Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

254 DRUIDS.
cal and antiquarian evidence which is imaginary, I need
only further remark on this subject, that where these
writers ought to refer solely to the classical authors, who
can be the only real evidence in this case, they quote
each other as authority. It is vain for Borlase to quote
Keysler and Stukely, who were as visionary as himself.
They add nothing- to the evidence; and the authority of
the one is as good as that of the other. With greater
folly is Toland referred to as an authority, when he has
shown that he was incapable of seeing what was before
his eyes, and has proved that a regard for truth was, with
him, nothing in comparison to the imaginary necessity of
supporting his system. Had these writers been content
with the only real evidence which the case affords, in-
stead of enlarging on each other's fancies, the whole mat-
ter of their endless volumes might have been condensed
into a very small space indeed, and the question would
long ago have come to a state of rest.
I must now attempt to give a very brief statement of
all that we really do know of the Druids from the clas-
sical authorities ; omitting however the greater part of
the quotations and references, partly because they have
been so often given to the world, and partly because
the limits and nature of this sketch will not allow of such
details.
I may commence with Ctesar's authority, as the chief;
and that the Druids formed a religious order appears
from the passage in which he says, " Druidse divinis
rebus intersunt, sacrificia publica et privata procurant,
religiosjes interpretantur." From him also we learn that
they exercised the powers of excommunication ;
" sacri-
ficiis interdicunt." Should the patient however have
died under excommunication, they seem to have acted
with more liberality than St. Ernulphus, since they
offered sacrifices for the benefit of his soul. The chief