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The strong, and myftic Wand I wield 22;
In the dark Grove, that dims the field-
Not to the thoughtless Maid thy Secret yield!
The prefence of the monarch tree,
Will awe thy steps from infamy-23
Veil from the babler veil thy clofe decree!

The winds rufh o'er the mountain-snow;
The full-moon fhines; the green docks blow *.
Conceal thy thought from the deceitful foe †!·

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 spread,
Stags love funny vales to tread :-
Vain is forrow for the dead.

Fleet the ftag on mountain fnow;
Winds through afhen branches blow-
A staff's the prop of age below.

'Mid the fnow green woodbines rife ; All are bound by nature's-tiesAnger dwells not with the wife.

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 apostrophize the mountain Eryri, or Snowdon, the Parnaffus of Wales. We learn from Gildas, that the ancient Britons had an extraordinary veneration for mountains, groves2, and rivers.

22 A Druid is ufually defcribed with a staff in his hand; pro bably, fuch as Jacob's Staff, or Mofes's-Rod: We are like wife informed that the prefiding Wand of King Howel the Good, Lawgiver of the Welfh, about A. D. 940, was 18 feet long. 23 Perhaps the Druidical-grove was anciently an afylum, or place of refuge, fimilar to the Mofaic rite, and to our early Church; mentioned in Deuteronomy, chap. IV. verfe 41, and 42; fofbua, chap. XX.; Numbers, chap. XXV. v. 6.And in Leges Wallica, page 118.--According to the Laws of King Ina, the privilege of the Temple is thus recorded; "If any one guilty of a capital crime fhall take refuge in a Church, he fhall fave his life, and make recompence according to juftice and equity: If one deferving ftripes takes fanctuary, he fhall have the ftripes forgiven him." The custom of affording fanctuary to delinquents, exifted even till the reign of James I.

*We are informed by the modern Naturalifts, what was long known to the Druids; that the refulgent moon promotes vegetation.

I am indebted to the obliging difpofition of Mr. Jerningham, for his faithful Verfification of the first-four of the Druidical stanzas; and to the late Mr. Samwell, for the Verfion of the five laft.

1

Literally, the third foot to the aged is his ftaff.

They

The Druidical altars were often enclosed with Oaks, ftrewed with their leaves, and encircled with their branches: they alfo ferved for wreaths to deck the heads of the muficians, fingers, and dancers, and other votaries, that bore a part in their facred feftivals and folemnities. Carte's Hift. Vol. I. p. 43.

An Oaken garland to be worn on feltivals, among the Romans, was the recompenfe 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 taxes, 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.

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

2 The Oak was held in veneration among the ancient Britons 21. ver. 33. 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 stays Supreme in ftate; and in three more decays.

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

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

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DRUIDICAL MAXIMS, AND RELICKS.

They acknowledged one fupreme God.

The arcana of the sciences 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 destroyed, it would be by fire.

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.

Murderers, robbers, or thofe 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 a certain period of age, they highly commended; imagining that nothing contributed so much to stature, strength, 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 Dioclefian, (when a private foldier in Gaul,) that after he killed a wild boar, he should be emperor of Rome : which is the origin of Fletcher's play, called the Prophetess.

-2

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.

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The nobleft Druidical structures in this island, is the Temple | about 85 years before the Chriftian æra: he had three fons, of Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain; and the Temple of Ambri, Lludd, Cafwallon, and Nyniaw. Cafwallon oppofed Cæfar or Aubury, near Silbury, in Wiltshire. See Stukeley's Hift. about 55 years before Chrift. We are informed by Suetonius, There are many veftiges in Wales, which still retain the name that the Britons put Cæfar to flight, Dictatorem Cafarem repu of the Druids: viz. Llan y Derwyddon, the village of the Druids, liffent.) And Bale, in his Hiftory, fays, " Catfibelin repulfed near St. David's in Pembrokeshire Caer Drewyn, the bound, or Cæfar twice from Britain by force of arms.' See Lewis's town of the Druids, on the hill oppofite Corwen; and, Dryw Hiftory of Great Britain, fol. p. 76, and 80. goed, the grove of the Druids, in the parish of Llanddervel, Meirionethfhire; and Stanton Draw, in Somerfetfbire.

