it may now be added, that though the abolition of the 
feudal system etfected a greater, alteration in the character of those 
people, by inspiring them with' sentiments and views of independence, 
during the last century, than a thousand years before had effected, 
yet the sensibility of their nature, the hardiness of their constitution, 
their warlike disposition, and their general hospitality to strangers, 
remain undiminished. And though emancipated now from the 
feudal yoke, they still shew a voluntary reverence to their chiefs, as 
well as affection to those of their own tribe and kindred ; qualities 
w hich are not only very amiable and engaging in themselves, but which 
are connected with that character of alacrity and inviolable fidelity 
and resolution which their exertions in the field have justly obtained 
in the world. 
Part. IV. 
ECCENTRIC SECTS, 
&c. 
Essenians. 
An ancient Jewish sect. Some suppose they originated from 
that dispersion of their nation which took place after the Babylonish 
captivity. They allowed a future state, but denied the resurrection 
of the dead, and they maintained that rewards and punishments 
extended to the soul only, considering the body as a mass of malig- 
nant matter, and the prison of the immortal spirit. The greater part 
of them considered the law of Moses as an allegorical system of spiri- 
tual and mysterious truth, and renounced all regard to the outward 
letter, in its explanation. They oaid the highest respect to the moral 
precepts of the law but neglected the ceremonial, excepting what 
regarded personal cleanliness, the observation of the sabbath, and 
making an annual present to the temple at Jerusalem. 
Their way of life was very singular; they did not marry, but adopted 
the children of others, whom they bred up to the institutions of their 
sect ; they despised riches, and had all things in common, and never 
changed their clothes till they were entirely w'orn out. When initiated, 
they were strictly bound to communicate the mysteries of their sect 
to others; and if any of their members were found guilty of enormous 
crimes, they were expelled. 
