which exifted between the Britons and the Gauls, leaves no doubt concerning this origin. It may be fuppofed, that the Gaulish colony firft fettled in that part of the island which was oppofite to their own country, from whence extending themselves by degrees, they afterwards peopled the whole ifland. Whatever be the origin of the inhabitants of Great Britain, they were fufficiently numerous, and efpecially fufficiently courageous, to refift the Romans, when matters of the whole known world belides. Their government was at that time a mixture of monarchy and aristocracy. The chiefs fuperintended the exccution of the laws, but the legiflative power was lodged in the hands of the druids. Thefe priests, to celebrated for their own divinations, and that of their wives, for their pretended intercourse with heaven, and for their manner of living, which was folitary and auftere, were regarded by the people as the infallible organs of the Divinity. It was by the command of thefe fovereign pontiffs that the people united under one chief, whofe office, like that of the Roman Dictator, lafted no longer than was necellary to repel danger, or terminate a war.

The druids preferved this extenfive authority a long time among the Celts, particularly in Great Britain, but after the fecond century their credit declined faft. Wars became frequent, and the nobility, carried away by their impetuous courage, were no longer folicitous to enter into this order. The number of pricfis diminished, and precepts of religion were quickly corrupted, or nearly forgotten, in the tumults of a camp. Victory, by favouring thofe chiefs, who were called Vergobrets (a title equal to that of king) rendered them more independant of the druids.

Treninor, great grandfather of the celebrated Fingal, having been elested vergobret by the victorious tribes which he had led to battle, the druids fent a deputation to him, defiring him to lay down his authority. A refufal on the part of Tremnor brought on a civil war, in which great numbers of the druids perithed.

"Thofe who efcaped the flaughter fed, and concealed themfelves in the depth of the forefts and in caverns, where they ufed to retire to purfue their meditations, and the vergobrets,

or kings, then took the whole mthority into their own hands. However, the kings and heads of tribes, to give ftability to their power, to show their refpect for religion, and to have fome to celebrate their exploits, recalled the bards from their folitary retreat. The office of the inferior clafs of druids was to fing the praites of gods and heroes. Conquerors, emulous of immortalizing their names, fpared thefe difpenfers of glory, invited them to their camp, and grati tude animating the poetry of the bards, they defcribed their protectors as heroes poffeffed of every virtue. Thele difciples of the druids were admitted to the fcience and myfteries of their preceptors. Their talents and knowledge gave them a fuperiority over the vulgar. They employed their poetical abilities in defcribing every virtue and every heroic fentiment. Kings eagerly endeavoured to imitate the heroes of their favourite poems; chieftains of tribes ftrove to follow their example; and this noble emulation being communicated throughout the whole nation, formed that general character of the inhabitants of Great Britain, who, to the noble courage which dignifies a free nation, have ever united the moft engaging virtues of civilized fociety.

This

"The glory of a great people roufes the genius of the man poffeifed by nature of fenfibility and a lively imagination; he burns with a defire of immortalizing his country. Common language appears unequal to the actions he means to celebrate; metre and harmony be knows will more eafily impress his fubject upon the memory. undoubtedly gave rife to poetry in every nation; and this art conftituted part of the religion of the druids. The cuftom, common to every nation, of repeating hiftorical poems on folemn occations, and of teaching them to their children, was fufficient to preferve them for a long time withour the afiftance of writing. The Germans have tranfmitted thefe poetical traditions for eight hundred years; it is not aftonishing then, that the inhabitants of Great Britain, ever fo much attached to the memory of their ancestors, fhould have handed down from generation to generation the poems of their bards. It was this 'cuftom, preferved among moft diftant inhabitants of

the

the

the mountains, which enabled Mr. Macpherfon to collect the poetry of the celebrated Offian.

"The bards, after having long been the principal inftructors and historians of their country, defcended from thefe high functions to become the flatterers of those who protected them, or the flanderers of thofe whom they regarded as their enemies.

Little paflions have always the pernicious property of misleading, and even extinguishing genius.

"The bards, in forgetting the noble infpirations of their predeceffors, retained no other power than that of amufing or flattering the vain. They foon loft all their importance with the great, and the multitude alone deigned to receive them favourably.

"No longer poffeffed of the talent which renders virtue engaging, they invented fables of enchanted caffles, The fober, of dwarfs, giants, &c. truths of history gave place to the marvellous fictions of romance. The abuse of this talent brought the bards into contempt; the people themfelves grew weary of them, and they difappeared. The warlike hero, however, was not forgetful of his valour, he would not renounce the flattering advantage of hearing the celebration of his exploits. Courage, and the noble defire of fuccouring the oppreffed, and redreffing their wrongs, produced that fpirit of chivalry which gave birth to prodigies of heroifm. Illuftrious actions awakened the genius of a clafs of men who came to replace the bards, under the name of Troubadours. This appears to be the period from which we must date the commencement of thofe books of chivalry, fo extraordinary, and yet fo full of charms, that even now they excite our admiration. In reading them it is neceffary to recollect, that to please they muft poffefs probability, for it is only by imitating nature that art can please. idea then ought we to entertain of thofe knights they were intended to defcribe? In the romance of the Round Table, of St. Greal, of Amadis, &c. reafon will ever teach us to refcind what appears to be merely marvellous, but the noble and the brave will never call in question the prodigies archieved by valour. It is remarkable that England is generally made the theatre of chivalry by the VOL. I.-No. VI.

