Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

60 A CRITICAL DISSERTATION
tality of the human soul/ Though Julius Caesar, in hi
account of Gaul, does expressly mention the bards, ye
it is plain, that under the title of druids, he compre
hends that whole college or order ; of which the bards
who, it is probable, were the disciples of the druids
undoubtedly made a part. It deserves remark, that ac
cording to his account, the druidical institution first took
rise in Britain, and passed from thtnce into Gaul ; s(
that they who aspired to be thorough masters of tha'
learning were wont to resort to Britain. He adds too
that such as were to be initiated among the druids, weic
obliged to commit to their memory a great number o
verses, insomuch that some employed twenty years ir
this course of education ; and that they did not think il
lawful to record these pocm.s in writing, but sacredly
handed them down by tradition from race to race.'
So strong was the attachment of the Celtic nations
to their poetry and their bards, that amidst all the
changes of their government and m.anners, even long
after the order of the druids v/as extinct, and the na«
tional religion altered, the bards continued to flourish j
not as a set of strolling songsters, like the Greek 'AoiS«
or Rhapsodists, in Homer's time, but as an order oi
men highly respected in the state, and supported by a
public establishment. We find them, according to the
testimonies of Strabo and Diodorus, before the age of
Augustas Caesar ; and we find them remaining under
the same name, and exercising the same functions as of
old, in Ireland, and in the north of Scotland, almost
down to our own times. It is well known, that in both
these countries, every Regulus or chief had his own
bard, who was considered as an ofhcer of rank in his
court, and had lands assigned him, which descended to
his family. Of the honour in which the bards were
* Per hac loca fspeaking of ©aul) hnminibus paulatim excuUis, viguere studia lauda-
biliiim doctrinariim ; inchoala per bardos, & euhH';e<:, & druu'as. Et bardiquidem for-
tia viroruni illustiium facta heroitis composita versibus cum dulcibus lyra: modulis can-
titarunt. Eubagcs vero scrutantes seriem &: sublimia nstura: pandere conabantur. In-
ter bos druidK ingeniis celsiores, ut aucturitas Pvthanorjc di-cre\it, lodalitiis adstricti
consortii», quest ionibus altarom occultaruniiiuc reriini ertctisunt; et despectantes bu-
•tana pionunciarunt animas immortalcs. Amm. Marcelluus, i. 15. cap. 9.
I Vide CiEsar de beUo GalL Ub. 6.