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Marchwiail derw mwynllwyn;
A dynn fy nhroed o gadwyn-
Nac addef dy rîn i Forwyn.
Marchwiail Bedw briglás;
A dynn fy nbroed o 'wanas·
Nac addef dy rîn i Wâs.

Eiry mynydd, gwyn pób tỷ,
Cynnefin brán a chanu -
Ni ddaw dâ o dra chyfgu.

Eiry mynydd, gwyn brig gwrŷfg;
Gochwiban gwynt yn nherfyfg: →
Trêch fydd anian, nag addyfg.
Eiry mynydd pyfg yn rhýd;
Cyrchid arw culgrwm cwmclyd-
Hiraeth am farw ni 'weryd.

Eiry mynydd, bydd ym mron;
Gochwiban gwynt uwch blaen onn
Trydydd troed i hên ei ffon.

Eiry mynydd, gwynt ai tawl;
Llydan lloergan, glás tafawl:-
Odyd dŷn diriaid dihawl.

Eiry mynydd, glás gwyddfyd;

Naturiaeth pawb ai dilyd :

Ni bydd ddoeth yn hîr mewn llîd.

Freedom by my fide, I fweep,

Through the Oak-grove, dark and deepFrom a Maid thy Counsel keep.

Liberty I feek, and have,

Where green birchen branches wave --

Keep a fecret from a Knave.

Snow, a robe o'er hamlets flings;

In the wood the raven fings
Too much fleep no profit brings.

See the foreft white with fnows!
Hark! the ftorm of winter blows-
Nature beyond learning goes.

When the mountain fnow is fpread,
Stags love funny vales to tread :-
Vain is forrow for the dead.

Fleet the flag on mountain fnow;
Winds through afhen branches blow-
Aftaff's the prop of age below.

Fair the moon's refplendent bow,
Shining on the mountain fnow-
Peace, the wicked never know.

'Mid the fnow green woodbines rife ;

All are bound by nature's-ties

Anger dwells not with the wife.

I am indebted to the obliging difpofition of Mr Samwell, for the faithful and elegant verfification of the above Druidical Verfes.

In the three first of these triambics, the Druids feem to invocate their groves, and fet forth their facerdotal privileges and exemptions. In the others, they apoftrophize the mountain Eryri or Snowdon, the Parnaffus of Wales. We learn from Gildas, that the ancient Britons had an extraordinary veneration for mountains, groves, and rivers.

yoked, were brought forth and offered up to the Deity, with prayers that he would profper thofe to whom he had given fo precious a boon. Of the Mileto, thus gathered, they made a potion, which they administered as an antidote to all poifons; and ufed it as a remedy to prevent barrennefs: (probably the berries).

In fome parts of Wales, the Mileto is called Oll-iach, Allheal; Pren Awyr, the Celestial Tree; and Uchelwydd, the lofty Shrub. Befides the Mifleto, the Druids ritually gathered the Selago, or Firr Club-mofs; and the Samolus, or Round-leaved Water Pimpernal; both which they applied to medicinal purpofes. Pliny's Nat. Hift, XVI. C. 44.-And Evelyn's Sylva, with notes by Dr. Hunter.

Sir John Colbatch has published a curious Differtation on the Efficacy of the Mileto; in the year 1720. Octavo, 2d edition. Likewife, Dr. Marx, has published a book on the Virtues of Acorn Coffee. See the mode of making it, in the Annual Register for 1779, p. 122. of the 2d part. Printed by Dodfley. Literally, the third foot to the aged is his staff.

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2 The Oak was held in veneration among the ancient Britons and Gauls.

High as his topmost boughs to Heaven afcend,
So low his roots to hell's dominions tend.

The monarch Oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rifing up, and fpreads by flow degrees:
Three centuries he grows, and three he itays
Supreme in ftate; and in three more decays.

Georg. II.

Dryden,

The Druidical altars were often enclosed with Oaks, ftrewed with their leaves, and encircled with their branches: they also

Maxims

ferved for wreaths to deck the heads of the muficians, fingers, and dancers, and other votaries, that bore a part in their facred festivals and folemnities. Carte's Hift. Vol. I. p. 42.

