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OF THE DRUIDS. 95vince the world by the lustre, which, in tliis work,I shall impart to the antiquities not only of Gauleand Britain,but likewise to numerous passagesof the Greec and Latin authors. How manynoble discoveries of the like kind might be madein allsubsisted !countries, where the use of letters has longthey were not:Such things in the mean time are as ifforPaulum sepultae distat inertiaeCelata virtus.HoRAT. lib. 4. Od. 9.The use of letters has been very antient in Ireland,which at first were cut on the bark of trees*, preparedfor that purpose; or on smooth tables ofbirch wood, which were call'd poets tables]; astheir characters were inbranch-letters^, from their shape.general nam'd twigs andTheir alphabetwas caird Beth-luis-nion, from the three firstlettersof the same, B, L, N, Beth, Luis, Nion^ifor the particidar name of every letter was, formemory-sake, from some tree or other vegetable;which, in the infancy of writing on barks andboards, was very natural. They had also manycharacters signifying whole words, like the Egyptiansand the Chinese. When Patric introduc'dthe Roman letters (as I saidabove) then, from acorruption of Abcedarinm, they call'd their new* Oraium, + Taibhk Fileadk. % Feadha: CraQbh O^ham.§ Birch ^ Quickaip and Ask,