INFLUENCE OF THE DRUIDS OVER THE ANCIENT BRITONS.

as the disputed point was removed from an inferior to a superior court. And he, who, after the final decision of the supreme court, in which the Arch-Druid presided, refused to submit, was considered as opposing the will of the gods, and as such was excluded from their assemblies by excommunication. To be excommunicated, was to be excluded from the public sacrifices, which was considered as the greatest punishment that could possibly be inflicted; and as such it operated on the culprit. Whether vassal or lord, he was considered as a polluted person with whom no one would hold any intercourse; he was unable to commence any suit at law; to obtain any redress of grievances; to fill any public office; or to claim any protection of the law in case of personal injury.

But it was not merely in giving explanation to their laws, that the power of the Druid was conspicuous. It was his duty and his interest to connect religion with legislation, and to make it understood that he acted under the immediate direction of the gods. In the formation of the laws the Druid was always consulted; and that these might be rendered sacred in the eyes of the people, and in reality conformably to his own will, his earliest care was to consult the gods, to whom alone he had access. It was through him that the gods returned their answers, in which both the chief and his vassals generally placed an unlimited confidence ; and consequently, they considered his responses as the immediate effects of divine inspiration. It is not difficult to infer from hence, that the power, even of the supreme chief, was only possessed in a limited degree. The influence of the Druid could always overrule it, either by giving to it a new direction, or by counteracting it altogether.

Nor was it in times of peace alone that the Druids were the principal directors of the state. In seasons of war their influence was still greater. With hostile armies their gods were presumed to be peculiarly present; and no movement could be made, no expedition could be undertaken, no important affairs transacted, without their concurrence; and it was only through the Druids that any knowledge could be obtained, either of their sanction or disapprobation. Hence it was, that their king or chief had no power to inflict punishment, even on his soldiers, without first consulting them; and neither he nor his troops had any reason to expect a victory, unless they were first assured from the Druids, that such was the destiny of heaven. Accordingly, when in the field, it was in the power of these men to make the armies advance or retreat; and even in the midst of the severest conflicts, by animating the soldiers to victory with hopes and prospects of future glory, they frequently rendered the combat still more fierce and bloody. On the same principle, however, it is easy to perceive, that by their interposition, they could blunt the edge of war, and prevent the effusion of blood,

DRUIDICAL REMAINS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF CORNWALL.

by announcing to the eager combatants that such was the will of heaven. Much therefore, both in war and peace, in government and law, in the administration of justice, and in domestic tranquillity, depended upon the natural disposition, the talents, and the will of the Druids who resided in the district, and presided thus over the affairs of state.

The places in which their affairs were debated, their laws enacted, and their judgments pronounced, were generally in the open air, and frequently in places which had been consecrated to religion. Even the place itself, by throwing an air of solemnity over their proceedings, rendered the connexion which subsisted between the Druids and the gods still more visible and important, and augmented their influence in the same proportion as it riveted the chains of superstition. These places, which served the joint purposes of government and religion, were variously situated, and variously formed. Sometimes the summits of hills were chosen, and sometimes their sloping declivities; sometimes circles of stones, or solitary pillars, marked the sacred spot; and occasionally circular mounds of earth, inclosing an area which formed an amphitheatre, distinguished these seats of justice and of superstition. To these places, thus consecrated, the term Gorseddau was frequently given ;—a word, which, in the Cornish language, was expressive of its use, Gorsedd signifying a seat of judgment.

"In a

Of these Gorseddau many vestiges are still to be found in Cornwall. village," says Dr. Borlase," called Mên Perhen, in Constantine parish, there stood, about five years since, a large pyramidical stone, twenty feet above the ground, and four feet under the ground: it made above twenty stone posts for gates, when it was cloven up by the farmer who gave me this account, In the sides of Sharpy Tor in Linkinhorne, and Wringcheese in the parish of St. Cleer, I observed many large stones of a rude columnar shape, now lying prostrate; but formerly, without doubt, erect, consecrated to superstition, and by their talness serving to make these crags, so rough by nature, still more forked and bristly."*

There is something in the appearance of an enormous rock, when of a singular form, that impresses the uncultivated mind with a degree of silent solemnity, and communicates an undefinable emotion to its hopes and fears. To the more enlightened, a spot that has been consecrated to religious rites, communicates a species of reverential awe, which the lapse of departed ages matures to veneration. The stupendous rocks which Dr. Borlase has noticed above, had thus been set apart for the double purpose of religious solemnities, and national deliberations. It was natural therefore, on all occasions of importance, for the people who

Borlase's Antiquities, p. 162.

DRUIDICAL REMAINS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF CORNWALL.

assembled, to consider their transactions as taking place in the immediate presence of their deities, which these sacred rocks either enshrined, or of which they were probably deemed the immediate representatives. All things conspired to consecrate the gloom which their presence occasioned, while the portentous shadows which they cast around them, by giving a sanction to the mystic incantations of the Druids, must have given new power to their pretended divinations.

On Carn-bre Hill, in the vicinity of Redruth, one of these Gorseddau still remains. This, Dr. Borlase has described, as a sacred elevation from which the neighbouring Druids pronounced their decrees; and closely connected, as it evidently is, with rock basons, circles, remains of ancient cromlehs, karnes, a religious enclosure, and some vestiges of a grove of oaks, with almost the whole apparatus of druidical worship, we can scarcely conceive any thing better calculated than its situation, to ratify the credulity of the vulgar; or to procure for men already denominated infallible, the additional credit of being the sacred delegates of an invisible agent.

