66 Book I. "fhall not be noify nor riotous. No gentleman muft attempt to force a kifs, nor ftrike a woman in the affembly, under pain of exclufion. Ladies are not to get drunk upon any pretext whatever; nor gentlemen "before nine." Compare the manners that required fuch regulations with those described above. Can we suppose, that the ladies and gentlemen of Offian's poems ever amufed themselves, after the age of twelve, with hide and feek, queftions and commands, or fuch childish play? Can it enter into our thoughts that Bragela or Malvina were fo often drunk, as to require the reprimand of a public regulation? or that any hero of Offian ever struck a woman of fashion in ire? The immortality of the foul was a capital article in the Celtic creed, inculcated by the Druids (/). And in Valerius Maximus we find the following paffage. Gallos,. "memoriæ proditum eft, pecunias, mutuas. quæ fibi a 66 pud inferos redderentur, dare: quia perfuafum habue"rint, animas hominum immortales effe. Dicerem ftultos, nifi idem braccati fenfiffent quod palliatus Pythagoras fenfit *(m)." All favages have an impreffion of immortality; but few, even of the moft enlightened before Chriftianity prevailed, had the leaft notion of any occupations in another life, but what they were accuftomed to in this. Even Virgil, with all his poetical invention, finds no amusements for his departed heroes, but what they were fond of when alive; the fame love for war, the fame tafte for hunting, and the fame affection to their friends. As we have no reafon to expect more invention in Offian, the observation may serve as a key to the ghofts introduced by him, and to his whole machinery, as termed by critics. His defcription of thefe ghofts is copied plainly from the creed of his country. (1) Pomponius Mela. Ammianus Marcellinus. "It is reported, that the Gauls frequently lent money to be paid back in the infernal regions, from a firm perfuafion that the "fouls of men were immortal. I would have called them fools, if those wearers of breeches had not thought the same as Pythagoras who wore a cloak." (m) Lib. 2. In an historical account of the progrefs of manners, it would argue grofs infenfibility to overlook thofe above mentioned. The fubject, it is true, has fwelled upon my hands beyond expectation; but it is not a little interefting. If these manners be genuine, they are a fingular phenomenon in the Hiftory of Man: if they be the invention of an illiterate bard, among favages utterly ignorant of fuch manners, the phenomenon is no lefs fingular. Let either fide be taken, and a fort of miracle must be admitted. In the inftances above given, fuch a beautiful mixture there is of fimplicity and dignity, and fo much life given to the manners defcribed, that real manners were never reprefented with a more striking appearance of truth. If thefe manners be fictitious, I fay again, that the author must have been inspired: they plainly exceed· the invention of a favage; nay, they exceed the inven tion of any known writer. Every man will judge for himfelf: it is perhaps fondness for such refined manners, that makes me incline to reality against fiction. I am aware at the fame time, that manners fo pure and elevated, in the firft ftage of Society, are difficult to be accounted for. The Caledonians were not an original tribe, to found a supposition that they might have manners peculiar to themselves: they were a branch of the Celta, and had a language common to them with the inhabitants of Gaul, and of England. The manners probably of all were the fame, or nearly fo; and if we expect any light for explaining Caledonian manners, it must be from that quarter: we have indeed no other resource. Diodorus Siculus (2) reports of the Celta, that, though warlike, they were upright in their dealings, and far removed from deceit and duplicity. Cæfar (o), "Galli ho"mines aperti minimeque infidiofi, qui per virtutem, non "per dolum, dimicare confueverunt * ” And though cruel to their enemies, yet Pomponius Mela (p) observes, (n) Lib. 5. (0) De Bello Africo. The Gauls are of an open temper, not at all infidious'; and " in fight they rely on valour, not on stratagem.” Book I. that they were kind and compaffionate to the fupplicant and unfortunate. Strabo (g) defcribes the Gauls as ftudious of war, and of great alacrity in fighting; otherwife an innocent people, altogether void of malignity. He fays, that they had three orders of men, bards, priests, and druids; that the province of the bards was to ftudy poetry, and to compofe fongs in praife of their deceafed heroes; that the priests prefided over divine worship; and that the druids, befide ftudying moral and natural philofophy, determined all controverfies, and had some direction even in war. Cæfar, lefs attentive to civil matters, comprehends these three orders under the name of druids; and obferves, that the druids teach their difciples a vast number of verfes, which they must get by heart. Diodorus Siculus fays, that the Gauls had poets termed bards, who fung airs accompanied with the harp, in praise of fome, and difpraise of others. Lucan, fpeaking of the three orders, fays, "Vos quoque, qui fortes animas, belloque peremp 66 tas, "Laudibus in longum, vates, dimittitis ævum, "Plurima fecuri fudiftis carmina bardi †." With respect to the Celtic women in particular, it is agreed by all writers, that they were extremely beauti. ful (r). They were no lefs remarkable for spirit than for beauty. If we can rely on Diodorus Siculus, the women in Gaul equalled the men in courage. Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, fays, that the British women frequently joined with the men, when attacked by an enemy. And fo much were they regarded, as to be thought capable of the highest command. Neque (q) Lib. 4. "You too, ye bards! whom facred raptures fire, "Brave patriot fouls, in righteous battle flain. ROWE. (r) Diodorus Siculus, lib. 5. Athenaeus, lib. 13. "enim fexum in imperiis difcernunt," fays the fame author (s). And accordingly, during the war carried on by Caractacus, a gallant British King, against the Romans, Cartifmandua was Queen of the Brigantes. Boadicea is recorded in Roman annals as a queen of a warlike fpirit. She led on a great army against the Romans; and in exhorting her people to behave with courage, the observed, that it was not unusual to see a British army led on to battle by a woman; to which Tacitus adds his teftimony: "Solitum quidem Britannis fœmin"arum ductu bellare † ()." No wonder that Celtic women; fo amply provided with fpirit, as well as beauty, made a capital figure in every public entertainment (u). The Gallic Celte undoubtedly carried with them their manners and customs to Britain, and fpread them gradually from fouth to north. And as the Caledonians, inhabiting a mountainous country in the northern parts of the island, had little commerce with other nations, they preferved long in purity many Celtic cuftoms, particularly that of retaining bards. All the chieftains had bards in their pay, whofe province it was to compofe fongs in praife of their ancestors, and to accompany those fongs with the harp. This entertainment inflamed their love for war, and at the fame time foftened their manners, which, as Strabo reports, were naturally innocent and void of malignity. It had befide a wonderful influence in forming virtuous manners: the bards, in praifing deceafed heroes, would naturally felect virtuous actions, which make the best figure in heroic poetry, and tend the most to illuftrate the hero of their fong: vice may be flattered; but praife is never willingly nor fuccessfully beftowed upon any atchievement but what is virtuous and heroic. It is accordingly observed by Ammianus Marcellinus (x), that the bards inculcated in "They made no diftinction of fex in conferring authority." (s) Vita Agricolae, cap. 16. + "The Britons even followed women as leaders in the field." (t) Annalium, lib. 14. (u) Athenaeus, lib. 10. (x) Lib. 15. their fongs virtue and actions worthy of praife. The bards, who were in high eftimation, became great proficients in poetry; of which we have a confpicuous inftance in the works of Offian. Their capital compofitions were diligently ftudied by thofe of their own order, and much admired by all. The fongs of the bards, accompanied with the harp, made a deep impreffion on the young warrior, elevated fome into heroes, and promoted virtue in every hearer *. Another circumftance concurred to form Caledonian manners, common to them with every nation in the first stage of fociety; which is, that avarice was unknown among them. People in that ftage, ignorant of habitual wants, and having a ready fupply of all that nature requires, have little notion of property, and not the flighteft notion of accumulating the goods of fortune; and for that reafon are always found honeft and difinterested. With refpect to the female fex, who make an illuftrious figure in Offian's poems, if they were fo eminent both for courage and beauty as they are reprefented by the beft authors, it is no wonder that they are painted by Offian as objects of love the most pure and refined. Nor ought it to be overlooked, that the foft and delicate notes of the harp have a tendency to purify manners, and to refine love. Whether the causes here affigned of Celtic manners be fully adequate may well admit of a doubt; but if authentic history be relied on, we can entertain no doubt, that the manners of the Gallic and British Celta, including the Caledonians, were fuch as are above defcribed. And as the manners afcribed by Offian to his countrymen the Caledonians, are in every particular conformable to those now mentioned, it clearly follows, that Offian was no * Polydore Virgil fays, Hiberni funt muficae peritiffimi, [In English thus: "The Irish are most skilful in music.”-.-Ireland was peopled from Britain; and the music of that country must have been derived from British bards. The Welch bards were the great champions of independence; and in particular promoted an obftinate refiftance to Edward I. when he carried his arms into Wales. And hence the tradition, that the Welch bards were all flaughtered by that King. |