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Article AN ACCOUNT OF DRUIDISM. ← Page 5 of 6 →
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An Account Of Druidism.
country inhabited by fairies , called Givnistiari , which answers to our Fairy-land ; and that the ancient romances pf Persia are full of Peri , or fairies * . Mr . Warton +, in his Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen , is decided in his opinion that the fairies came frona the East ; bat he justly remarks , that they were introduced into this country long before the period of the crusades . The race , of fairies , he informs us , not universall
were established in Europe in very early times , but " y , " says Mr . Warton . The fairies were confined to the north , of Europeto the . ultima Thule—to the British isles—to the divisis orbe Britannis . -They were unknown at this remote tera to the Gauls . or the Germans ; and they were , probably , familiarto the vallies of Scotland andDanmo ^ - -nium , when Gaul and Germany were yet . unpeopled either by real or imaginary beings . The belief , indeed , of such invisible -agents , assigned to different parts of nature , prevails at this very day in
Scotland , and in Devonshire and Cornwall , regularly transmitted from the remotest antiquity to- the present times , and tptally unconnected with the spurious romance of the Crusader or the Pilgrim . Hence those superstitious notions now existing in our western villages ,- where the Spriggian % are stillbelieved to delude benig hted travellers , to discover hidden treasures , to influence the weather , and to rule the winds . " Thisthen" our-excellent critic in the most decisive
manner—, , says , f this , " says Warton , " strengthens the hypothesis of the northern parts of Europe being peopled by colonies from the East ! " The inhabitants of Shetland and the isles pour libations of milk or beer through a holed stone , in honour to the spirit Brovsne , and I doubt not but the'Danmonii were accustomed to sacrifice to the same spirit , since the Cornish , and the Devonians on the borders of Cornwall , invoke , to this day , the
spirit Browny , on the swarming of their bees . With respect to rivers , it is a certain fact that the primitive Britonspaid them divine honours '; even now , in many parts of Devonshire and Cornwall , the vulgar may be said to worship brooks and wells , to which they , resort at stated periods , performing various ceremonies in honour of those consecrated , rwatcrs-: and the Highlanders , to this day , talk with great respect of the Genius of the Sea never bathe in a fountainlest the elegant spirit
. ; , that resides in it should be offended and remove ; and mention not the water of rivers without prefixing to it the name of e ' xceller . t' % ; and in one of the western islands the inhabitants retained the custom ' , to the . close of the last century , cf making an annual sacrifice to the Genius of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Account Of Druidism.
country inhabited by fairies , called Givnistiari , which answers to our Fairy-land ; and that the ancient romances pf Persia are full of Peri , or fairies * . Mr . Warton +, in his Observations on Spenser's Faery Queen , is decided in his opinion that the fairies came frona the East ; bat he justly remarks , that they were introduced into this country long before the period of the crusades . The race , of fairies , he informs us , not universall
were established in Europe in very early times , but " y , " says Mr . Warton . The fairies were confined to the north , of Europeto the . ultima Thule—to the British isles—to the divisis orbe Britannis . -They were unknown at this remote tera to the Gauls . or the Germans ; and they were , probably , familiarto the vallies of Scotland andDanmo ^ - -nium , when Gaul and Germany were yet . unpeopled either by real or imaginary beings . The belief , indeed , of such invisible -agents , assigned to different parts of nature , prevails at this very day in
Scotland , and in Devonshire and Cornwall , regularly transmitted from the remotest antiquity to- the present times , and tptally unconnected with the spurious romance of the Crusader or the Pilgrim . Hence those superstitious notions now existing in our western villages ,- where the Spriggian % are stillbelieved to delude benig hted travellers , to discover hidden treasures , to influence the weather , and to rule the winds . " Thisthen" our-excellent critic in the most decisive
manner—, , says , f this , " says Warton , " strengthens the hypothesis of the northern parts of Europe being peopled by colonies from the East ! " The inhabitants of Shetland and the isles pour libations of milk or beer through a holed stone , in honour to the spirit Brovsne , and I doubt not but the'Danmonii were accustomed to sacrifice to the same spirit , since the Cornish , and the Devonians on the borders of Cornwall , invoke , to this day , the
spirit Browny , on the swarming of their bees . With respect to rivers , it is a certain fact that the primitive Britonspaid them divine honours '; even now , in many parts of Devonshire and Cornwall , the vulgar may be said to worship brooks and wells , to which they , resort at stated periods , performing various ceremonies in honour of those consecrated , rwatcrs-: and the Highlanders , to this day , talk with great respect of the Genius of the Sea never bathe in a fountainlest the elegant spirit
. ; , that resides in it should be offended and remove ; and mention not the water of rivers without prefixing to it the name of e ' xceller . t' % ; and in one of the western islands the inhabitants retained the custom ' , to the . close of the last century , cf making an annual sacrifice to the Genius of