The Ancient And Mysterious Order Of The Druids.

THE ANCIENT AND MYSTERIOUS ORDER OF THE DRUIDS .

LOHBOST , SATURDAY , STHPTMMB 1 EP 23 , 1867 .

By JAMES EEEDEEICK SPUEB , P . M . 200 , Scarborough , & c . The best authorities on the subject of the Druids seem to agree ia the following description of them .

They were the first and most distinguished order amongst both the Gauls and Britons they were chosen from the best families , and the honours of their birth , joined with those of their functions , procured them the highest veneration

of the people . They Avere versed in astrology , geometry , natural philosophy , politics , and geography they were the interpreters of religion , and the judges of all affairs indifferently ; they were the instructors of the youth , and taught by

memory , as they never allowed their instructions to be written . Their garments Avere remarkably long , and when employed in religious ceremonies they always wore a white surplice . They generally carried a wand in their hand , and wore a kind of

ornament , enchased in gold , about their necks , called the Druids' Egg . They are also represented Avith a hatchet in their girdle , used for

cutting the misletoe . They believed m the immortality of the soul , and worshipped one supreme being . They attached a degree of sanctity to the oak , and wore chaplets of it in their religious ceremonies . They , were deeply versed in

astronomy , and computed their time by nights and not by days , and all their great solemnities , both sacred and civil , were regulated by the age and aspect of the moon . Their most august ceremony of cutting the misletoe from the oak Avas always performed on

the 6 th day of the moon . In medicine , also , they were great proficients , and possessed , in fact , great store of knowledge in all sciences , so much so that Pliny speaks of them as practising magic , and being so great proficients therein as to equal

the Persians and Chaldean Magi , so that one would even think , he says , that the Druids had taught it them . The number 3 Avas said to be a favourite number with them , and that part of their religions Avorship consisted in a solemn adoration , or three

silent bowings . The Romans , on their invasion , endeavoured to exterminate the Druids , but it does not appear that they induced the natives to adopt their own system of polytheism . The seeds of

their ancient religion still continued implanted in their minds , and opened a ready access to the doctrines of Christianity , which , are said to have made more progress in this country and Gaul ( from the time of the first preaching of the

Gospel ) than in any other . Of this old patriarchal religion the only remains , in substance , to be found at present , are the stone temples , of which but few , if any , are in so perfect a state as the one near Keswick , in Cumberland . The groves have long

since fallen beneath the axe , and most of the stone temples have been spoiled for the value of the materials , in making fences , or roads , or mending habitations * the mallet of the geologist now comes in to aid the destruction , so that , in a feAT years

more , this temple , like the rest , may disappear . Of the forms and ceremonies of the religion , no traces are to be found , except in the representations of scenes of magic , in which Ave invariably see the magic circle , the Avitch in a robe , with a Avand in her hand , and various other allusions to Druidical ceremonies . Who can think of the

subject Avithout calling to mind the scene in "Macbeth , " Avhere Hecate , by way of preparation for the incantation , says to the Avitches : —¦ " I ' m for the air . . . Upon the corner of the Moon

There hangs a vaporous drop profound , I'll catch it , ere it come to ground ; And that , distill'd by magic slights , Shall raise such artificial sprights , As by the strength of their illusion , Shall draw him on to his confusion . "

Part of the ingredients of the caldron were slips of yeAV , shivered in in the moon ' s eclipse . " Time rolls his ceaseless course , " bearing on his wings the lessons of divine truth to the different regions of the earth . How many forms of religion have

already been cast into the shade by them ? And the period will doubtless arrive when the temple of Jagganatha , now an object of veneration to millions , will , with his ceremonies , become the subject of some legendary tale , or like the Druids '

temple , a mere theme for the antiquary . That the earliest temples and altars Avere formed of stones , rough \ and unhewn , is , I believe , admitted by all writers . Numerous passages may be quoted from the Old Testament in allusion to it , but one

amongst the best may be noticed more particularly , viz .: Exodus , xxiv ., 4— " Aud Moses rose early in the morning and builded an altar under the hill , and tAvelve pillars , according to the twelve tribes of Israel . " It appears also that in patriarchal