No More Learning

On the slightest loss they betook themselves to treaty and submission; upon the least appearance in their favor * Some think this port to be Witsand; others Boulogne.
? ? ? ? . 166 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
they were as ready to resume their arms, without
any regard to their former engagements: a conduct
which demonstrates that our British ancestors had
no regular polity with a standing coercive power.
The ambassadors which they sent to Csesar laid all
the blame of a war carried on by great armies upon
the rashness of their young men, and they declared
that the ruling people had no share in these hostilities. This is exactly the excuse which the savages
of America, who have no regular government, make
at this day upon the like occasions. ; but it would be
a strange apology from one of the modern states of
Europe that had employed armies against another.
Caesar reprimanded them for the inconstancy of their
behavior, and ordered them to bring hostages to secure their fidelity, together with provisions for his
army. But whilst the Britons were engaged in the
treaty, and on that account had free access to the
Roman camp, they easily observed that the army of
the invaders was neither numerous nor well provided; and having about the same time received intelligence that the Roman fleet had suffered in a storm, they again changed their measures, and came to a
resolution of renewing the war. Some prosperous
actions against the Roman foraging parties inspired
them with great confidence. They were betrayed by
their success into a general action in the open field.
Here the disciplined troops obtained an easy and
complete victory; and the Britons were taught the
error of their conduct at the expense of a terrible
slaughter.
Twice defeated, they had recourse once more to
submission. Caesar, who found the winter approaching, provisions scarce, and his fleet not fit to contend
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 167
with that rough and tempestuous sea in a winter voyage, hearkened to their proposals, exacting double the number of the former hostages. He then set sail
with his whole army.
In this first expedition into Britain, Caesar did not
make, nor indeed could he expect, any considerable
advantage. He acquired a knowledge of the seacoast, and of the country contiguous to it; and he
became acquainted with the force, the manner of
fighting, and the military character of the people.
To compass these purposes he did not think a part of
the summer ill-bestowed. But early in the next he
prepared to make a more effective use of the experience he had gained. He embarked again at the
same port, but with a more numerous army. The
Britons, on their part, had prepared more regularly
for their defence in this than the former year. Several of those states which were nearest and most exposed to the danger had, during Caesar's absence,
combined for their common safety, and chosen Cassibelan, a chief of power and reputation, for the leader of their union. They seemed resolved to dispute the
landing of the Romans with their former intrepidity.
But when they beheld the sea covered, as far as the
eye could reach, with the multitude of the enemy's
ships, (for they were eight hundred sail,) they despaired of defending the coast, they retired into the woods and fastnesses, and Caesar landed his army
without opposition.
The Britons now saw the necessity of altering their
former method of war. They no longer, therefore,
opposed the Romans in the open field; they formed
frequent ambuscades; they divided themselves into
light. flying parties, and continually harassed the en
? ? ? ? 168 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
emy on his march. This plan, though in their circumstances the most judicious, was attended with no
great success. Caesar forced some of their strongest
intrenchments, and then carried the war directly into
the territories of Cassibelan.
The only fordable passage which he could find over
the Thames was defended by a row of palisadoes
which lined the opposite bank; another row of sharpened stakes stood under water along the middle of
the stream. Some remains of these works long subsisted, and were to be discerned in the river* down
almost to the present times. The Britons had made
the best of the situation; but the Romans plunged
into the water, tore away the stakes and palisadoes,
and obtained a complete victory. The capital, or
rather chief fastness, of Cassibelan was then taken,
with a number of cattle, the wealth of this barbarous
city. After these misfortunes the Britons were no
longer in a condition to act with effect. Their illsuccess in the field soon dissolved the ill-cemented
union of their councils. They split into factions, and
some of them chose the common enemy for their protector, insomuch that, after some feeble and desultory efforts, most of the tribes to the southward of the Thames submitted themselves to the conqueror.
Cassibelan, worsted in so many encounters, and deserted by his allies, was driven at length to sue for
peace. A tribute was imposed; and as the summer
began to wear away, Coesar, having finished the war
to his satisfaction, embarked for Gaul.
