RELIGION OF THE DRUIDS.

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connected with it; yet it ought never to be forgotten, that in ages past, amid the primeval oak-groves of our country, these Druids taught the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. This is alluded to by the Latin poet Lucan, when he says:

"And you, O Druids, free from noise and arms,
Renew'd your barbarous rites and horrid charms;
What gods, what powers in happy mansions dwell,
Or only you, or all but you can tell.

To secret shades and unfrequented groves,
From world and cares your peaceful tribe removes ;
You teach that souls eas'd of their mortal load, ཁ
Not with grim Pluto make their dark abode,-
Nor wander in pale troops along the silent flood,
But on new regions cast resume their reign,
Content to govern earthly frames again.
Thus death is nothing but the line between
The lives that are to come and that have been.

Happy the people by your charms possest,
Nor fate, nor fears, disturb their peaceful breast;
On certain dangers unconcerned they run,

And meet with pleasure what they would not shun;
Defy Death's slighted power, and bravely scorn

To spare a life that will so soon return."

Though the Druids were spread all over England, yet their chief seat was in Mona, or what is now called the Island of Anglesea, at the extreme end of North Wales. This was sometimes called the Shady Island, and appears to have been, from its groves and trees, the most suitable place in England for Druidical worship. But from this their last stronghold they were driven by the Romans, who crossed the Menai Straits, defeated the armies opposed to them, and completely destroyed the sacred groves of the Druids.2

2 There is no question so difficult to clear up as one relating to the derivation of a name; and though we have no desire to weary our readers with a discussion about the origin of the word Druid, yet we think the following extract is worthy of notice, from the evident learning and research it displays. It is taken from a communication of Mr. Jones, inserted in Toland's History of the Druids :-"I say that Druides, or Druidae, is a word that is derived from the British word Drudion; being the name of certain wise, discreet, learned, and religious persons among the Britons. Druidon is the plural number of this primitive word Drud. By adding ion to the singular number, you make the plural of it secundum formam Britannorum; sic Drud, Drudion. This primitive word Drud has many significations. One signification is Dialwr; that is, a revenger, or one that redresseth wrong; for so the justices called Drudion did supply the place of magistrates. Another signification, Krevlon, and that signifies cruel and merciless ; for they did execute justice most righteously, and punished offenders most severely. Drud signifies also glew and prid; that is, valiant or hardy. Drud is also dear or precious, unde venit Drudanieth, which is dearth. These Drudion among

Nearly two thousand years have passed since then; under the oaktrees from which the old Druid cut the mistletoe, Saxon Parliaments, or Wittenagemots, have doubtless been held, and in all likelihood many a Christian church now occupies the site of one of these old oak-groves. The Druids have gone, the Roman empire has gone, millions of human beings since then have lived and died; but the truth of the old Scripture saying is revealed: "Generation after generation passeth away; but the earth endureth for ever." And still, as of old, the shady island— the Island of Mona, Anglesea, stands facing the troubled waters of the Irish Sea, précisely as it did when the Roman legions landed on its shores. The Straits passed by the soldiers of Agricola remain; the old forests and the sacred groves have disappeared; but the earth on which they stood "abideth for ever." And "the shady isle" is now covered with thriving towns and villages; its shores are noisy with the din of traffic, and over the remains of old forests and Druid stones stretch the iron fibres of that familiar wonder, a modern railway; while across those Straits are hung two masterpieces of human skill, the graceful and

the Britons by their office did determine all kind of matters, as well private as public, and were justices as well in religious matters and controversies, as in law matters and controversies, for offences of death and title of laws. These did the sacrifices to the heathen gods, and the sacrifices could not be made without them; and they did forbid sacrifices to be done by any man that did not obey their decree and sentence. All the arts, sciences, learning, philosophy, and divinity that were taught in the land, were taught by them; and they taught by memory, and never would that their knowledge and learning should be put in writing; whereby, when they were suppressed by the Emperor of Rome in the beginning of Christianity, their learning, arts, laws, sacrifices, and governments, were lost and extinguished here in this land; so that I can find no more mention of any of their deeds in our tongue than I have set down, but that they dwelt in rocks, and woods, and dark places, and some places in our land had their names from them, and are called after their names to this day. And the island of Mone, or Anglesea, is taken to be one of their chiefest seats in Britain, because it was a solitary island full of wood, and not inhabited of any but themselves; and then the isle of Mone, which is called Anglesea, was called yr Inys Dowyll; that is, the dark island. And after that the Drudion were suppressed, the huge groves which they favoured and kept afoot were rooted up, and that ground tilled. Then that island did yield such abundance and plenty of corn, that it might sustain and keep all Wales with bread; and therefore there arose then a proverb, and yet is to this day, viz. Mon mam Gymbrv; that is, Mon, the mother of Wales. Some do term the proverb thus, Mon mam Gynedd; that is, Mon, the mother of North Wales; that is, that Mon was able to nourish and foster upon bread all Wales or North Wales. And after that this dark island had cast out for many years such abundance of corn where the disclosed woods and groves were, it surceased to yield corn, and yielded such plenty of grass for cattle, that the countrymen left off their great tilling, and turned it to grazing and breeding of cattle, and that did continue among them wonderful plentiful, so that it was an admirable thing to be heard, how so little a plat of ground should breed such great number of cattle; and now the inhabitants do till a great part of it, and breed a great number of cattle on the other part."

