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They are attributed to the Etruscans, of course, on much the same grounds as Stonehenge is attributed to the Druids because in the minds of the people who made the attribution Etruscans and Druids were each in their own place the ne plus ultra of aboriginal antiquity.
The conjecture is confirmed by the observation that in Wales a real sprig of mistletoe gathered on Midsummer Eve is similarly placed under the pillow to induce prophetic dreams; and further the mode of catching the imaginary bloom of the oak in a white cloth is exactly that which was employed by the Druids to catch the real mistletoe when it dropped from the bough of the oak, severed by the golden sickle.
The great seat of the religion of the druids was Armorika, and, above all, Britain; there existed the most powerful of their sacerdotal colleges there were celebrated the most secret of their mysteries. It is wondrous thing, that religion of the ancient druids! A solemn mystery enshrouds it all the efforts of modern science cannot lift the veil.
And this is not the sole circumstance which leads us to believe that among them learning had advanced no further than its infancy. The scholars of the Druids, like those of Pythagoras, were carefully enjoined a long and religious silence: for, if barbarians come to acquire any knowledge, it is rather by instruction than, examination; they must therefore be silent.
If there is any truth in this conjecture, the real reason why the Druids worshipped a mistletoe-bearing oak above all other trees of the forest was a belief that every such oak had not only been struck by lightning but bore among its branches a visible emanation of the celestial fire; so that in cutting the mistletoe with mystic rites they were securing for themselves all the magical properties of a thunder-bolt.
But with the religious elements, at the same time coarse and mystical, were united two facts of importance: the Druids formed a veritable ecclesiastical corporation, which had, throughout Gallic society, fixed attributes, special manners and customs, an existence at the same time distinct and national; and in the wars with Rome this corporation became the most faithful representatives and the most persistent defenders of Gallic independence and nationality.
"They have images of immense size, the limbs of which are framed with twisted twigs and filled with living persons. These being set on fire, those within are encompassed by the flames." Many attempts have been made by Celtic writers to shake the testimony of the Roman historians to this fact, but without success. The Druids observed two festivals in each year.
No man, excepting the very oldest druids, have ever or ever will set foot on the Isle of Sen." "And when you go there to see your daughter?" "I do not step on the isle. I stop at the little island of Kellor. There I wait for my daughter, and she goes there to meet me." "Friend Joel," said the traveler, "you have so willed it that I be your guest; I am that, and, as such, I ask a service of you.
Here he found much the same kind of paganism as Patrick had found in Ireland. The king's priests and wise men, here as in Ireland, went by the name of Druids, Magi in Latin, and professed to have influence with the powers of nature.
Galli, the Gauls, the people of ancient Gaul, now France; their country preferable to that of the Germans, G. i. 31; their manner of attacking towns, ii.6; of greater stature than the Romans, 30; quick and hasty in their resolves, iii.8; forward in undertaking wars, but soon fainting under misfortunes, 19; their manners, chiefs, druids, discipline, cavalry, religion, origin, marriages, and funerals, vi.13; their country geographically described, i.1
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