The whole of Coesar's conduct in these two campaigns sufficiently demonstrates that he had no intention of making an absolute conquest of any part of
* Coway Stakes, near Kingston-on-Thames.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 169
Britain. Is it to be believed, that, if he had formed
such a design, he would have left Britain without an
army, without a legion, without a single cohort, to secure his conquest, and that he should sit down contented with an empty glory and the tribute of an indigent people, without anlly proper means of securing a continuance of that small acquisition? This is not
credible. But his conduct here, as well as in Germany, discovers his purpose in both expeditions:. for
by them he confirmed the Roman dominion in Gaul,
he gained time to mature his designs, and he afforded
his party in Rome an opportunity of promoting his
interest and exaggerating his exploits, which they
did in such a manner as to draw from the Senate
a decree for a very remarkable acknowledgment of
his services in a supplication or thanksgiving of
twenty days. This attempt, not being pursued, stands
single, and has little or no connection with the subsequent events.
Therefore I shall in this place, where the narrative
will be the least broken, insert from the best authorities which are left, and the best conjectures which in
so obscure a matter I amn able to form, some account
of the first peopling of this island, the manners of its
inhabitants, their art of war, their religious and civil
discipline. These are matters not only worthy of
attention as containing a very remarkable piece of
antiquity, but as not wholly unnecessary towards
comprehending the great change made in all these
points, when the Roman conquest came afterwards
to be completed.
? ? ? ? 170 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
CHAPTER II.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF
BRITAIN.
THAT Britain was first peopled from Gaul we are
assured by the best proofs, -proximity of situation,
and resemblance ill language and manners. Of the
time in which this event happened we must be contented to remain ill ignorance, for we have no monuments. But we may conclude that it was a very ancient settlement, since the Carthaginians found this island inhabited when they traded hither for tin, - as
the Phcenicians, whose tracks they followed in this
commerce, are said to have done long before them.
It is true, that, when we consider the short interval
between the universal deluge and that period, and
compare it with the first settlement of men at such a
distance from this corner of the world, it may seem
not easy to reconcile such a claim to antiquity with
the only authentic account we have of the origin and
progress of mankind, - especially as in those early
ages the whole face of Nature was extremely rude
and uncultivated, when the links of commerce, even
in the countries first settled, were few and weak,
navigation imperfect, geography unknown, and the
hardships of travelling excessive. But the spirit of
migration, of which we have now only some faint
ideas, was then strong and universal, and it fully
compensated all these disadvantages. Many writers,
indeed, imagine that these migrations, so common in
the primitive times, were caused by the prodigious increase of people beyond what their several territories
could maintain. But this opinion, far from being
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 171
supported, is rather contradicted by the general ap.
pearance of things in that early time, when in every
country vast tracts of land were suffered to lie almost
useless in morasses and forests. Nor is it, indeed,
more countenanced by the ancient modes of life, no
way favorable to population. I apprehend that these
first settled countries, so far from being overstocked
with inhabitants, were rather thinly peopled, and that
the same causes which occasioned that thinness occasioned also those frequent migrations which make so
large a part of the first history of almost all nations.
For in these ages men subsisted chiefly by pasturage
or hunting. These are occupations which spread the
people without multiplying them in proportion; they
teach them an extensive knowledge of the country;
they carry them frequently and far from their homes,
and weaken those ties which might attach them to
any particular habitation.
It was in a great degree from this manner of life
that mankind became scattered in the earliest times
over the whole globe. But their peaceful occupations
did not contribute so much to that end as their wars,
which were not the less frequent and violent because
the people were few, and the interests for which they
contended of but small importance. Ancient history
has furnished us with many instances of whole nations,
expelled by invasion, falling in upon others, which
they have entirely overwhelmed, -- more irresistible
in their defeat and ruin than in their fullest prosperity. The rights of war were then exercised with great
inhumanity. A cruel death, or a servitude scarcely
less cruel, was the certain fate of all conquered people; the terror of which hurried men from habitations to which they were but little attached, to seek
? ? ? ? 172 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
security and repose under any climate that, however
in other respects undesirable, might afford them refuge from the fury of their enemies. Thus the bleak and barren regions of the North, not being peopled
by choice, were peopled as early, in all probability, as
many of the milder and more inviting climates of the
Southern world; and thus, by a wonderful disposition of the Divine Providence, a life of hunting,
which does not contribute to increase, and war,
which is the great instrument in the destruction of
men, were the two principal causes of their being
spread so early and so universally over the whole
earth. From what is very commonly known of the
state of North America, it need not be said how often
and to what distance several of the nations on that
continent are used to migrate, who, though thinly
scattered, occupy an immense extent of country. Nor
are the causes of it less obvious, - their hunting life,
and their inhuman wars.