An Oaken garland to be worn on feftivals, was the recom penfe of one who had faved the life of a citizen in battle. Likewife, the leaves of Oak were used in token of victory. Addifon.

The Druids and Bards were excufed from perfonal attendance in war, nor did they pay taxcs, and had an immunity of all things: the Priests and Levites among the Hebrews, enjoyed the fame privileges. Ezra, 7. 24.

We find remains of Druidical Monuments in many parts of Britain; fome in groves, others on the tops of bare hills; which bear a strong fimilitude with the customs of the early patriarchs, mentioned in Sacred History.

"And Mofes wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Ifrael." Exodus, chap. 24. ver. 4.

"And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-fheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God." Chap.

21. ver. 33.

"And Mofes faid unto the Lord, the people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou chargeft us, faying, fet bounds about the mount, and fanctify it." Exodus, chap. 19. ver. 23.

"And Joshua wrote thefe words in the Book of the Law of God, and took a great ftone, and fet it up there under an Oak, that was, by the fanctuary of the Lord." Jofbua, chap. 24. ver .26. The

Maxims of the Druids.

They acknowledged one fupreme God.

The arcana of the fciences were not committed to writing, but to the memory.
Great care was taken in the education of children.

None were inftructed but in the facred groves.

Souls were deemed immortal; and tranfmigrated into other bodies, after death.

If the world was deftroyed, it would be by fire, or water.

He that came laft to the affembly of the States, was liable to be punished with death.

The disobedient was excluded from attending at the facrifices; deprived of the benefit of the law; rendered incapable of any employ; and his fociety avoided by all.

Prisoners of war, robbers, or those that committed heinous crimes, were either flain on the altars, or burnt alive enclosed in wicker, as a facrifice to the Deity.

Nothing but the life of man could atone for the life of another.

Abstinence from women, until fuch a period of age, they highly commended; imagining that nothing contributed fo much to ftature, ftrength, and vigour of body: but to have any commerce of that kind before the age of twenty, was accounted ignominious in the highest degree.

They derived the origin of all things from heaven 3.

These articles may serve to give a specimen of the principles and religion of the Druids, who flourished a long while in Britain, Ireland, Gaul, &c. There were Druideffes, as well as Druids. It was a female Druid of Tungria, according to Vopifcus, that foretold to Dioclesian, (when a private foldier in Gaul,) that after he killed a boar, he should be emperor of Rome +.

The following fragment was addreffed to Beli Mawr, or King Beli the Great; Father of Cafwallon (or Caffivelaunus,) the celebrated oppofer of Julius Cæfar: and is, perhaps, the oldest historical poetry

of the Britons.

Draig amgyffrau odd uch llan lleftrau lady,
Llad yn eurgyrn, eurgyrn yn llaw, llaw yn ysgi,
Ysgi yn modrydaf:

Ffur iti iolaf

Buddug Feli ab Monogan;

The nobleft Druidical structures in this ifland, is the Temple of Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain; and the Temple of Ambri, Dinas Ambri, or Ambury, in Wiltshire. See Stukeley's Hift.

There are many veftiges in Wales, which ftill retain the name of the Druids: viz. Llan y Derwyddon, the village of the Druids, near St David's, in Pembrokeshire. Cerrig y Druidion, the ftones of the Druids, a village in Denbighshire. Caer Drewyn, the bound or town of the Druid, on the hill oppofite Corwen: and, Dryw-goed, the grove of the Druids, in the parish of Llanddervel, Meirionethfhire and Stanton Druw, Somersetshire.

In early times, the Druids were the only legiflators, and their courts of judicature were called Gorfeddeu, which were fituated on the most confpicuous eminence, in the open air; where caufes were tried, and judgement pronounced. One of those places ftill retains the name, Moel y varn, or, the hill of Judgment; which is the mountain above Malvern Wells, in Worcestershire.

A little after Cæfar's time, the Druids ceafed in Gaul, yet in Britain they flourished long after. Pliny, Lib. 30. c. I.

It is recorded, that the Druids were perfecuted by Tiberius. And afterwards in the reign of Nero, by Julius Agricola, about A. D. 60.

