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A new edition of Toland's History of the druids: - Free History Ebooks

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pass betwixt <strong>the</strong> fires,NOTES. 27f>makes <strong>the</strong>m march directly acrcss <strong>the</strong>m.Indeed he supposed <strong>the</strong> Druids were kind enough to anoint fhefeet <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> criminals, and render <strong>the</strong>m in?ulnerable by <strong>the</strong> lliimes.If so, <strong>the</strong>re could hare been nei<strong>the</strong>r danger nor trial. It mayslso be remarked, that had <strong>the</strong> doctor'shypo<strong>the</strong>sis been wellfounded, <strong>the</strong>re ^vas no occasion for two fires, vphereas,by thaphrase, between BeVs two Jires^ we know that two were used.Doctor Smith has evidently confounded <strong>the</strong> Galha Bheil, with afeat practised hy <strong>the</strong> Hirpins on Mount Soracte^ <strong>of</strong> wliich 1 shalltake notice in its proper place.Note XXXVII.—Page 118.Archdruid, Sfc.—On <strong>the</strong> testimony <strong>of</strong> Cassar, all <strong>the</strong> Druids.were subject fo an archdruid.His autem omnibus Di'uidibusprccest unus qpt summam inter eos kabet auctoritatem.— Lib. 6.cap. 13. i. e. *' One Druid presides over all <strong>the</strong> rest, and ispossessed <strong>of</strong> supreme authority among <strong>the</strong>m."Coibh'i, <strong>the</strong> Gaelic name <strong>of</strong> this archdruid, is mentioned byDede in his Ecdcdastical <strong>History</strong>^ book 2, chap. 13.mils porMJicuni ipsius Co?/? continiio rcspo7idit, Sfc.—Qidpri^Adjecit ait*tern Co2/?, quia vellet ipsiim raulinum diligentius audire de Deo.quern prcedlcabat, ^c. i. e. *' To whom C<strong>of</strong>ji, his chief priest,immediately replied, &c. Cotji also added, because ha wishedto hoar Pauliuus more diligently concerning <strong>the</strong> god whom hepreached, &c." This Coifi was chief priest and counsellor taEdwin, king <strong>of</strong> Northumbria, when converted hy Paulinus, ia<strong>the</strong>. beginning <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 7th century. Mr. XvI'PhersoD, in his Dismsertaiioii otv<strong>the</strong> Celtic Antiquities^ is (as far as I know) <strong>the</strong> firstwho takes notice <strong>of</strong> this remarkable passage in Bede,The name Coihhih also preserved in <strong>the</strong> following Gaelic pro,verb :—Vefogasg ciacli do lar, isfai^g' no sin cobhair Qhoihidh,i. e. " The stone cleaves not faster to <strong>the</strong> earth than Coii-i'i hcl^to <strong>the</strong> nnQdyy—Mcintosh's ilaeVic Proverbs, page 34.Dr. Smith, in his Bistory <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Druids (page 8th), has giveaus <strong>the</strong> same Gaelic proverb.Coifi^Drui^ ox Dry^ is a phrase still u^ed iatlie Highlands' o£N a 'J

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