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—"258 NOTES.—no one but the priest is allowed to touch. He perceives whenthe goddess enters the chariot, and follows her, drawn by whiteheifers, with the most profound veneration. Then are joyfuldays—then the priest honours every festive place with his presenceand hospitality—then they do not enter into wars—thenthey do not take up arms ; every sword is sheathed — peace andtranquillity are then only known, then only regarded; till atlength the same priest restores the goddess, satiated with the conversationof mortals, to her temple. Immediately the chariot,the veil, and, if you will believe it, the goddess herself, is washedin a secret lake, and the servants, who assisted at this religiousprocession, are instantly drowned in the same lake. Hence theresprings a holy ignorance, a secret terror, and men blindly wonderwhat that can be, which cannot be seen without subjectingthe beholders to certain death. Tacitus de Morib. Germ, cap. 13.Having clearly established that sacrifices were offered in Germany,it remains to be proved that these sacrifices were not offeredby Germans. Caesar having given an account of the Celticreligion, and particularly of their human sacrifices, proceedsto give us an account of the Germans in these words Germanimultum ah hac consuetudine differ unt. Nam neque Druides ha,bent qui divinis rebus presznt, neque sucrijiciis student^ i, e. " TheGermans differ much from this custom, for they neither havepriests (Druids) who preside in divine affairs, nor do they troubletheir head about sacrifices at all."—De Bello Gallico^ lib. 6.cap. 21.Thus it is clearly established by Cffisar, that the Germans orGoths had neither priests nor sacrifices, and, by Tacitus, thatboth priests and sacrifires were to be found in Germany, particularlyamong the Suevi, who deduced their origin from theSemnones^ i. e. the Galli Senones, a Celtic tribe who burntRome, besieged the capital, and were afterwards overcome byCannUus. Hence we do not hesitate to ascribe to the Celts,whatever Druidical rites and monuments we find in Germany,And as the Celts were the preiecursors of the Gothic, and at all