f'**'
INTRODUCTION. 29
E flBQmint of this island and its inliabitants, that about the beginning of the Christian era,
J ^Wroanguage of the ancient Brit()ps was the same, or very similar to that of GaiJ, or
TPxfDce at that time, and which is now beUeved to have been the parent language of the
Coptic, Erse, GseUc,* or Webb; for the intercourse between this island and Gaul, in
s time, as well as their relative situations, renders it more than probable, that
in was peopled from that part of the continent, as both Csesar and Tacitus affirm
j. and prove, by many strong and conclusive arguments.
- Though England might be peopled several centuries before the first accotmt we have
K>f it, yet the barbarous condition in which we perceive it to have been, is no more than
might rationally be expected. At the time when Julius Caesar invaded the island, about
foTty-iive years before the Christian era, even husbandry does not seem to have been
universally followed. Cattle constituted the chief wealth of numbers of the natives ;
.th^r towns, were only woods surrounded with a ditch, and barricadoed with trees,
where they enclosed their wives, their children, their domestics, and their flocks, in
«^rder to preserve them from the attacks of their enemies. The low state of knowledge
and refinement to which they had arrived, may be collected from the practice said to be
so prevalent, of several brothers and friends having their wives in common. If this
practice really existed, it may be considered as a sure test of their barbarity ; for though
the British lady, in her smart reply to the empress Julia, made as good a defence of it,
as could be done, yet it is certain, that no such custom would be allowed in any nation,
that had advanced to the least degree of civilization.
\ Bat the objects which most excite our attention, in a survey of the state of knowledge
f among us, before the conquest by the Romans, are the druids. They have been highly
spoken of by several writers ; so that our conception of these men is attended with a
pecoliar veneration, and we are ready to look upon them as having been persons of very
extiaordinaiy accomplishments. This deception has been heightened by our poets, who
e spread a glory roimd them, and have painted them in a manner, that- disposes us
them as almost divine. But if we reduce our ideas to the test of sober reason, we
not find much in the druids, diat was peculiarly excellent and valuable. They
the priests of the time, and, like other priests, had address and subtilty enough to
the people in absolute subjection. They were, likewise, magistrates as well as
, and had the determination of civil causes ; a circumstance which was the natural
both of their superior quality, and superior knowletlge ; for what knowledge then
was principally confined to them. However, the remains we have of the
i, do not give us a very high opinion of the progress they had made, though, no
daoftt, they went far beyond the rest of their countrymen, and it is probable, that some
few among them might be men of great wisdom. It has been contended by many of
the learned, that the druids much resembled the Persian magi, and that their knowledge
ITBS originally derived from the eaat. The best principles advanced by the druids, were,
•|}iat the DeiQr is one, and infinite, and that his worship ought not to be confined within
tnUa ; that all things derive their origin from heaven ; that the soul is immortal ; and
• The GkUc, or Erae tongue, is the name of that dialect of the ancient Celtic, which is spoken In the Scottish M ^Liwt. : the Galatiana or Gaols were so called from the redness of their hair ; and the Celtes Is supposed to tere been taken from the Greek word kelatai, used hj Homer and Pindar to signify Horsemen.
VjOOQ IC