3 Cæfar's Commentaries, book vi. Carte's Hiftory of England, and Mona Antiqua.

4 Mona Antiqua.

Beli, the ion of Manogan, reigned King over all Britain, about 85 years before the Chriftian era: he had three fons, Lludd, Cafwallon, and Nymnyan. Cafwallon oppofed Cæfar about 55 years before Chrift. We are informed by Suetonius, that the Britons put Cæfar to flight (Dictatorem Cæfarem repu

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Great Monogan's gallant fon.

lifent.) And Bale, in his Hiftory, fays, "Cafibelin repulfed
Cæfar twice from Britain by force of arms," See Lewis's

Hiftory of Great Britain, Fol. p. 76. and 80.

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King Cafwallon being elevated with joy for this fecond victory, over a people who ftiled themselves mafters of the world; and he commanded the chief Herald to make a proclamation, and to fend letters to fummon all the nobility of Britain with their wives to London, in order to partake of feftivity and mirth. Accordingly they all readily appeared, and prepared variety of facrifices. And it is faid, there was killed for that great banquet, 20,000 oxen, fifty thousand fheep, and alfo fowls of different kinds without number, befides thirty thousand wild beaits of various forts.

"Ugain mil o fwyftfiledd,

Yn feirw a las pan fu'r wledd."

As foon as they had performed these folemn honours to their
Gods; they feafted themselves on the remainder, as was ufual at
facrifices; and spent the reft of the day and night in various plays
and sports." This is called one of the three honourable Feasts
of Britain: namely, The Feaft of Cafwallon;

The Feast of Arelius Ambrofius;
and, The Pentecoft Feaft of King Arthur.
Tyfilio's British Hiftory.
The Verulanian Municipy, celebrated by Spenfer, and men-
tioned by Tacitus, the chief feat of Caswallon; was near St.
Albans, in Hertfordshire.

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Manogan, father of Beli Mawr, was King of Britain about 120 years before Chrift. There is a coin of Manogan Rex, defcribed among the plates of coins of the ancient Welsh Kings, by Dr. Stukeley.

Rhi

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Rhi rbygeidwa

Ynys fel Feli,
Teithiawg oedd iddi.

I will found his praises high,

Darling fon of victory.

Chiefs, like him who guard the land,

Well deserve supreme command.

Verfified by Mr Samwell.

When the Roman legions, after the invafion of Britain, and the conqueft of the Gallic provinces, were recalled to oppose the power of Pompey in Italy, the exultation of the Druids and Bards, at recovering the secure poffeffion and exercise of their ancient myftical and poetical function, is described in a very animated manner by Lucan:

The Druids now, while arms are heard no more,

Old myfteries and barb'rous rites restore:

A tribe who fingular religion love,

And haunt the lonely coverts of the grove.
To these, and these of all mankind alone,
The Gods are fure reveal'd, or fure unknown.
You too, ye Bards! whom facred raptures fire,
To chaunt your heroes to your country's lyre;
Who confecrate, in your immortal ftrain,
Brave patriot fouls in righteous battle flain;
Securely now the tuneful task renew,

And nobleft themes in deathlefs fongs pursue 7.

Such was the new but imperfectly difcovered fcene which the great Cæfar's ambition opened in Britain. Nor are these accounts only imperfect; they are alfo partially delivered, as fome bold spirits, even among the Romans, have hinted.

r Derwyddon, the Druids, were the Fathers of Literature; as is manifeft by the following extracts from the works of the Bards, and others.

Derwyddon doethur,

Ye fapient Druids,

Darogenwch i Arthur.

Prophesy to Arthur.

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Hidden but from God, the magi of the world,
and investigating Druids.

Druids celebrate the re-appearing

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of the liberal rulers,

pofterity of the warriors

of Snowdon.

Pomp. Mela de fitu orbis, Lib. 3. and Tacitus, calleth the Druids (Sapientia Magiftri), the Masters of Wisdom. We are alfo informed by Cæfar, that their order and difcipline originated in Britain; and was from thence conveyed into Gaul: and thofe, who defired to be perfectly inftructed in the doctrine of the Druids, came over into Britain to be taught.