What

Troubadours, and ancient writers of that defcription. We must likewise take notice that all hiftorians, after defcribing the druids as priests much fuperior to thofe of all other nations, agree in giving the druids of England a fuperiority over all others. They extol thofe of the college of Chartres, thofe of the foreft of Marseilles, thofe in the environs of Thoulouse, but they all add, that when any in thefe colleges were found to poffefs great talents, they were fent' to finish their inftruction among the druids of Britain. The refult of thefe obfervations is, that from the moft diftant periods, the inhabitants of Great Britain have ever excited the admiration of furrounding nations, by their wisdom, learning and courage.

RELIGIOUS

OPINIONS OF THE FIRST INHABITANTS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

"IT appears certain that the original Britons erected no temple to the Divinity. Nay, we find in the poems of Offian, that fublime bard expreffing his contempt for the tem ples and worship of Odin, god of the Scandinavians, whom he calls Loda. Offian reprefents thefe people as invoking their god round a ftatue, which he calls the ftone of power. He reprobates this worship, and confiders it as impious. The druids, bards, and the people whom they inftructed, regarded all nature as the temple of the Divinity. That they had notions of a Supreme Being cannot be doubted, fince they believed in the inmortality of the foul, and in the rewards and punishments of a future life. Their opinion was, that the clouds were the habitation of fouls after their feparation from the body. The brave and virtuous were received with joy into the aerial palaces of their fathers, whilft the wicked, the cowardly, and the cruel, were excluded the abode of heroes, and condemned to wander, the sport of every wind. There were different manfions in the palaces of the clouds; the principal of which were affigned to merit and courage; and this idea was a great incitement to the emulation of their warriors. The foul always preferved the fame paffions which it poffeffed during life; thefe aerial palaces offered no other enjoyment than what they had preferred

when living. They fuppofed that winds and ftorms were under the direction of departed fpirits, but their power never extended over man. A hero could not be admitted into the palace of his fathers, unless the bards had fung his funeral hymn. This hymn appears to have been the only effential ceremony of their funerals. The body was extended on a bed of clay, at the bottom of a grave fix or eight feet deep. At the head of a warrior they placed his fword and twelve arrows; the corpfe was covered with a fecond body of clay, and upon this they laid the horns of a stag, or fome other wild beaft. Sometimes they killed his favourite dog, to lay on this fecond body of clay; the whole was then covered with fine mould, and four ftones marked the extent of the tomb.

..." None but a bard could open the gates of the aerial palaces, which he did by chanting the funeral hymn. Neglect of this ceremony left the foul in the exhalations of the lake Lego, or fome other, and to thefe unhappy fouls they attributed the diforders arifing from the vapour of lakes or marthes, which are fo frequent and fometimes even mortal. We may fee with what care the druids encouraged opinions which rendered their miniftry fo confoling and fo neceffary. Death was not fuppofed to have the power of diffolving the ties of blood. The fhades of the dead took part in the happy or unfortunate events of their friends. No nation had fo implicit a belief in apparitions. The mountaineers, in particular, feeming to take pleasure in their gloomy ideas, frequently paffed whole nights upon a heath; the whifiling of the wind, or the noife of torrents, made them imagine they heard the voice of the dead, and if furprifed by fleep in the midst of thefe reveries, they regarded their dreams as certain prognoftics of futurity. Good and bad fpirits did not appear in the fame manner, the good fhowed themfelves to their friends during the day in retired pleafant vallies, the bad were never feen but at night in the midft of winds and tempefts. Neither did death deftroy the charms of the fair. The fhades of thefe preferved their original form and beauty. No terror accompanied them; when they traverfed the air, all their motions

were graceful, and the gentle noife of their approach had fomething in it pleafing and encouraging. At the moment of executing any great enterprife, they imagined that the fouls of their fathers defcended from the clouds to foretel their good or ill fuccefs: and when they did not appear, gave them notice at least by fome omen. Every man thought he had his tutelar fhade, who always attended him. When death approached, this guardian fpirit fhowed itfelf to him in the pofition in which he was to die, and fent forth plaintive cries of forrow. On the death of a great perfonage, they were perfuaded that the fouls of departed bards fung round his phantom during three whole nights. It was a received opinion among them, that the moment a warrior ceafed to exift, the arms in his houfe were covered with blood; that his fpectre went to vifit the place of his birth, and that it appeared to his dogs, which fet up difmal yells at the fight of it.

