were poor and obscure men, and they had no regular places set apart for divine worship, and their adherents were in a forlorn and unprotected state. This gene rous prince raised the Christians from their low condition, erected suitable places for the celebration of religious services, and thus became a nursing-father to the church. During the tenth general persecution, under the emperor Dioclesian, the Christians in Britain were for a short time great sufferers. It is said that at this time the Christian religion was nearly rooted out of the country, and they who suffered martyrdom were almost without number. Gildas says, "that their churches were thrown down, and all the books of the Holy Scriptures that could be found were burnt in the streets, and the chosen priests of the flock of our Lord, together with the innocent sheep, murdered; so that in some parts of the province, no footsteps of the Christian religion appeared. How many did then flee, how many were destroyed, how many different kinds of sufferings some did endure, how great was the ruin of apostates, how glorious the crown of martyrdom!" Bede adds, "It made Britain to be honoured with many holy martyrs, who firmly stood and died in the confession of their faith." 15. AN ACCOUNT OF THE DRUIDS. DRUIDISM prevailed chiefly in Britain and in Gaul, though it may be found among other Celtic nations; and owing to a peculiarity of national character, which perhaps may be said to remain to the present day, the Britons were more famous for the observance of their religion than the Gauls. For this circumstance we have the authority of Cæsar, who says that "such of the Gauls as were desirous of being thoroughly instructed in the principles of their religion (which was the same with that of the Britons), usually took a journey into Britain for that purpose.' The religion obtained its name from the Druids, who were its principal priests, and held in very high estimation. Cæsar affirms, that the nobles and the Druids were the only two privileged orders among the Britons. So greatly were they honoured, that the people, supposing them peculiar favourites of the gods, were perfectly obedient to their commands; and even when two hostile armies met, and were on the point of engaging in battle, they sheathed their swords on the mediation of the Druids. The persons of these priests were esteemed sacred and inviolable; they were even exempted from all taxes and military services; and, in fact, they enjoyed so many immunities and distinctions, that princes were ambitious of being admitted among them. The dignity of Arch-druid, or the supreme head of the order, was attended with so many honours, and so much power and riches, that the election of a person to fill it sometimes even occasioned a civil war. The generality of the Druids seem to have lived a kind of monastic life. The services of every temple required the attendance of a considerable number of them; and these lived in community in the neighbourhood of the temple. The Arch-druid had his residence in the isle of Anglesea, and he there maintained an ecclesiastical court in all the magnificence of the times. Vestiges of his palaces are still remaining. It is also very probable, that some of these ancient priests lived in seclusion as hermits; and the small circular houses in the western islands of Scotland, which are called by the people "Druids' houses," were most likely inhabited by such persons. All of them are supposed to have lived in celibacy; but this is not absolutely certain. They were at any rate attended and associated with a number of female devotees, called Druidesses, who assisted in the duties, and shared the honours and emoluments of the priesthood. The Roman soldiers were much terrified at seeing a number of these consecrated females, who ran up and down among the ranks of the British army, with flaming torches in their hands and imprecated the wrath of heaven on the invaders of their country. With respect to the doctrines of the Druids, they had two sets of opinions-the one for the initiated, and the other for the vulgar. The former was considered to contain only genuine truth, in its simple form; the other admitted a variety of fables, which were thought better adapted for popular comprehension. The Druids were exceedingly jealous of their secret doctrines, and took a variety of precautions to prevent them from transpiring. They never committed them to writing, and they taught their disciples in caves, or the deepest recesses of forests, that they might not be heard by the uninitiated. In consequence of this strict concealment, we have at the present time but a very imperfect knowledge of these doctrines. It is tolerably certain that the unity of the Godhead, and that there is one God, the creator and governor of the universe, was one of the doctrines of the Druids. There is also abundant evidence that the Druids taught the immortality of the souls of men; and Mela tells us, that this was one of their secret doctrines, which they were permitted to publish for political rather than religious reasons. But though such might be the secret doctrines of the Druids, their public ones were far less agreeable to truth and reason. They taught the people that there were a great number of gods; and they partly invented, and partly adopted, an infinity of fables respecting them. These fables were generally contained in sacred verses, and were delivered by the Druids from little eminences (many of which are still remaining) to the surrounding multitudes. With these narratives were, of course, mixed many moral precepts; and their orations are said to have made great impression on the people, inspiring them with veneration for their gods, "an ardent love to their country, an undaunted courage, and a sovereign contempt for death." "Their Supreme Being was originally worshipped under the name of Heses: the worship of the sun was |