Ammianus Marcellinus tells us, "In these places, among the rude unpolished people, grew up the knowledge of arts and feiences, begun and fet up by Bards, Ovades, and Druids ." Likewife, Diogenes

7 Rowe's Lucan, b. i. v. 785, &c.

• Suetonii Vitæ. Lucan Pharfalia.

Cafar's Commentaries, Book VI. chap. 13. and Carte's Hift. of England, Vol. I. p. 61.

10 Ammianus Marcellinus, Lib. XV. chap. 9. Mona Antiqua. Alfo, Wolfangus Lazius (upon the report of Marcellinus) "declareth, that the Greek letters were firit brought to Athens by Timagenes, from the Druids. The Scripture informs us, that Aftrology and Hebrew letters were invented by Seth and Enos. The following obfervations by the late Lewis Morris, Efq. is too curious to omit; therefore, I will give it here in his own words.

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Laertius

"The British letters are to be seen on the tomb-stone of Cad-
van, King of North Wales, in the Church of Llangadwaladar,
in Anglesey." Alfo, fee Rowland's Mona Antiqua. p. 156.
took their firft inftruction from Britain) had characters to write
"For doth not Cæfar exprefsly fay, that the Druids (who
their private affairs in, Græcis literis utuntur. Cæfar de Bell.
Gall. Lib. VI. chap. 13.- And there was a letter from Mr.
William Maurice, of Cevn y Braich, to Mr. Robert Vaughan
the antiquary; giving an account of a British coin (mentioned
in Camden's Britannia) of Bleiddyd, Bladud, or Blatos, a King
of Britain fome hundreds of years before the coming of the
Romans; the coin is now in the Cottonian Library: but Cam-
den owned he could make nothing of it."

This

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Laertius fays of them, "that they taught obfcurely and enigmatically their points of philofophy." much, that in borrowing the words of Milton, we may fay,

"That rather Greece from us thefe arts deriv'd ".

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The Druids and Bards were the divines, philofophers, legiflators, phyficians, prophets and musicians, of the ancient Britons and Gauls, in the time of Paganifm. They compofed hymns for the ufe of the temples, and accompanied them with their harps: (not unlike the fingers and muficians among the Jewish Levites). They fang the effence and immortality of the foul; the works of nature; the course of celestial bodies; the order and harmony of the spheres; the encomiums on the virtues of eminent men 1. In later periods, they kept an account of the defcent of families, emblazoned their arms, and wrote fongs on the valiant actions of illuftrious warriors in heroic verfe, which they chanted to their harps; and confequently were the national hiftorians. And from them our ancient hiftory hath been collected; and not only ours, but all ancient hiftories of other nations, (except perhaps the Jews) have been collected from the fame kind of materials.

Ye facred Bards, that to your harps melodious ftrings,

Sung th' ancient heroes deeds, (the monuments of kings "3.)

The orator Himerius, particularly defcribes the drefs of Abaris, an Hyperborian, or a British Sage, who travelled into Greece; and says, "Abaris came to Athens not clad in fkins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his fhoulders, a plad wrapped about his body, a gilded belt encircling his loins, and trowfers reaching from the waift down to the foles of his feet 4."

The Druids, and the other orders of Bardifm, wore their hair fhort, and their beards very long; they alfo wore long habits: but the Druids had on white furplices, whenever they religioufly officiated". The habit of a Druid, taken from an ancient statue, is to be found in Mona Antiqua; and Druids and Druideffes are delineated in Fricki's Commentatio de Druidis.

This Bladud, the fon of Rhun, was the founder of Bath Some mention of him is made in Ponticus Verunius, and in John Bale's History.

Some years ago, there was a medal of our Saviour, with Hebrew characters on the reverfe fide of it, found at Bryn Gwyn, the Supreme Tribunal of the Druids, in Anglefey; which is now in the Afhmolean Museum, Oxford. See Mona Antiqua, p. 93. of the 2d edition.