Such migrations, sometimes by choice, more frequently from necessity, were common in the ancient world. Frequent necessities introduced a fashion
which subsisted after the original causes. For how
could it happen, but from some universally estab
lished public prejudice, which always overrules and
stifles the private sense of men, that a whole nation
should deliberately think it a wise measure to quit
their country in a body, that they might obtain in a
foreign land a settlement which must wholly depend
upon the chance of war? Yet this'resolution was
taken and actually pursued by the entire nation of
the Helvetii, as it is minutely related by Caesar. The
method of reasoning which led them to it must appear to us at this day utterly inconceivable. Thlley
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 173
were far from being compelled to this extraordinary
migration by any want of subsistence at home; for it
appears that they raised, without difficulty, as much
corn in one year as supported them for two; they
could not complain of the barrenness of such a soil.
This spirit of migration, which grew out of the ancient manners and necessities, and sometimes operated like a blind instinct, such as actuates birds of passage, is very sufficient to account for the early
habitation of the remotest parts of the earth, and in
some sort also justifies that claim which has been so
fondly made by almost all nations to great antiquity.
Gaul, from whence Britain was originally peopled,
consisted of three nations: the Belge, towards the
north; the Celtse, in the middle countries; and the
Aquitani, to the south. Britain appears to have received its people only from the two former. From
the Celtse were derived the most ancient tribes of the
Britons, of which the most considerable were called
Brigantes. The Belgae, who did not even settle in
Gaul until after Britain had been peopled by colonies
from the former, forcibly drove the Brigantes into
the inland countries, and possessed the greatest part
of the coast, especially to the south and west. These
latter, as they entered the island in a more improved
age, brought with them the knowledge and practice
of agr'iculture, which, however, only prevailed in
their own countries. The Brigantes still continued
their ancient way of life by pasturage and hunting.
In this respect alone they differed: so that what
we shall say, in treating of their manners, is equally
applicable to both. And though the Britons were
further divided into an innumerable multitude of
lesser tribes and nations, vet all being the branches
? ? ? ? 174 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
of these two stocks, it is not to our purpose to consider them more minutely.
Britain was in the time of Julius Casar what it i's
at this day, in climate and natural advantages, temperate and reasonably fertile. But destitute of all those improvements which in a succession of ages it
has received from ingenuity, from commerce, from
riches and luxury, it then wore a very rough and
savage appearance. The'country, forest or marsh;
the habitations, cottages; the cities, hiding-places in
woods; the people naked, or only covered with skins;
their sole employment, pasturage and hunting. They
painted their bodies for ornament or terror, by a custom general amongst all savage nations, who, being passionately fond of show and finery, and having no
object but their naked bodies on which to exercise
this disposition, have in all times painted or cut their
skins, according to their ideas of ornament. They
shaved the beard on the chin; that on the upper lip
was suffered to remain, and grow to an extraordinary
length, to favor the martial appearance, in which they
placed their glory. They were in their natural temper not unlike the Gauls, impatient, fiery, inconstant, ostentatious, boastful, fond of novelty,- and like all
barbarians, fierce, treacherous, and cruel. Their arms
were short javelins, small shields of a slight texture,
and great cutting swords with a blunt point, after
the 0Gaulish fashion.
Their chiefs went to battle in chariots, not unartfully contrived nor unskilfully managed. I cannot help thinking it something extraordinary, and not easily to be accounted for, that the Britons should have been so expert in the fabric of those chariots, when
they seem utterly ignorant in all other mechanic
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 175
arts: but thus it is delivered to us. They had also
horse, though of no great reputation, in their armies.