In early times the Druids and Bards, were the only legiflators, and their courts of judicature were called Gorfeddeu, which were fituated on the moft confpicuous eminence, in the open air; where caufes were tried, and judgement pronounced. One of thofe places ftill retains the name, Moel y varn, or, the hill of judgment; which is the high mountain above Malvern Wells, in Worcestershire. See more in the introduction of the 2nd Volume of this work; page XIV, the Notes.

A little after Cafar'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 cruelly perfecuted by Tiberius Claudius. And afterwards in the reign of Nero, by Julius Agricola, about A. D. 60.

3 Cafar's Commentaries, book vi. Carte's Hiftory of England, and Mona Antiqua.-Likewife, the feven Patriarchal Laws, are faid to relate to the following fubjects: Of avoiding Idolatry; Of blafpheming the Deity; Of the shedding of Blood; Of not revealing a perfon's nakednefs; Of Rapine and Theft; Of Judgments; Of not eating any part of an animal whilft alive. See alfo, Leviticus, chapters 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, &c. And the following is the Druidical Oath, which they administered to their difciples; By the bright circle of the golden Sun."

* Mona Antiqua.

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"King Cafwallon being elevated with joy for this fecond victory, over a people who ftiled themselves mafters of the world, 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 festivity and mirth. Accordingly they all readily appeared; and there was prepared a variety of facrifices. And it is faid, there was killed for that great banquet, 20,000 oxen, fifty thousand sheep, and alfo fowls of different kinds without number; befides thirty thousand wild beafts of various forts.

66

Ugain mil o fwyf filedd,

Yn feirw a las pan fu'r wledd.”

As foon as they had performed these folemn honours to their God, they feafted themselves on the remainder, as was usual at facrifices, and fpent the reft of the day and night in various plays, and fports." This is called, one of the three honourable Feafts of Britain; namely, The Feaft of Caswallon;

The Feast of Arelius Ambrofius; and The Pentecoft Feaft of King Arthur. Tyfilio's British Hiftory. The Verolamium Municipy, is celebrated by Spencer, and mentioned by Tacitus; alfo the chief feat of Cafwallon, fon of Beli, was near St. Albans, in Hertfordshire.

6

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 British Kings,

5 Beli, the fon of Manogan, reigned King over all Britain, publifhed by Dr. Stukeley.

Rhi

Rhi rhygeidwa

Ynys fel Feli,

Teithiawg oedd iddi.

I will found his praises high,

Darling fon of victory.

Chiefs, like him who guard the land,
Well deferve fupreme command.

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 Bards and Druids, at recovering the fecure poffeffion and exercise of their ancient poetical and mystical function, is described in a very animated manner by Lucan:

You too, ye Bards! whom facred raptures fire,

To chant your heroes to your country's lyre;
Who confecrate, in your immortal strain,
Brave patriot fouls in righteous battle flain;
Securely now the tuneful task renew,
And nobleft themes in deathless fongs purfue.

The Druids now, while arms are heard no more,
Old mysteries 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 sure unknown 7.

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

Y Derwyddon, or Druid-Bards, were the fathers of Literature; as is manifeft by the following extracts from the works of the Bards, and others.

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Pomp. Mela de fitu orbis, Lib. 3. and Tacitus, calleth the Druids (Sapientiæ 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 instructed in the doctrine of the Druids, came over into Britain to be taught.

Ammianus Marcellinus tells us, "In these places, among the rude unpolished knowledge of arts and fciences, begun and set up by Bards, Ovades, and Druids 10.