Cæfar's Commentaries, Book V. chap. 10. fays: "The Britons used brafs money, and iron rings of a certain weight." There ftill remain many very ancient British coins. Dr. Stukeley has favoured the world with twenty-three plates of impreffions, from the ancient coins of the Welfh kings. And among them, a coin of Bleiddyd, Blatos, or Bladud, King of Britain, about 900 years before Chrift. Coins of Manogan Rex, who reigned about 130 years before the Chriftian era; of Cynvelyn, or Cunobelin, King of the Caffivelauni, (whofe royal feat was at Caer-Meguaid, or Malden, in Eflex;) In his reign our Saviour was born. Meurig, or Marius Rex, and his fon Coel Rex, who flourished about A. D. 127. Lles ab Coel, or Lucius Rex; in whofe reign the Britons embraced the Chriftian faith, about A. D. 179. Cogiduvnus Rex, fon of Cynvelyn, King of Gloucefterfhire and Oxfordshire, flourished A. D. 40. Cariadoc, or Caractacus Rex, King of North Wales. And Prafutagus Rex: King of Cambridgefhire, Norfolk, and Suffolk; who both reigned A. D. 50. Buddug, or Boadicia Regina, A. D. 58. Gweirydd, or Arviragus Rex, A. D. 60. Gallog ab Leenawg, or Galgacus Rex, called one of the three Worthies of Britain, who overcame the Romans in battle, about fifty years before the Chriftian æra. Caravin, or Caraufius, Emperor of Britain, who was born at St. David's, and where his money were ftruck, about A. D. 280: fee one of his coins in Mona Antiqua, Plate the 8th, which was found in Anglefey: From him Tre-garawn, and the river Caron, in North Wales, derive their names. Some of thefe heroes are mentioned by Cafar, Tacitus, &c. Alfo, Stukeley's Medalic Hiftory. Pegge's Effay on Coins. Langwith on Coins. Lewis's Hiftory of Great Britain. And, A Differtation upon Gorwen, or Oriuna, the fuppofed wife of Caraufius.

The ancient British characters, which now erroneously are called the Saxon letters; are ftill to be found on pillars, and 5

tombs, in Wales. As a proof of this affertion; Dr. Johnfon, who has fully examined every record extant on that fubject, honeftly confeffes, in his History of the English Language, thefe words: "The Saxons first entered Britain about the year 450. They seem to have been a people without learning, and very probably without an alphabet."

Likewife, Mr. Robert Vaughan the antiquary, in a letter to Archbishop Ufher, fays; "The Irifh, and Saxon characters were the old British."

According to Salmon's Chronology; in the early part of Alfred's reign, there was hardly a layman in England that could read English, or a priest that understood Latin.

In the time of King Henry the VIIIth, there was found at Ambrefbury, in Wiltshire, a table of metal, which appeared to be tin and lead commixed, infcribed with many letters, but in fo strange a character, that neither Sir Thomas Eliot, nor Mr. Lily, School-mafter of St. Paul's, could read it, and therefore neglected it. Had it been preferved, probably it might have led to fome difcovery. See Gibfon's Notes to Camden.

If the reader wifes for a further illuftration of the ancient British letters, I refer him to Mr. Edward Lhwyd's learned Preface, which is tranflated into English in Lewis's Hiftory of Great Britain; Fol. p. 59 of the Introduction. Alfo, Lhwyd's Archa▪ ologia Britannica, p. 225, &c. and p. 254.

Milton's Paradife Regained. And Selden in his Tracts, p. 16. fays: "It appears plainly, that the Druids were the oldeft ftanding among the Philofophers of the Gentiles, and the moft ancient among their Guardians of Laws." 12 Drudion o Veirddion a vawl

Neb dragon namyn draig ai dirper.

The courageous of the Bards,
Celebrate no chief, but chiefs of merit.

Cynddelw.

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The Druidical Bards likewife wore an ecclefiaftical ornament during the celebration of their rites, called Bardd gwell, which was an azure garment with a cowl to it: "The fky-worn robes of ten'reft blue." This was afterwards worn by the lay monks of Bardfey Ifland, in the beginning of Chriftianity, and were then called Cyliau Dúon, or Black Cowls: (at which place Myrddin the Bard ftudied, ended his days, and where he was buried.) The Gauls, who borrowed this cuftom from the Bards, wore the Cucullus remarkably long, whence it obtained, on its being made ufe of at Rome, the name of Bardo-cucullus, or the Bards Cowl, or Hood; which is ftill worn by the Capuchin Friars.