Their foot was without heavy armor; it was no firm
body, nor instructed to preserve their ranks, to make
their evolutions, or to obey their commanlders; but
in tolerating hardships, in dexterity of forming ambuscades, (the art military of savages,) they are said
to have excelled. A, natural ferocity and an impetuous onset stood them in the place of discipline.
It is very difficult, at this distance of time, and
with so little information, to discern clearly what
sort of civil government prevailed among the ancient
Britons. IIn all very uncultivated countries, as society is not close nor intricate, nor property very valuable, liberty subsists with few restraints. The natural equality of mankind appears and is asserted, and therefore there are but obscure lines of any form of
government. In every society of this sort the natural connections are the same as in others, though the
political ties are weak. Among such barbarians,
therefore, though there is little authority in the magistrate, there is often great power lodged, or rather
left, in the father: for, as among the Gauls, so among
the Britons, he had the. power of life and death in his
own family, over his children and his servants.
But among freemen and heads of families, causes
of all sorts seem to have been decided by the Druids:
they summoned and dissolved all the public assemblies; they alone had the power of capital punishments, and indeed seem to have had the sole execution and interpretation of whatever laws subsisted among this people. In this respect the Celtic nations did not greatly differ from others, except that
we view them in an earlier stage of society. Justice
? ? ? ? 176 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
was in all countries originally administered by the
priesthood: nor, indeed, could laws in their first fee
ble state have either authority or salction, so as to
compel men to relinquish their natural independence,
had they not appeared to come down to them enforced by beings of more than human power. The
first openings of civility have been everywhere mac,:
by religion. Amongst the Romans, the custody a_:,:
interpretation of the laws continued solely in the college of the pontiffs for above a century. *
The time in which the Druid priesthood was instituted is unknown. It probably rose, like other institutions of that kind, from low and obscure beginnings, and acquired from time, and the labors of able men,
a form by which it extended itself so far, and attained
at length so mighty an influence over the minds of
a fierce and otherwise ungovernable people. Of the
place where it arose there is somewhat less doubt:
Caesar mentions it as the common opinion that this
institution began in Britain, that there it always
remained in the highest perfection, and that from
thence it diffused itself into Gaul. I own I find it
not easy to assign any tolerable cause why an order
of so much authority and a discipline so exact should
have passed from the more barbarous people to the
more civilized, from the younger to the older, from
the colony to the mother country: but it is not wonderful that the early extinction of this order, and
that general contempt in which the Romans held all
the barbarous nations, should have left these matters
obscure and full of difficulty.
The Druids were kept entirely distinct from the
body of the people; and they were exempted from all
* Digest. Lib. I. Tit. ii. De Origine et Progressu Juris, ~ 6.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 177
the inferior and burdensome offices of society, that
they might be at leisure to attend the important
duties of their own charge. They were chosen out
of the best families, and from the young men of the
most promising talents: a regulation which placed
and preserved them in a respectable light with the
world. None were admitted into this order but after
a long and laborious novitiate, which made the character venerable in their own eyes by the time and
difficulty of attaining it. They were much devoted
to solitude, and thereby acquired that abstracted and
thoughtful air which is so imposing upon the vulgar;,
and when they appeared in public, it was seldom,
and only on some great occasion, -- in the sacrifices
of the gods, or on the seat of judgment. They prescribed medicine; they formed the youth; they paid
the last honors to the dead; they foretold events;
they exercised themselves in magic. They were at
once the priests, lawgivers, and physicians of their nation, and consequently concentred in themselves all
that respect that men have diffusively for those who
heal their diseases, protect their property, or reconcile them to the Divinity. What contributed not a
little to the stability and power of this order was the
extent of its foundation, and the regularity and proportion of its structure. It took in both sexes; and
the female Druids were in no less esteem for their
knowledge and sanctity than the males. It was divided into several subordinate ranks and classes; and
they all depended upon a chief or Arch-Druid, who
was elected to his place with great authority and preeminence for life. They were further armed with
a power of interdicting from their sacrifices, or excommunicating, any obnoxious persons. This interVOL. VII. 12
? ? ? ? 178 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
diction, so similar to that used by the ancient Athenians, and to that'since practised among Christians,
was followed by an. exclusion from all the benefits of
civil community; and it was accordingly the most
dreaded of all punishments. This ample authority
was in general usefully exerted; by the interposition
of the Druids differences were composed, and wars
elided; and the minds of the fierce Northerni people,
being reconciled to each other under the influence of
religion, united with signal effect against their common enemies.