Besides these rocks, Cornwall still bears many memorials of a similar nature with respect to their uses, although they are formed of less durable materials. The remains of some circles formed of earth are still visible in several parts; and the situation of others still lives in remembrance, although they have yielded to the corroding hand of time. At a place called Plan-an-guare, in Redruth, there were, according to Dr. Pryce, till very lately, the evident remains of an amphitheatre, vulgarly denominated The Round. In the parishes of Perran and St. Just, two amphitheatres are still conspicuous. That indeed in St. Just, which is near the church, has of late years sustained some serious injury; but that of Perran has so far escaped the devastations of time, as to afford a distinct view of its original distinguishing peculiarities. Of this round, or circle, we shall hereafter take more distinct notice, when we come to survey the parish in which it is situated. In the mean while it is to be observed, that though the primary appropriation of these circles was of a religious nature, for the purpose of acting interludes and dramatical representations, yet there can be little doubt that they served also as courts of judicature, since religion and government in all their proceedings, were almost inseparably linked together, if not blended by a mutual incorporation.

It has been already observed, that in times of war the Druids frequently attended the armies to the field of battle. It must not however be understood, that they were compelled to these services by law. According to the laws which they promulgated, which no one disputed their right to explain, and which they

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE DRUIDS.

professed to have received from the gods, their persons were deemed too sacred to be compelled to bear their parts in the toils of battle; and the same mysterious authority exempted them from contributing towards the support of civil government. If they attended, it was from choice, not from compulsion; it was from a sense of duty, of which they were the only judges, and to preserve their authority; it was to promote the interest of their order, and to convince the tribes over whom they presided, that those of their sacred order were "subject to the gods alone."

Between the Druids and the chiefs, it must be evidently necessary from these general descriptions, that a good understanding should be preserved. With this fact both parties were well acquainted; they understood their common business, and managed their affairs with no contemptible dexterity. On all occasions that tended to promote their common interest, they had nothing to fear from "the law's delay," or "the insolence of office." What the chief proposed, the Druid was ready to ratify; the god was immediately consulted, and a pleasing result was always the will of heaven.

But although the Druids were placed beyond the influence of those laws which were binding on common mortals, they had certain rules among themselves. They had their distinct orders, rising in regular gradation, through townships, clans, and cantreds, over which an Arch-Druid presided, in the principal town belonging to each district or kingdom. It was from him that all the inferior orders received their appointments, and by him that those vacancies were filled up which were occasionally made by death. Some accounts have stated, that, in order to give a sanction to his proceedings, nothing was done in these appointments but by the authority of twenty-five flamens, or principal priests; but the existence of such a council has been much doubted. It is ascertained, on more substantial authority, that the Druids, or some delegates selected from among them, and charged with the wishes of those by whom they were appointed, met annually to adjust their more public and general affairs. But whether by these general meetings we are to understand a general meeting for each kingdom, or a more public one that should embrace all the Druids or delegates from them throughout the island, we have no means of knowing. Each opinion has its advocates. Those who contend for such general meetings as include only a single kingdom, fix for the west, the place of their association at Exeter, in which the supreme chief, and the Arch-Druid of Danmonium resided. But those who argue in favour of an assemblage from the whole island, suppose the place of rendezvous to be on Salisbury Plain, and they consider Stonehenge to have been appropriated to this purpose, if not primarily erected for it.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE DRUIDS.

It is well known, from the attestations of history, that the Druids in Gaul held an annual assembly; to which place, all the Druids who had business to transact, constantly resorted. The place in which this meeting was held, according to Cesar, was in the country of the Carnutes, a central situation lying between the Loire and Seine, where these rivers approach nearest to each other; where a spot was consecrated for their purpose, and annually visited from the most distant parts. As this was the case in Gaul, analogy says that it might be so in Britain. The plains of Salisbury are not without their central advantages; and the existence of Stonehenge, which Mr. Bryant in his analysis, conceives to be coeval with the pyramids of Egypt, if not the oldest monument in the world, seems to transform analogy into fact.

But while the laws, which regulated the appointment of the inferior orders among the Druids, concentrated their power, either in the Arch-Druid, or in the council over which he presided, they leave another point, of no mean importance, still for examination. This point is no less than the election of a successor to the Arch-Druid himself, when summoned by death to join the sleep of his fathers. If, on the death of the Arch-Druid, any one among the subordinate of the order had rendered himself famous by any particular exploits, by the austerity of his life, the singularity of his manners, or the veneration which age itself sometimes confers, the suffrages were at once given in his favour, without any opposition. But if it so happened, that in the public estimation several were thought to have an equal claim to this exalted office, a contest immediately ensued between the rivals; and when friendship and interest were found insufficient to decide in favour of either, the contending parties had recourse to arms. On such melancholy occasions, the chiefs were called upon to render their assistance to these competitors, who, though avowedly acting in direct opposition to one another, assured them that such was the declaration of the gods. In these contests much blood was sometimes shed, and it was only till victory finally decided in favour of one of the contending parties, that the election of the successful candidate terminated the unhappy controversy. This mode of conduct, we are assured by Cesar, was pursued on such occasions in Gaul; and we can hardly suppose that the Druids of Britain, who were of the same order, were actuated by different principles.

* Borlase's Antiquities, p. 82.