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Scotland

colonized

from Ireland.

the shore immediately opposite to Mona, and there first established their seat, either as the most central part of the two islands, considering them all in their religious view as subject to one influence, or as the most eligible spot for communication with the pri meval seat in Ireland, from which they came. It appears from the Greek, Roman, middle age, and modern accounts of druidism, that it inculcated a primacy of dignity and jurisdiction, of so much consequence, as to occasion frequent dissentions, and sometimes bloody wars. For it never can with any degree of probability be inferred, that druidism, which, in fact, was the very soul of Celtic society, should have passed from Gaul, and in its western progress have gradually traversed the island of Britain, and established in its western extremity the chief seat and center of its superstition, so as to fix to this spot the pre-eminent dignity of the sacred island. Be it then once for all acknowledged, that the ancient Irish annals are substantially true, when they simply narrate their original population from the Levant, their primeval institutions, and their preservation and transmission to a remote posterity, not only from the intrinsic evidence of their probability, but from the extrinsic proofs of the facts and circumstances, which tend to corroborate and confirm the thesis.

The question agitated more by modern than ancient writers, upon the priority of colonization, between Ireland and Scotland, almost goes the whole length of deciding the controversy, about the origin

of druidism, which is allowed on all hands to have prevailed amidst the earliest inhabitants of these islands, consequently to have proceeded with coloni

zation from one to the other.

called the

island.

It would be useless to refer to the authority of the Mona Irish annals themselves, although no other annals of sacred any antiquity or authority could be cited to contradict them. We shall rest contented in quoting authors, who pre-existed any controversy upon the subject; they will be admitted free from partiality or bias. Orosius, a Spanish priest, who in the fifth century wrote a history of the Miseries of Mankind, in seven books, at the suggestion of St. Augustine, says, that Ireland was inhabited by the nations of the Scots *. Venerable Bede, in the eighth century, born and living his whole life on the borders of Scotland, says, that Ireland is properly the original country of the Scots. Many intermediate authors speak the same language: but we shall close with Buchanan, who (being a Scot or Caledonian writer, possessed of much native partiality, he will be admitted on such a question above all exception) says, that all the inhabitants of Ireland were originally called Scots, as Orosius testifies; and our annals give an account, that the. Scots of Ireland passed over more than once into Scotland +. Independently then of Irish history, it

* Oros. l. i. c. 2. Hybernia Scotorum gentibus colitur.

Hist, Ang. J. i. c. 1. Hibernia propria Scotorum patria est. + Scoti Hibernia omnes kalitatores initio vocabantur, ut indicat Orosius, nec semel Scotorum ex Hibernia transitum in Albaniam actum nostri annales referunt. With this agree the Irish annals.

Ogham of the an

appears evident from the authority of other credible historians, that colonization moved eastward from Ireland to Britain; and as druidism, which was the religion of these colonists, proceeded in the same direction into Gaul, must it not be naturally inferred, that Mona, a romantic sequestered situation, peculiarly fitted to the mystic spirit of druidism*, was the most likely spot for the first Irish druids to have settled and continued in, as their primeval and chief seat, and that it received from that circumstance the appellation of the sacred island.

Two powerful demonstrations of the general and cient druids substantial authenticity of the ancient Irish history are to be drawn from the still visible relicts of the

early druidical institutions in this country; both of which have lately enriched the truly valuable Collectanea de rebus Hybernicis of the learned General Vallancey †. These are the druidical use of the Ogham character, and the Caberic rites. In confirmation of what he had before said, to prove that the Irish druids had a sacred or mystic character, in which they committed to writing those things, which it was their system and policy to keep from the knowledge of the laity, he has given twenty-one prints of monumen

* These and several other considerations upon the ancient traditions of Geoffry of Monmouth of the Storehenge obelisks having been transported from Ireland, brought the ingenious Dr. Cambell to this conclusion: The moral of this fable, if it has any, seems to be, that druidism was introduced into Ireland from Scythia, and into Britain from Ireland.-Survey of the South of Ireland, 228.

Vol. vi. pas. ii.

The

tal and other stones, which have been lately discovered in Ireland, with ogham inscriptions still in a perfectly legible state*. Dr. Warner, after Dr. Blackwell and others, gives a very explicit account of the nature and use of these ogham characters †. "There is a passage in the enquiry into the life of Homer, which confirms this account of the Irish druids. polite and ingenious author of that work, speaking of the ancient kingdoms of Assyria, Egypt, and Pho. nicia, tells us, that a great part of the administration having been brought into the hands of the sacred or der, they took all possible methods to keep up their authority, and aimed at nothing more than the raising their reputation for wisdom and knowledge. This rendered them at first envious of their discoveries, and then at pains to find out methods, how to transmit them to their descendants without imparting them to the vulgar. Here then was the origin of allegory and fable; nor did they stop at this, but as a second wrapper, and a remedy against the growing knowledge of the country, they invented or borrowed a new character for writing these allegories, which they called holy letters, because they must be known by none but the priests, nor used by them, but on divine matters. It is true, there was as yet no separation of wisdom: the philosopher and the divine, the legisla

Models of the ogham or bardic characters may be seen in

Parson's remains of Japhet, Dr. Ledwich, Mr. Davies, and other books, which they refer to, in which may be seen much curious learning about these very ancient characters.

+ Vol. 1. p. 63.

Cabyric mysteries.

tor and the poet, were all united in the same person; and silence and superstition made a necessary part of their institutions. It hath already been observed, that the Celtiberi who came into Ireland from Spain, had an early commerce with the Phoenicians, whose druids Doctor Blackwell speaks of in this passage; and from them this custom, and this art of writing, practised by the druids neither of Gaul nor Britain, might be derived. That this custom was in Ireland, is further confirmed by Ware, who says, that, besides the vulgar character, the ancient Irish used divers occult forms and arts of writing, which they called ogham, wherein they write their several concerns, of which character he found very much in an ancient parchment book which he had *."

Of all the religious ceremonies or mysteries of idolatrous cult, the Cabyria were the most ancient. They are mentioned by the oldest Greek writers† as religious feasts celebrated at Thebes in Lemnos, and especially in Samothracia, in honour of the Cabiric or great and powerful gods: they are spoken of as being prior even

* Ogham is the name of the sacred alphabet of the Irish, and signifies letters, learning, language, wisdom; and the learned Vallancey observes, Cadmus erected a temple in Baotia to Oca, as the goddess of wisdom. Besides many palpable references to other ancient authors, referring to ogham inscriptions, we shall close the subject by reference to the ogham inscription on Conan's tomb on Mount Callan, in the county of Clare, which has it oca; the original being translated from the Irish, means Long let him lie on the brink of this lake, beneath this oca, favourite of the sacred.-Adm bo socc aj loc sam oca cifa dil rof.

+ Diod. Sic. 1. v.

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