There was a class of the Druids whom they called
Bards, who delivered in songs (their only history)
the exploits of their heroes, and who composed those
verses which contained the secrets of Druidical discipline, their principles of natural and moral philosophy, their astronomy, and the mystical rites of their religion. These verses in all probability bore a near
resemblance to the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, -
to those of Phocylides, Orphels, and other remnants
of the most anlcient Greek poets. The Druids, even
in Gaul, where they were not altogether ignorant of
the use of letters, in order to preserve their knowledge in greater respect, committed none of their pre-. cepts to writing.
The proficiency of their pupils was estimated principally by the number'of technical
verses which they retained in their memory: a circumstance that shows this discipline rather calculated to preserve with accuracy a few plain maxims
of traditionary science than to improve and extend
it. And this is not the sole circumstance which
leads us to believe that among them learning had
advanced no further than its infancy.
The scholars of the Druids, like those of Pythago:
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 179
ras, were carefully enjoined a long and religious silence: for, if barbarians come to acquire any knowledge, it is rather by instruction than examination; they must therefore be silent. Pythagoras, in the
rude times of Greece, required silence in his disciples; but Socrates, in the meridian of the Athenian
refinement, spoke less than his scholars: everything
was disputed in the Academy.
The Druids are said to be very expert in astronomy, in geography, and in all parts of mathematical
knowledge; and authors speak in a very exaggerated strain of their excellence in these, and in many
other sciences. Some elemental knowledge I suppose they had; but I can scarcely be persuaded
that their learning was either deep or extensive.
In all countries where Druidism was professed, the
youth were generally instructed by that order; and
yet was there little either in -the manners of the people, in their way of life, or their works of art, that
demonstrates profound science or particularly mathematical skill. Britain, where their discipline was
in its highest perfection, and which was therefore
resorted to by the people of Gaul as an oracle in
Druidical questions, was more barbarous in all other respects than Gaul itself, or than any other country then kniown in Europe. Those piles of rude magnificence, Stonehenge and Abury, are in vain
produced in proof of their mathematical abilities.
These vast structures have nothing which can be
admired, but the greatness of the work; and they
are not the only instances of the great things which
the mere labor of many hands united, and persevering in their purpose, may accomplish with very
little help from mechanics. This may be evinced
? ? ? ? 180 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY,
by the immense buildings and the low state of the
sciences among the original Peruvians.
The Druids were eminent above all the philosophic
lawgivers of antiquity for their care in impressing
the doctrine of the soul's immortality on the minds
of their people, as an operative and leading principle. This doctrine was inculcated on the scheme
of Transmigration, which some imagine them to have
derived from Pythagoras. But it is by no means
necessary to resort to any particular teacher for an
opinion which owes its birth to the weak struggles
of unenlightened reason, and to mistakes natural
to the human mind. The idea of the soul's immortality is indeed ancient, universal, and in a manner inherent in our nature; but it is not easy for
a rude people to conceive any other mode of existence than one similar to what they had experienced in life, nor any other world as the scene of such an existence but this we inhabit, beyond the
bounds of which the mind extends itself with great
difficulty. Admiration, indeed, was able to exalt. to
heaven a few selected heroes: it did not seem absurd that those who in their mortal state had distinguished themselves as superior and overruling spirits should after death ascend to that sphere
which influences and governs everything below, or
that the proper abode of beings at once so illustrious
and permanent should be in that part of Nature in
which they had always observed the greatest splendor and the least mutation. But on ordinary occasions it was natural some should imagine that the dead retired into a remote country, separated
from the living by seas or mountains. It was natural that some should follow their imagination with'
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 181
a simplicity still purer, and pursue the souls of men
no further than the sepulchres in which their bodies
had been deposited;* whilst others of deeper penetration, observing that bodies worn out by age or destroyed by accident still afforded the materials
for generating new ones, concluded likewise that a
soul being dislodged did not wholly perish, but was
destined, by a similar revolution in Nature, to act
again, and to animate some other body. This last
principle gave rise to the doctrine of Transmigration: but we must not presume of course, that, where it prevailed, it necessarily excluded the other opinions; for it is not remote from the usual procedure of the human mind, blending in obscure matters
imagination and reasoning together, to unite ideas
the most inconsistent. When HIomer represents the
ghosts of his heroes appearing at the sacrifices of
Ulysses, he supposes them endued with life, sensation, and a capacity of moving; but he has joined to these powers of living existence uncomeliness,
want of strength, want of distinction, the characteristics of a dead carcass. This is what the mind
is apt to do: it is very apt to confound the ideas
of the surviving soul and the dead body. The
vulgar have always and still do confound these very
irreconcilable ideas. They lay the scene of apparitions in churchyards; they habit the ghost in a shroud; and it appears in all the ghastly paleness
of a corpse. A contradiction of this kind has given
rise to a doubt whether the Druids did in reality
hold the doctrine of Transmigration. There is positive testimony that they did hold it; there is also testimony as positive that they buried or burned
* Cic. Tusc. Quest. Lib. I.
