suspending it in the church. This instance occurred
about thirty years ago."

* * * * *

THE DRUIDS AND THEIR TIMES.

_Translated from the Notes to Oberon, Uber das romantische Epos. By C.M.
Wieland_.

The people were, during this period, in a state of the most abject
vassalage; two classes alone possessing all rank and dignity, and for the
most part all the riches of the country. These were the Druids and the
warriors. The former composed an order consisting of three classes, Druids,
Prophets, and Bards; all of whom were subject to the power of the
Arch-Druid. To this order appertained the knowledge of all the sciences
which were then understood. The Druids were the expounders of religious
mysteries, the framers of laws, the pronouncers of judgments, and the
arbitrators of rewards or punishments. The immunity which they enjoyed
from war, allured many young men to enrol themselves in this order. Their
education was a poetical one, for it was necessary to learn by rote
several thousand verses, in which all the knowledge then extant was
contained.

Kings were the servants of the Druids; and could not, without their
sanction, declare war or conclude peace; nor even assemble a council. In
reality, the Druids possessed the kingly power, and those who bore the
name of royalty, were the mere agents who executed their commands. The
first had all the authority; the latter only the odium, which attached
itself to the office of the sovereign. In matters of little importance,
they yielded to the monarch a trifling pre-eminence. He was permitted to
wear seven different colours in his cloak, while they were modestly
content with six. But even in things of imaginary importance, the Druids
took care, that while they conceded but little to their king, no one
should be nearly equal to them in dignity. Persons of the highest rank
were only allowed to wear four colours, and the inferior grades
proportionally fewer. The Druids wore long garments reaching to their
heels; all others had them so short that they scarcely covered the knees.
Their hair was kept short, the rest of the nation wore theirs long; while
they suffered their beard to grow, others were obliged to submit their
chins to the knife. They carried in their hand a white staff, called
"_Slatan drui eachd_," or magic wand, and hung around their necks an amulet
in the form of an egg, set in gold. The object of these distinctions
appears to h