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

people, grew up the Likewife, Diogenes

Laertius

"The British letters are to be feen on the tomb ftone of Cad

9 Cafar, and others, comprehend all the three orders of Bar-van, King of North Wales, in the Church of Llangadwaladar, difm under the general name of Druids. Cæfar'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 first 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.

in Anglefey." Alfo, fee Rowland's Mond Antiqua, p. 156.
"For doth not Cæfar exprefsly fay, that the Druids (who
took their first instruction from Britain) had characters to write
their private affairs in, Grecis literis utuntur. Cæfar de Bell.
Gall. Lib. VI. chap. 13.-And there was a letter from Mr.
William Maurice of Cton 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." Infomuch, that in borrowing the words of Milton, we may say,

"That rather Greece from us these arts derived "."

12

The Druids and Bards were the divines, philofophers, phyficians, legiflators, prophets, and musicians of the ancient Britons and Gauls, in the ime of Paganism. They compofed hymns for the use of the temples, and fung 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 courfe of celestial bodies; the order and harmony of the spheres; the encomiums on the virtues of eminent men "2. In later periods, the Bards kept an account of the descent of families, emblazoned their arms, and wrote fongs on the valiant actions of illuftrious warriors in heroic verse, which they chanted to their harps; and confequently were the national hiftorians. And from them our ancient history hath been collected; and not only ours, but all ancient histories of other nations, (except perhaps the Jews,) have been collected from the same kind of materials.

Ye facred Bards, that to your harps melodious ftrings,

13

Sung th' ancient heroes deeds, (the monuments of kings 13.)

The orator Himerius, particularly defcribes the dress of Abaris, an Hyperborian, or a British Sage, who travelled into Greece, and fays, "Abaris came to Athens not clad in skins like a Scythian, but with a bow in his hand, a quiver hanging on his shoulders, a plaid wrapped about his body, a gilded belt encircled his loins, and trowfers reaching from the waist down to the foles of his feet 14."

The Druids, and the other orders of Bardism, wore their hair short, and their beards very long; they also wore long robes: 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; and fee page IV. of the Introduction to the 2d Vol. of this work.

This Bladud, the fon of Rhûn, was the founder of Bath. | who has fully examined every record extant on that fubject,
Some mention of him is made in Ponticus Verunius, and in John
Bale's Hiftory.

honeftly allows, in his Hiftory of the English Language, thefe words: "The Saxons firft entered Britain about the year 450. They feem to have been a people without learning, and very probably without an alphabet.'

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

Cæfar's Commentaries, Book V. chap. 10. fays: "The Britons used brass money, and iron rings of a certain weight." There still remain many very ancient British coins. Dr. Stukeley has favoured the world with twenty-three plates of impreffions, from the ancient coins of the Welsh 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 Effex ;) In his riegn our Saviour was born. Meurig, or Marius Rex, and his fon Coel Rex, who flourished about A. D. 127. Llês ab Coel, or Lucius Rex; in whofe reign the Britons embraced the Chriftian faith, about A. D. 179. Togodunus Rex, fon of Cynvelyn, King of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, flourished A. D. 40. Caradog, or Cara&acus Rex, King of North Wales. And Prafutagus Rex: King of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk; who both reigned A. D. 50. Buddug, or Boadicia Regina, A. D. 58. Gweirydd, or Arviragus Rex, A. D. 60. Gwallog 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 era. Carawn, or Caraufius, Emperor of Britain, who was born at St. David's, and where his money was struck, 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 these heroes are mentioned by Cafar, Tacitus, &c. Alfo, in 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 tombs in Wales. As a proof of this Affertion; Dr. Johnson,

Likewife Mr. Robert Vaughan the antiquary, in a letter' Archbishop Ufher, fays; "The Irish, 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 so 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 Gibson's Notes on Camden.

If the reader wishes 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 Archaologia Britannica, p. 225, &c. and p. 254

Dr. Borlafe has preferved a feries of British coins before their intercourfe with the Romans; See Borlafe's Antiquities of Cornwall, chap. XII. p. 259, &c. and plate XXIII, of the 2nd Edition.