? ? ? ? 182 ABRIDGMENT. OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
with the dead utensils, arms, slaves, and whatever
might be judged useful to them, as if they were to
be removed into a separate state. They might have
held both these opinions; and we ought not to be
surprised to find error inconsistent.
The objects of the Druid worship were many. In
this respect they did not differ from other heathens:
but it must be owned that in general their ideas of
divine matters were more exalted than those of the
Greeks and Romans,'and that they did not fall into
an idolatry so coarse and vulgar. That their gods
should be represented under a hunian. form they
thought derogatory to beings uncreated and imperishable. To confine what can endure no limits within walls and roofs they judged absurd and impious. In these particulars there was something refined and
suitable enough to a just idea of the Divinity. But
the rest was not equal. Some notions they had, like
the greatest part of mankind, of a Being eternal and
infinite; but they also, like the greatest part of mankind, paid their worship to inferior objects, from the
nature of ignorance and superstition always tending
downwards.
The first and chief objects of their worship were
the elements, -- and of the elements, fire, as the most
pure, active, penetrating, and what gives life and
energy to all the rest. Among fires, the preference
was given to the sun, as the most glorious visible
being, and the fountain of all life. Next they venerated the moon and the planets. After fire, water was
held in reverence. This, when pure, and ritually
prepared, was supposed to wash away all sins, and to
qualify the priest to approach the altar of the gods
with more acceptable prayers: washing with water
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 183
being a type natural enough of inward cleansing and
purity of mind. They also worshipped fountains and
lakes and rivers.
Oaks were regarded by this sect with a particular
veneration, as, by their greatness, their shade, their
stability, and duration, not ill representing the perfections of the Deity. From the great reverence in
which they held this tree, it is thought their name of
Druids is derived: the word Deru, in the Celtic language, signifying an oak. But their reverence was
not wholly confined to this tree. A1l forests were
held sacred; and many particular plants were respected, as endued with a particular holiness. No
plant was more revered than the mistletoe, especially
if it grew on the oak, -not only because it is rarely
found upon that tree, but because the oak was among
the Druids peculiarly sacred. Towards the end of the
year they searched for this plant, and when it was
found great rejoicing ensued; it was approached with
reverence; it was cut with a golden hook; it was
not suffered to fall to the ground, but received with
great care and solemnity upon a white garment.
In ancient times, and in all countries, the profession of physic was annexed to the priesthood. Men imagined that all their diseases were inflicted by the
immediate displeasure of the Deity, and therefore concluded that the remedy would most probably proceed from those who were particularly employed in his
service. Whatever, for the same reason, was found
of efficacy to avert or cure distempers was considered
as partaking somewhat of the Divinity. Medicine
was always joined with magic: no remedy was administered without mysterious ceremony ahd incan, tation. The use of plants and herbs, both in medici
? ? ? ? 184 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
nal and magical practices, was early and general.
The mistletoe, pointed out by its very peculiar appearance and manner of growth, must have struck
powerfully on the imaginations of a superstitious
people. Its virtues may have been soon discovered.