FORESTS UNDER THE ROMANS AND SAXONS.

35 the fairy-like suspension, and the massive gigantic tubular bridge; two works before which the mightiest Roman of Rome's mightiest days would pause in admiration and in awe.

The Romans were not "mighty hunters ;" and during the time they occupied Britain they appear to have used the forests only for purposes of utility. They had, if we are to believe some historians, iron furnaces in the forest of Dean; and through that forest ran one of their great roads. They must also have required a large supply of timber for their galleys, especially in the neighbourhood of such ports as Chester, subject to sudden and frequent incursions of the native inhabitants, who had taken refuge in Wales. But no forest boundaries were marked by them, no enclosures were made, and the woodland parts of the country remained as they were under the Britons.

When the Saxons came, this state of things was entirely altered. That hardy race were hunters from their childhood. They loved to chase the wild-boar and the deer through these primeval forests; and they talked of their exploits in hunting with as much pride as of their daring deeds in war. They loved to burnish their hunting weapons, and to keep their horses and hounds in a high state of training. Both kings and nobles delighted in the pleasures of the chase; and among their highest accomplishments, and the part of their education most carefully attended to, was reckoned skill, courage, and address in hunting. In Asser's Life of King Alfred this is specially referred to.

race.

The forest hunting-grounds of the Saxons extended over many woodland districts, whose character in our days is entirely changed. The Saxon noble had his large house or hall built in the forest, which supplied the timber of which it was constructed. Here, with his numerous retainers, his billmen and bowmen, his hunters, his "born thralls," and his swineherds, he indulged in that coarse, gross, plentiful way of living, and almost unlimited hospitality, which characterised his The forest enabled him to be generous and profuse, for it then abounded with game. His mornings were spent in the chase, pursuing the boar and the deer; and his evenings in boisterous mirth, and often excessive drinking, in his old halls, surrounded by his retainers and by trophies won from the forest game. A wandering minstrel or a holy pilgrim occasionally enlivened the scene; and often the mirthful troop was broken up by a hasty summons "to arms," to defend themselves from the attacks of organised and almost licensed robbers, or to march to the assistance of the king. No books shed their influence over these assemblies; and even Christianity had scarcely had time to eradicate all traces of the old pagan superstition. But there were other

C

mansions besides those of the nobles in the pleasant places of the forests. The clergy had (about the time of the Norman invasion) obtained possession of nearly one-third of the country, and in the most agreeable spots, amid shady woods and by silvery rivers, had erected their religious houses. Many forest districts belonged to them; and traces of their claims on forest produce lingered long in the history of our country. Many a band of outlaws, living by plunder, found refuge in those days in the forest; and many a holy man, disgusted with the world around him, sought refuge in the forest, where,

"Far in a wild remote from public view,

From youth to age the reverend hermit grew;
Remote from man, with God he passed his days,
Prayer all his business, all his pleasure praise."

Strangely has England altered since then. The old forests are wholly or partially gone; towns and cities have risen where the forests stood; the sound of industry is heard instead of the hunter's buglehorn; and instead of the bell on the warder's tower ringing out the summons to arms, there is the bell of the Christian church summon

ing to the house of prayer. Bold outlaws and holy hermits have disappeared, the abbeys and monasteries are in ruins, and of many of the old halls it may be said:

"All silent and sad is the roofless abode,

And lonely the dark raven's sheltering tree,
And traversed by few is the grass-covered road,
Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trod
To his hills that encircle the sea.'

Better and brighter days have come; and the phrase of "merrie England in the olden time" is allowed a general toleration, because it contains something that is hearty, though little that is true.

It is in the time of the Saxons that we first find any trace of the enacting of laws for the forests of England, and the clear definition of their boundaries. And here it is necessary that we should explain what perhaps ought to have been explained at the very beginningnamely, what really, truly, and legally is the meaning of the word FOREST. The etymology of the word seems somewhat obscure; but its legal meaning in England is thus clearly defined in Manwood's Forest Laws, a work of great authority. We quote from the blackletter edition published in 1598.. "A forrest is a certen territorie of

1 Campbell.