The Ovyddion, a third clafs of Druids, wore green garments; the fymbol of Youth, Learning, and Love. "Peace o'er the world her olive-wand extends,

"And white-rob'd innocence from Heav'n defcends."

The Sacerdotal Order of Druids wore white; as an emblem of Truth, and Piety. The Bards, whe were the Ruling Order, wore uni-colour blue robes; the fymbol of Heaven, Peace, and Fidelity. Thefe colours are ftill worn by ecclefiaftical perfons. Blue was the favourite colour among the Britons, from the earliest time. There is an old Welsh proverb:

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There are several scattered relics of the Bardic profeffion, which still may be traced in this Ifland, in the names of places: fuch as Alaw'r Beirdd, the portion of the Bards, in the parish of Llanvachreth: Llanvihangel trêr Beirdd, the habitation of the Bards, in the parish of St. Michael: and Aberveirdd, or the Bards River, in Anglesey. Maen y Bardd, the Bard's Stone, or Tomb, near Bwlch y Ddeu-vaen, in the parish of Llanglunin, Carnarvonfhire: and Bryn y Bâr, the hill of the Bards, near Tal y Cavn. Pentre'r Beirdd, the village of the Bards, in the parish of Cegidva, Montgomeryfhire. Court Brynn y Beirdd, the Court-hill of the Bards, near Llandeilo-vawr, Carmarthenshire. And Croes y Bar, the Cross of the Bards, in the parish of Eglwys-ilan, Glamorganfhire.

From the Welsh word Bardd, is derived the English word Bard, and the Latin Bardus: the plural is Beirdd, Bards, or Bardi: And, Barddas, Barddawd, and Barddoniaeth; is Poetry, History, or Philosophy. We are informed by Strabo, that Poetry was the first Philosophy that ever was taught. The Druids, expelled from Britain by the legions, took refuge in Ireland, Bardsey, and the Isle of Man; places which the Roman fword could not then reach. The theory of the British Mufic moved with them, and fettled in Ireland, which from that period were for many ages the feats of learning and philofophy, till wars and diffentions buried almost every trace of them in oblivion *.

The Bards, having now loft their facred Druidical character, began to appear in an honourable, though lefs dignified capacity at the courts of the British kings. The Oak Miffelto3 was deprived of its ancient authority, and the fword prevailed in its place. The Mufick as well as the Poetry of Britain, no doubt, received a tincture from the martial spirit of the times: and the Bards, who once had dedicated their profeffion to the worship of the gods in their fylvan temples, the celebration of public folemnities, and the praise of all the arts of peace, and who had repreft the fury of armies preparing to rush upon each other's spears: now

- With other echo taught the shades

To answer, and refound far other fong 4.

If, while Britain remained a Roman province, the defultory wars produced any compofitions that deserved to live, they were deftroyed by the calamity that occafioned them.

I have extracted what related to the Bards from an ancient manufcript, called r Trioedd Ynys Prydain, (the Triades of the Ifle of Britain :) fuppofed to have been begun about the third or fourth century. This is a brief Chronicle of the moft remarkable occurrences, or traditions of former times; and appears to have been continued to the feventh century, which is the latest period noticed in that memorial. The

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Martial, and Samme's Britannia, p. 116. In the Monastery

of St. David's, about the beginning of the fixth century, they were cloathed with garments of fkins. And in the Monaftery of Clunny, the habit of the Monks was a great frock with a black hood, over a white garment. Gabriel D'Emillianne's Hift. f Monaftical Orders.

2 An Account of the British or Cambrian Mufic, by Mr. Lewis Morris. Hift. Gilde, apud Gales Scriptores, Vol. I. p. 16. and Lewis's Hiftory of Brit. p. 228.

3 Ad Vifcum Druidæ, Druide cantare folebant. Ovid. See Mona Antiqua. 4 Milton's Paradise Loft. *Or, probably much earlier.

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