Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/314

Rh 302 properly so called, a Goidelic people closely akin to, indeed almost identical with, the Irish. In Galloway was another branch of Picts, called Gwyddel Ffichti by the Welsh, that is, Goidelic or Irish Picts, part of the Cruitne who leaked over from Ireland like the Scots. In the beginning of the 6th century the Romanized Britons were giving way everywhere before the Teutonic tribes, and the only independent territory which they appear to have held comprised (1) The Damnonian kingdom of Devon and Cornwall ; (2) the part of Eastern Wales now forming Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, which later formed the principality or lordship of Poivys, and perhaps even yet all the land to the Severn, that is, Herefordshire and Shropshire ; (3) Cumbria, that is, all the land from the Ribble to the Solway west of the Pennine chain, and all the Lowlands of Scotland to the Roman Wall, save Galloway, and Guotodin, or Linlithgow (includ ing part of Stirlingshire), Edinburgh, and Haddingtonshire ; (4) Bryneich, Bernicia, that is, Berwickshire, Durham, and Northumberland ; (5) Dijfr, or Deira, that is, Yorkshire. The ancient dioceses of Scotland, even as they existed in tlie 13th century, seem to mark out very well the ethnic condition of the Lowlands in the early part of the 6th century. The diocese of Galloway included the territory of the Irish Picts; the diocese of Lothian, which had three rural deaneries (1) Linlithgow, or Manau Guotodin (comprising the shire of that name, part of Stirlinghshire, and the most of Edinburgh), occupied by the Brithwyr, a mixed race of Picts and Britons, according to Mr Skene ; (2) Haddington and the remainder of Edinburgh, that is, Guotodin, in which, as we have said, there was an early settlement of Frisians, or Angles ; and (3) Merse, that is, Berwick. The continued existence of a Goidelic or Pictish population on the south side of the Firth of Forth, even in Berwickshire, down to as late as the 8th century at least, seems to be shown by the existence there of churches belonging to the ancient diocese of Dunkeld. In the 13th century they formed a separate deanery of that dbcese, which appears to have corresponded with the Gi&amp;gt;idelic population of Guotodin. Frydain, the Cymric or true British country of the Lowlands, was consequently conterminous with the diocese of Glasgow, comprising the five rural deaneries of Glasgow proper Rutherglen, Len nox, Lanark, Kyle and Cunniughame, and Carrick ; and the four deaneries of the archdeaconry of Teviotsdale, Teviotsdale, Peebles, Nithsdale, and Annandale. This was the region called y Gogled, though it is probable that this term was applied to the whole of the independent British territory, that is, Cumbria as well as Prydain proper ; but whatever was its extent, y Goyled was the cradle of the language and literature of Wales. It was the country of its prehistoric poets Aneurin and Llywarch Hen, and of the seer Merlin, whose fame was so great in the Middle Ages, and who is also reckoned among the early poets of the Welsh. To complete this ethnic picture of Britain at the dawn of Celtic literature it would be necessary to give a sketch of the political and social state of the various Celtic tribes, so far as we could directly or by induction ascertain it. &quot;But as the articles BREHON LAW and CLANS give perhaps enough of this kind of information for the purpose we have in view, we refer the readers to those articles. TheDruids. In the earlier stages of tribal organization among the Aryans and other races, the chief was priest as well as king. But the Celts appear to have already passed into a higher political stage before they came within the light of history, and to have established a distinct priesthood known to us as that of the Druids. Greek and Roman writers give us very little information on this subject, and the early Welsh records and poetry none at all. Modern Welsh writers have, however, made up for this want in their genuine literature by inventing an elaborate Druidical system of religion and philosophy, which, they pretend, survived the introduction of Christianity, and was secretly upheld by the Welsh bards in the Middle Ages. This neo- Druidic imposture has found numerous adherents, and has been supported with a good deal of misspent learning by several persons of considerable talent. It would be a waste of time to say anything further on the subject here. In Irish poems and tales Druids, and other organized learned classes, are frequently mentioned. From an analysis of these, and aided by whatever light the classical writers throw on the Druidism of Gaul and Britain, we may make the following induction as to their position and organization in Ireland, where they cannot have been very different from what they were in other Celtic countries. There are no definite accounts of the religious rites practised bj the pagan Irish, but there are several allusions, which, though vague, plainly show that such rites existed, and that it was one of the functions of the Druids to perform them. The Druids also invoked the divinities in favour of their friends and against their enemies, and for this purpose they made incantations upon a mound or elevated ground near the field of battle. They determined, by auguries from the heavenly bodies, clouds, wind, smoke, the flight of birds, and other phenomena, the propitious and unpropitious times for fight ing a battle, or doing any other important action. They announced the Gaesa or things which it would be unlucky for a chief or a tribe to do, foretold future events, practised incantations of various kinds, kept events in remembrance, and were, in a word, the depositaries of such knowledge as was possessed in Ireland at the time. Many of these functions belong equally to the persons usually called poets, and among the qualifications of the higher grade of the latter was a knowledge of certain kinds of incantation, some of which involved many pagan rites, the practice of which we find distinctly ascribed to Druids. That the latter were therefore only a higher degree of the order of poets ssems certain. As such they naturally perf ormed or superintended all the higher pagan rites, and hence the whole order, of which they were the highest representatives, were called Druids. After the introduction of Christianity the hieratic functions of the Druids ceased, and the term Druid, which had been the special appellative of the poets who performed those functions, gradually fell into desuetude. But the order of which they were the highest exponents did not disappear as it did in Gaul ; there its lay functions were swept away by Roman law, whereas in Ireland they acquired new vigour. In pagan times the poets enjoyed great power and many privileges, both of which they are said to have abused to such an extent that it was proposed to banish them altogether out of Ireland. Through the intercession of the mythical king of Ulster, Conchobar Mac Nessa, this, we are told, was not done ; their number was, however, diminished, and their power and privileges curtailed. Among other changes said to have been then effected was that of depriving the poets of the functions of judge, which they had hitherto performed. This legend indicates the existence at some period immediately preced ing the introduction of Christianity of a struggle between the lay and the spiritual power, in which the former were to some extent successful. The struggle continued even into Christian times, for in the 6th century it was again proposed to banish them, but on this occasion they were protected by St Columcille, not, however, without a further diminution of their number and loss of power. The organization of the learned classes, as we find it described in Irish manuscripts, is no doubt to be referred to the Dal or parliament holden at Druimceta about the year 575, at which -were present the king of the Dalriadic