APPENDIX, No. I. AN ENQUIRY INTO THE EXISTENCE OF THE DRUIDICAL ORDER IN SCOTLAND. THE singular fatality, by which the Celts have lost their once widely-extended influence in western Europe, furnishes a very striking circumstance, even amidst the multiplied vicissitudes which occur in the history of nations. That they occupied, at one period, the whole territory, extending from the Straits of Gibraltar to the northern extremity of Scotland, is generally allowed. In the times previous to Cæsar's invasion of Britain, they were, by the testimony of Tacitus, still more powerful than at that period. The Celtic Gauls extended their incursions into Germany, as far as Bohemia, to which one of their tribes gave its name. The impression of national character and manners is not soon, or easily, effaced. Much Celtic blood, more or less contaminated, runs, at this day, in the veins of every inhabitant of western Europe; and much of the influence of Celtic character may still be traced. How the Gothic rage, of undervaluing every thing that is Celtic, has become, of late, so fashionable, it is not easy to say; but, in a philosophical point of view, it will probably be allowed, that some account of the few remaining traces of the institutions of that once powerful people, is a desideratum, in literature, * Tac. de Mor. Germ. c. 28. The numerous settlements of the Celts, on the eastern side of the Rhine, as Casaubon well observes, ( Animadversiones in lib. iv. Strabonis,) may be traced in the names of cities and places which end in dunum, "a Celtic word," says he, " which signifies an eminence." He adds, "that all places, so called, are actu"ally situated on an eminence. Dun, in Gaelic, has still this sig "nification." which it were well worthy of our most learned antiquarians to supply. Of these, one of the most singular and important is that of Druidism, which is attributed, universally, by the Greek and Roman writers, to the nations of Celtic stock. "As the Persians," says Diogenes Laertius," have their Magi, and the "Indians their Gymnosophists, the Celts have "their Druids and their Semnothei."* The religion of the Druids extended over all Transalpine Gaul; and, as we shall see afterwards, prevailed even on the Italian side of the Alps. From an expression of Pliny, it would appear, that it extended also to Spain and Portugal.‡ With regard to the existence of the Druidical *Diog. Laert. in Proemio. + See Ausonius Carm. 10.-Flavius Vopiscus in Numeriano, informs us, that the Emperor Diocletian, whilst yet a subaltern in the army, lodged with a Druidess in Tungria, (now Brabant,) who predicted to him, that he should be, one day, emperor; a prediction on which he uniformly relied, till it was accomplished. "Celticos, (a people of Spain,) a Celtiberis, ex Lusitania advenisse manifestum est, SACRIS, lingua, oppidorum vocabulis.” Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. iii. c. 3. order in Britain, all authors agree. Cæsar, whose account of this hierarchy is unquestionably the most authentic, as well as the most liberal, informs us, that their institutions were first invented in Britain; and that the youth, who wished to be instructed in them, resorted thither, from the other parts of Celtic Europe. Pliny, at a still later period, informs us, "that the magical arts of the "Druids were cultivated in Britain with so much "attention, that this island should seem to have "first communicated those arts to the Persians," who so much excelled in them.+ But it must be remembered, that, at the period of which we speak, Caledonia, also, was inhabited by Celts. Indeed, it seems to be certain, that the Caledonians, especially those who occupied the western part of the island, were of the very same * "Ibi disciplina reperta.”—Bell. Gall. lib. vi. + "Britannia hodie eam (scilicet Druidarum magicam artem) " attonite celebrat, tantis ceremoniis, ut dedisse Persis videri possit." The Oriental origin of Druidism, as well as of many other im portant particulars in the manners of the Celts, will receive strong confirmation from the proposed work of the ingenious Mr Gunn, who has already traced so successfully the history of the Caledonian harp. race with their southern neighbours, wno, according to the opinion of Bæda, already cited, emigrating originally from Gaul, by the nearest passage, (an expedition suited to the imperfect navigation of the times,) and, travelling northwards, arrived, at length, in Caledonia. This progress of population has, we know, taken place universally, in the old world. From the account given by Cæsar, of the navigation of the Veneti of Brittany, and of their early intercourse with this island, it is rendered highly probable, that Britain received its first inhabitants from that quarter: and this also is the opinion of Tacitus, who enjoyed such a favourable opportunity of being well informed on this subject. After noticing the various opinions which had been advanced, concerning the original population of this island, he adds, " To one, who forms "his opinion upon the whole, it appears credible, "that the Gauls occupied this territory, which lay " in their vicinity. In the superstitions of the one, (6 you may trace the sacred rites of the other. Their "language is not very different." * "In universum tamen æstimanti," &c.-Agric. c. 11 |