"Milton's Paradife Regained. And Selden in his Tracts, p. 16. fays: "It appears plainly, that the Druids were the oldest ftanding among the Philofophers of the Gentiles, and the most ancient among their 'Guardians of Laws.”

of merit.

12 Drudiono Veirddion a vawl, The courageous of the Bards, Neb dragon namyn draig ai dirper. Celebrate no chief, but heroes Alfo, Pliny. Tacitus. Mona Antiqua. and Samme's Britannia, 13 Drayton's Poliolbion, 1ft Song.

14 Strabo, Orat. Apud Photium in Biblioth. p. 1135. and Carte's Hiftory of England, Vol. I. p. 69. Abaris, taught Pythagoras the doctrine of tranfmigration of fouls. Carte's Hift. p. 61. and 64. And Lewis's Hift p. 7.

"Toland's Hiftory of the Druids, p. 21. Mona Antiqua, p. 65.; and Samme's Brit. p. 101,

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." These were afterwards worn by the lay monks of Bardfey Island, in the beginning of Christianity, and were then called Cwvlau Dúon, or Black Cowls: (at which place Myrddin the Bard ftudied, ended his days, and was buried.) The Gauls, who borrowed this custom 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 Bard's Cowl, or Hood; which is still worn by the Capuchin Friars.

The Ovyddion, a third clafs of Druids, wore green garments; the symbol 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 Batds, who were the Ruling Order, wore uni-colour blue robes; the symbol of Heaven, Peace, and Fidelity. These colours are still worn by ecclefiaftical perfons. Blue was the favourite colour among the Britons, from the earliest time.-An old Welfh proverb occurs to me, which is as follows:

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There are feveral fcattered relics of the Bardic profeffion, which still may be traced in this Inland in the names of places; fuch as Alaw'r Beirdd, the portion of the Bards, in the parish of Llanvachreth : Llanvihangel tré'r Beirdd, the habitation of the Bards, in the parish of St. Michael; and Aberveirdd, or the Bard's River, in Anglesey. Maen y Bardd, the Bard's Stone, or Tomb, near Bwlch y Ddeu-vaen, in the parish of Llanglunin, Caernarvonfhire: and Bryn y Bár, the hill of the Bards, near Tal y Cavn: Pentre'r Beirdd, the village of the Bards, in the parish of Cegidva, Montgomery fhire. Court Brynn y Beirdd, the Court-hill of the Bards, near Llandeilo-vawr, Caermarthenshire. And Croes y Bár, 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 Philofophy. We are informed by Strabo, that Poetry was the firft Philofophy that ever was taught.

The Druids, expelled from Britain by Cæfar's legions, took refuge in Ireland, Bardfey, the Ifle of Man, the Isle of Hu, or Iona, and other places, which the Roman fword could not then reach. The theory of the British Mufic moved with them, and fettled in thofe regions, which from that period were for many ages the feats of learning and philofophy, till wars and diffenfions buried almost every trace of them in oblivion 2.

TheBards, 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 Mufic as well the Poetry of Britain, no doubt, received a tincture from the martial fpirit 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 répreft the fury of armies preparing to rush upon each other's spears: now With other echo taught the fhades

To answer, and refound far other fong *.

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

I have extracted what related to the Bards from an ancient manufcript, called Y Trioedd Ynys Prydain, (The Triads of the Ifle of Britain :) fuppofed to have been begun about the third, or fourth century. This is a brief Chronicle of the most 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

Martial; and Samme's Britannia, p. 116. In the Monaftery 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. of Monaftical Orders.

Formerly, there was a family of the name of Bard, that lived at Edleborough, and to whom the manor of Caversfield, in Buckinghamshire, belonged,

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

3 Ad Vifcum Druida, Druide cantare folebant. Ovid. And Mona Antiqua. + Milton's Paradife Loft. * Or, probably much earlier.

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