THE ANGUINUM, OR SERPENT-EGG OF THE

DRUIDS.

A SERPENT was always an important fymbol in the ancient myfteries; a living one we have feen, in a former volume, was thrown into the bofom of the candidate for initiation in thofe of Mithras; it was esteemed an em→ blem of immortality, from the great age it fometimes arrives at, and of regeneration, from the annual fhedding of its skin. In the myfterious rites of Druidifm it was a symbol not lefs in requeft; the aguinum was a charm of wonderful power, and conftantly carried, fufpended from the neck, on the bofom of the Druid. Pliny has thus defcribed its formation. Angues innumeri aftate convoluti, falivis faucium corporumque fpumis artifici complexu glomerantur; anguinum appellatur.. Druidæ fibilis id dicunt in fublime jactari, fagogue oportere intercipi, ne tellurem attingat: profugere raptorem equo: ferpentes enim infequi, donec arceantur amnis alicujus interventu.* An infinite number of fnakes entwined together,

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*Plinii Nat. Hift. lib. xxix. cap. 3.
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in the heat of fummer, roll themselves into a mafs; and, from the faliva iffuing from their jaws, and the fweat and froth of their bodies, that egg is engendered which is called anguinum. By the violent hiffing of these ferpents, the egg is forced aloft into the air, and the perfon destined to fecure it must catch it in the fagus, or holy vestment, before it reaches the ground, or otherwife its virtue is loft. It is neceffary that he fhould be mounted on a swift horse, for the ferpents will pursue the ravifher, with envenomed rage, to the brink of the first river, whofe waters alone ftop their purfuit. He adds, that this ceremony of gaining the anguinum is only to be undertaken at a particular period of the moon; that this egg was thought to render the poffeffor fortunate in every caufe which he undertook, and triumphant over all his adverfaries; and, of his own knowledge, he afferts, that a Roman knight, who was agitating a fuit at law, and addicted to Druidism, was put to death by Claudius Cæfar for entering the forum with the anguinum in his bofom, under the perfuafion that it would influence the judges to give a decifion in his favour.

Toland

Toland informs us that the ovum anguinum is, in British, called glain-neidr, or ferpent of glass; and, in truth, the whole relation above inferted was no more than a fabricated tale of the Druids to impose on the vulgar.

Their boaft, by this charm, to controul the current of destiny, added to their pretended skill in magic, served to bind down, in the indiffoluble bonds of fuperftition, their abject British vaffals, not lefs than the horrible incantations, with confecrated grafs, of the Brahmins, tended to overawe and opprefs the more timid race of India. the following account of fuperftition in Britain.

Mr. Camden gives the remains of this "In most parts of

Wales, throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it a common opinion of the vulgar, that, about midfummer-eve, (though in the time they do not all agree,) it is usual for fnakes to meet in companies; and that, by joining heads together and hiffing, a kind of bubble is formed, which the reft, by continual hiffing, blow on, till it paffes quite. through the body, and then it immediately hardens, and resembles a glafs ring, which whoever finds [as fome old women and chil

dren are perfuaded] fhall profper in all his undertakings. The rings thus generated are called Gleiner Nadroeth; in English, fnakeftones. They are fmall glafs annulets, commonly about half as wide as our finger-rings, but much thicker, of a green colour ufually, though fometimes blue and waved with red and white."*

To these ferpent-ftones, formed in imitation of the imagined anguinum, as numerous and wonderful virtues were attributed as to the famous cobra-ftone of the Brahmins, an ancient article of commerce at Surat. Mr. Toland, in addition, informs us, that they were worn about the Druid, as a fpecies of magical gem; that they were in fashion either perfectly spherical, or in the figure of a lentil, and were generally made of chryftal and agate.†

I cannot conclude this article without obferving, that Mr. Mafon, in his Caractacus, alluding to this rite of Druidifm, has very poetically and accurately detailed the preceding relation of Pliny:

But tell me yet,

From the grot of charms and fpells,
Where our matron fifter dwells,
Brennus, has thy holy hand
Safely brought the Druid-wand,
And the potent adder-stone,
Gender'd 'fore th'autumnal moon;
When, in undulating twine,

The foaming fnakes prolific join;
When they hifs, and when they bear
Their wond'rous egg aloof in air:
Thence, before to earth it fall,
The Druid, in his hallow'd pall,
Receives the prize,

And inftant flies,

Follow'd by th'envenom'd brood,
Till he crofs the chryftal flood.

LUSTRATIONS OF THE INDIANS AND OLD

BRITONS.

THERE were many other evident relics difperfed over all the Gentile world of the religion and facred rites of the Brahmins; nor is the Chriftian world, at this day, entirely free from them, efpecially that portion of it in which the Roman Catholic religion flourifles. At the entrance of all the Eaftern temples were placed veffels filled with confecrated water, with which the votaries at their entrance befprinkled themselves; and this custom

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