It has been fully proved, against the opinion of
Celsus, that internal remedies were of very early
use. * Yet if it had not, the practice of the present
savage nations supports the'probability of that opinion. By some modern authors the mistletoe is said
to be of signal service in the cure of certain convulsive distempers, which, by their suddenness, their violence, and their unaccountable symptoms, have been ever considered as supernatural. The epilepsy was
by the Romans for that reason called morbus sacer;
and all other nations have regarded it in the same
light. The Druids also looked upon vervain, and
some other plants, as holy, and probably for a similar reason.
The other objects of the Druid worship were chiefly serpents, in the animal world, and rude heaps of
stone, or great pillars without polish or sculpture, in
the inanimate. The serpent, by his dangerous qualities, is not ill adapted to inspire terror,- by his annual renewals, to raise admiration, -- by his make,
easily susceptible of many figures, to serve for a variety of symbols, - and by all, to be an object of religious observance: accordingly, no object of idolatry
has been more universal. t And this is so natural,; See this point in the Divine Legation of Moses.
t IIapca 7raVTL VOulO6'vOVV reap' V/LW OEiov 0LtsL orlJ,/oXov pLEya Kal
i,uva-rTpto dvaypadCerat. -Justin Martyr, in Stillingfleet's Origines
Sacrae.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 185
that serpent-veneration seems to be rising again even
in the bosom of Mahometanism. *
The great stones, it has been supposed, were originally monuments of illustrious men, or the memorials
of considerable actions,- or they were landmarks for
deciding the bounds of fixed property. In time the
memory of the persons or facts which these stones
were erected to perpetuate wore away; but the reverence which custom, and probably certain periodical
ceremonies, had preserved for those places was not
so soon obliterated. The monuments themselves then
came to be venerated, -- and not the less because
the reason for venerating them was no longer known.
The landmark was in those times held sacred on account of its great uses, and easily passed into an object of worship. Hence the god Terminus amongst the Romans. This religious observance towards rude
stones is one of the most ancient and universal of all
customs. Traces of it are to be found in almost all,
and especially in these Northern nations; and to this
day, in Lapland, where heathenism is not yet entirely
extirpated, their chief divinity, which they call Storjunkare, is notliing more than a rude stone. ~
Some writers among the moderns, because the
Druids ordinarily made no use of images in their
worship, have given into an opinion that their religion was founded on the unity of the Godhead.
But this is no just consequence. The spirituality
of the idea, admitting their idea to have been spiritual, does not infer the unity of the object. All
the ancient authors who speak of this order agree,
that, besides those great and more distinguishing ob* Norden's Travels.
t Scheffer's Lapland, p. 92, the translation.
? ? ? ? 186 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
jects of their worship already mentioned, they had
gods answerable to those adored by the Romans.
And we know that the Northern nations, who overran the Roman Empire, had in fact a great plurality of gods, whose attributes, though not their names,
bore a close analogy to the idols of the Southern
world.
The Druids performed the highest act of religion
by sacrifice, agreeably to the custom of all other
nations. They not only offered up beasts, but even
human victims: a barbarity almost universal in the
heathen world, but exercised more uniformly, and
with circumstances of peculiar cruelty, amongst those
nations where the religion of the Druids prevailed.
They held that the life of a man was the only atonement for the life of a man. They frequently inclosed a number of wretches, some captives, some criminals,
and, when these were wanting, even innocent victims,
in a gigantic statue of wicker-work, to which they set
fire, and invoked their deities amidst the horrid cries
and shrieks of the sufferers, and the shouts of those
who assisted at this tremendous rite.
