Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/17

 to their gods to attempt to enclose their emblems in an edifice surrounded by walls, and erected by mortal hands; the forest was their temple, and a rough, unhewn stone their altar. They worshipped Tecanus, another name for Jupiter, the god of thunder; Mercury and Mars, under the appellation of Teutates and Hesus; Apollo, whom they designated Belēnus; Diana, as Arduine; and Andate, the goddess of victory.

Besides these—who may be regarded as their superior deities, they had a great number of inferior ones. Each wood, fountain, lake, and mountain had its tutelary genius, whom they were accustomed to invoke with sacrifice and prayer. The priests of this terrible idolatry were divided into three separate orders, under the command of a chief, who was elected for life, whose power was unlimited, and who alone was suffered to pronounce the fearful sentence of excommunication, which deprived the victim of sacerdotal wrath of all civil rights.



The first of these divisions consisted, properly speaking, of Druids only; they were the interpreters of the laws, which they never permitted to be committed to writing, the instructors of youth, and the judges of the people—a tremendous power to be lodged in the hands of any peculiar class, but doubly dangerous when the ignorance, cruelty, and superstition of the race they tyrannised over are duly considered.

The second class, the Eubates, may be looked upon in the light of the working clergy; they were charged with the sacrifices and divinations. The last and inferior division was those of the Bards, whose duty it was to preserve in verse the memory of any remarkable event; to celebrate the triumph of their heroes; and, by their exhortation and songs, excite the chiefs and people to deeds of courage and daring on the day of battle.

It is impossible not to be struck by the profound cunning which presided over the organisation of this tremendous priesthood, which concentrated all authority in its hands. Its ministers placed themselves between man and the altar, permitting his approach only in mystery and gloom. They wrought upon his imagination by the sacrifice of human life, and the most terrible denunciations of the anger of their gods on all who opposed them. As the instructors of youth, they moulded the pliant mind, and fashioned it to their purpose; as the judges of the people, there was no appeal against their decisions, for none but the Druids could pronounce authoritatively what was the law, there being no written code to refer to; they alone possessed the right to recompense or punish: thus the present and future welfare of their followers alike depended upon them.

The severest penalty inflicted by the Druids was the interdiction of the sacrifice to those who had offended them. Woe to the unhappy wretch on whom the awful sentence fell! He ceased to be considered a human being. Like the beast of the forest, his life was at the mercy of any one who chose to take it. He lost all civil rights, and could neither inherit land nor sue for the recovery of debts; every one was at liberty to spoil his property; even his nearest kindred fled from him in horror and aversion, as from the pest.

With such a tremendous weapon at their command, no wonder the Druids were all powerful. We have since seen it used, in comparatively modern times, by the ministers of a purer and more enlightened faith, with a similar effect.

It is now time to give some account of the dogmas of this extinct superstition, once the general faith of Britain. Like the monks of the middle ages, the Druids of the higher orders lived in community in the remote depths of the vast gloomy forests, where they celebrated their rites. In these retreats they initiated the youthful aspirants for the sacerdoce, who frequently passed a novitiate of twenty years