"It was to thefe fpirits they attributed the major part of natural effects. If echo ftruck the ear, it was the fpirit of the mountain they heard. The hollow found of the tempeft, was the roaring of the fpirit of the hill. Did the harp of a bard receive a vibration from the wind, it was the fhades, who by this gentle touch announced the death of fome diftinguifhed character. No king nor chief refigned his breath, but this prophetic found was rendered by the harps of the bards belonging to his family. We feel how confoling it must have appeared to people all nature with the fhades of their friends and ancestors, by whom they fuppofed themfelves conftantly furrounded. Notwithftanding all the melancholy which muft accompany fuch an idea, we are fenfible how interefting and pleafing it muft have been.

"It was fufficient to engage and fill the imagination; and it is undoubtedly to this caufe we muft attribute the fmall number of divinities which were honoured among the ancient Britons; it appears even certain that they only acquired a knowledge of Elus, Dis, Pluto, Samothes, Teutates, and other deities, by means of their intercourfe with foreign na

tions.

The Picts and Saxons introduced among them their Andate, goddefs

would generously have attended to propofals of this kind. She engaged fome English gentlemen (at very handfome falaries) to promote and fuperintend agricultural focieties in her empire. Why could not more of thefe be etablished on the Continent?

16. Eftablish in London an office folely and purpofely for the letting of lodgings. Each one withing to take lodgings, to pay one fhilling for fearch ing the books. Each perfon who willies to enter their lodgings in the books to pay likewife one filling. The fmallness of the fee would infure fuccefs. Eftablish the like office in Brifiol, Liverpool, Dublin, and Edinburgh.

17. Eftablish an office folely and purpotely for deciding caufes and difputes by arbitration. To be compofed of capital merchants and others, of fenfe and unfullied integrity. This idea ftruck the great and enlarged minds of Lord Mansfield and Sir William Blackstone. Forcibly too did it strike that elegant fcholar, that generous and unfullied man, that eloquent pleader, the late Foter Bower. A lord of feveral villages in Caftille, (in order to counteract the chicanery and expences which opprefs the middling claffes) has erected a court, compofed of the oldest and most intelligent inhabitants, out of which the contending parties chufe umpires to fettle the differences without any other advo

cates.

66

44. A very interefting tract might be written On the Poverty and Sufferings of Men of Genius. Many felections might be made from the hiftory of various countries. Among the natives of this ifle, Orway and GoldSmith inftantly firike one--Nahumi Tate (who altered Lear) died in the Mint, where he was forced to feek fhelter, in extreme poverty-the belt part of the days of Collins (those days in which imagination is on the wing') were deprefied and chilled by melancholy poverty. Mr. Bofwell (about 1731 and 1732) relates two ftriking inftances of the poverty of Johnfon. The only confolation of Phædrus's fhip-wrecked man of genius was, the poffetlion of his talents

and fancy. See a book called De le fortunis Literorum; it is worth peru fal; it might be tranflated, with Notes, Additions, or Illuftrations.

"68. Were ten or twelve gentlemen of eafe and property (friends to each other) to meet once a week, they might form a club (known only to themfelves, and without any reference or proclamation to the public) by which they might difpenfe bleflings unknown. They might each perambulate different parts of this metropolis, privately to find out objects of moft deplorable diftrefs, fuch as in general efcape common obfervation. At each weekly meeting, each member might communicate the miserable objects he had beheld, and proportion the relief or charity to be given them. What urged Mr. Burke fo eloquently to paint the character of Mr. Howard, but from this latter gentleman's having fathomed the very depth of mifery?'

"The following paragraph (juft copied from a newspaper of April 1797) will thew how eafy and how very cheap it is to difpenfe comfort and happiness and bleffings to the poor: Six poor debtors were lat

week difcharged from Knottingley Gael, Pontefract, by the fum of 151. 155. given for that purpose, by B. Cooke, Elq. Poflibly thefe poor men had families farving, when deprived of the husband's labour. Who this Mr. Cooke is, I know not, but I am fure this record of his name is more cred:table than fuch inhuman, fuch brutal, and contemptible records as the following (and which one is fo frequently peftered with in the papers)

1797, April 11, Tuesday morning the trotting match against time, for a bet of 100 guineas, between Charles Herbert and R. Wilson, Esquires, was decided in favour of the former. The bet was, that Mr. Herbert's berfe Orbella would not trot 17 miles in an hour, en the Highgate road, to fet out from St. Giles's church, and he won is exally by one minute and twenty feconds."

Pere Bourdaloue, the beft preacher France ever produced, confecrated the latter part of his life to the service of the hofpitals, the poor, and the prifoners, and by his pathetic difcourfes and engaging manners, procured for them very bountiful alms. If the difcourfes of our enriched and wealthy bishops, are not so pathetic as

thofe