There were none among the ancients more eminent
for all the arts of divination than the Druids. Many
of the superstitious practices in use to this day among
the country people for discovering their future fortune seem to be remains of Druidism. Futurity is
the great concern of mankind. Whilst the wise and
learned look back upon experience and history, and
reason from things past about events to come, it is
natural for the rude and ignorant, who have the
same desires without the same reasonable means
of satisfaction, to inquire into the secrets of futurity, and to govern their conduct by omens, dreams,
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 187
and prodigies. The Druids, as well as the Etruscan
and Roman priesthood, attended with diligence the
flight of birds, the pecking of chickens, and the entrails of their animal sacrifices. It was obvious that no contemptible prognostics of the weather were to
be taken from certain motions and appearances in
birds and beasts. * A people who lived mostly in
the open air must have been well skilled in these
observations. And as changes in the weather influenced much the fortune of their buntings or their harvests, which were all their fortunes, it was easy
to apply the same prognostics to every event by a
transition very natural and common; and thus probably arose the science of auspices, which formerly guided the deliberations of councils and the motions
of armies, though now they only serve, and scarcely
serve, to amuse the vulgar.
The Druid temple is represented to have been
nothing more than a consecrated wood. The ancients speak of no other. But monuments remain which show that the Druids were not in this respect
wholly confined to groves. They had also a species
of building which in all probability was destined to
religious use. This sort of structure was, indeed,
without walls or roof. It was a colonnade, generally circular, of huge, rude stones, sometimes single, sometimes double, sometimes with, often without, an
architrave. These open temples were not in all respects peculiar to the Northern nations. Those of the Greeks, which were dedicated to the celestial
gods, ought in strictness to have had no roof, and
were thence called hyacethra. t
* Cic. de Divinatione, Lib. I.
t Decor. . . . perficitur statione,. . . . cum Jovi Fnlguri, et
? ? ? ? 188 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Many of these monuments remain in the British
islands, curious for their antiquity, or astonishing for
the greatness of the work: enormous masses of rock,
so poised as to be set in motion with the slightest
touch, yet not to be pushed from their place by a
very great power; vast altars, peculiar and mystical
in their structure, thrones, basins, heaps or cairns;
and a variety of other works, displaying a wild industry, and a strange mixture of ingenuity and rudeness. But they are all worthy of attention, - not only as such monuments often clear up the darkness and supply the defects of history, but as they lay
open a noble field of speculation for those who study
the changes which have happened in the manners,
opinions, and sciences of men, and who think them.
as worthy of regard as the fortune of wars and the
revolutions of kingdoms.
The short account which I have here given does
not contain the whole of what is handed down to us
by ancient writers, or discovered by modern research,
concerning this remarkable order. But I have selected those which appear to me the most striking
features, and such as throw the strongest light on
the genius and true character of the Druidical in
stitution. In some respects it was undoubtedly very
singular; it stood out more from the body of the
people than the priesthood of other nations; and
their knowledge and policy appeared the more striking by being contrasted with the great simplicity and
rudeness of the people over whom they presided.
But, notwithstanding some peculiar appearances and
Ccelo, ct Soli, et Lunm xedificia sub divo hypsethraque constituentur.
Horum enim deorum et species et effectus in aperto mundo atque lucenti prsesentes videmus. - Vitruv. de Architect. p. 6. de Laet. Antwerp.
? ? ? ? ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 189
practices, it is impossible not to perceive a great conformity between this and the ancient orders which have been established for the purposes of religion in
almost all countries. For, to say nothing of the resemblance which many have traced between this and
the Jewish priesthood, the Persian Magi, and the Indian Brahmans, it did not so greatly differ from the Roman priesthood, either in the original objects or
in the general mode of worship, or in the constitution
of their hierarchy. In the original institution neither
of these nations had the use of images; the rules of
the Salian as well as Druid discipline were delivered
in verse; both orders were under an elective head;
and both were for a long time the lawyers of their
country. So that, when the order of Druids was
suppressed by the Emperors, it was rather from a
dread of an influence incompatible with the Roman
government than from any dislike of their religious
opinions.
CHAPTER III.
THE REDUCTION OF BRITAIN BY THE ROMANS.
THE death of Caesar, and the civil wars which ensued, afforded foreign nations some respite from the Roman ambition. 'Augustus, having restored peace
to mankind, seems to have made it a settled maxim
of his reign not to extend the Empire. He found
himself at tlie head of a new monarchy; and he was
more solicitous to confirm it by the institutions of
sound policy than to extend the bounds of its dominion. In consequence of this plan Britain was neglected.
? ? ? ? 190 ABRIDGMENT OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
Tiberius came a regular successor to an established
government.