cessively visited the coast of Britain. Ignorant of its external surface, however, the deep and productive mines, with which the island abounded, afforded that inquisitive race a noble opportunity of contemplating its internal wonders, and advancing far in the knowledge of minerals, metals, gems, and other productions of the subterraneous world. Of geometrical knowledge, also, no inconsiderable portion may fairly be assigned them, as being so intimately connected with astronomy, and the mechanical arts in which they had evidently made so great a proficiency. Dr. Borlase, indeed, from his own personal' investigation, greatly confirms this latter position; for, on one of the rocks of the famous Karnbre-Hill, in Cornwall, he discovered a very regular elliptical bason, ten inches by fourteen, which, he observes, could hardly be so exactly delineated, without stationing the two focusses of the elipsis mathematically; a strong evidence that not only the said bason was made by the Druids, but that they understood the principles of geometry. Borlase's Antiquities of Cornwall, p. 119. THE THE STAFF OF BRAHMINS, THE ORIENTAL TIARA, AND WHITE VESTMENTS OF THE PRIESTS OF MITHRA, WERE ALL IMME- THE Druids invariably carried a sacred wand, or staff, in their hands, which is one of the discriminating symbols by which the Brahmin order is known; and, being constantly used by them in their rites of magic, probably came from them, to be employed in similar ceremonies throughout all the East. The rod, or caduceus, of Hermes, the western Mercury, intwined with serpents, that sacred Asiatic symbol for ever occurring in the Mithriac mysteries, and the sacred thyrsi used by the frantic bacchanals in the mysteries of Isis, have, I conceive, a very near relation to the Brahmin staff and the Druid wand. The Persian youths, who, on the pompous proces sion described by Curtius, attended the horses of the sun, were arrayed in white garments, and bore in their hands golden rods, or wands, pointed at the end, in imitation of the solar ray. ray.* This explanation immediately points out its allusion in the ancient mysteries which were all relics of the original solar superstition. It symbolized the solar beam that explores Nature's most secret depths, and penetrates into the abyss of matter. Diviners, therefore, in their lofty pretensions: to be acquainted with her arcana, and, as if conversant with her mysterious operations in their nocturnal orgies, waved on high the solar wand, in circles imitative of the revolution of his orb. I would by no means be understood as ap plying this observation to the rod of Moses, hy which Aaron wrought before the hardened Pharoah the prodigies of Egypt. It unfortunately happens, that, in this as in many other delicate instances which have before occured, the Mosaic and the Pagan customs, generally established in Asia, very nearly correspond, and it might be thought that I, therefore, ought to consider the latter as corruptions of the former; but the hypothesis which I have adopted, added to the allowed high antiquity of the Indian nation, does not always admit of my doing this. It should be remembered, also, that the Deity, out of See Quinti Curtii, lib. lii. cap. 3. his his indulgence to the weakness of human nature, permitted the Hebrew nation to retain in their ritual a few of the sacred symbols of their Asiatic neighbours; as, for instance, that of fire, sanctifying the symbol by its adoption into a nobler and purer system of devotion. In truth, the rod of Moses was originally the pastoral wand with which he guided his flock; from those flocks he was taken to be the pastor of Israel; with that simple instrument he was enabled, by Jehovah, to awe the sovereign of Egypt, and to confound the magicians opposed to him. Those magicians, indeed, had their rods, such as we have described peculiar to their iniquitous profession; but that of Moses, by annihilating the others, proved at once the superiority of its origin, and the irresistible might of him under whose auspices it was employed. Aaron, also, had his peculiar rod, that blossomed, was solemnly deposited in the ark, and, on all solemn occasions, ornamented the hand of the high priest of the Jewish nation. The heads of all the tribes had also their respective rods; but these are to be considered rather as badges of distinction than as sacred symbols; for vir ga ga is frequently in Scripture used in the sense of sceptre. The Druids, also, wore on their heads a tiara of linen, very much resembling, in form, that of the Brahmins, and which, in the preceding volume, it has been observed, consisted of a piece of muslin, many yards in length; and, as every thing in their wor ship had an allusion to the sun and planets, rolled round in form of a turban, to imitate the convolutions of the orbs. The Egyptian priests performing the sarifice to the sun, represented in one of the plates of the second volume of this work, wear on their heads this tiara, which rises in the form of a cone; in Asiatic mythology, a constant emblem of the sun. The high priest of the Jewish nation wore a tiara of this kind, which was called cidaris; but, to prevent any mistaken allusion to the solar worship, a golden plate was placed on the front of it, on which was conspicuously engraven the awful name of Jehovah. These parts of the ancient dress and ornaments of the Asiatic priests are vi sible in the crosier and mitre of the episcopal order of Europe, now sanctified by their use in the service of that God who made the sun and all the host of heaven. White |