Ossian Collection > Essay on the authenticity of the poems of Ossian

OF OSSIAN'S POEMS. 43
of their ^v^arriors, and the pubhc record of
the history of the nation.
But we know, that in every pohty, which
depends upon mystery, as that of the Druids
undoubtedly did, the inferior orders are se-
dulously prevented froin encroaching upon
the pale of those immediately above them,
by the mysteries which constitute their pe-
culiar badge. To be admitted to these, a
certain period of probation, and specific
forms of initiation, are indispensibly requi-
site. Caesar expressly informs us, that the
Druids excluded the lower orders from the
knowledge of their institutions; and we can
have no doubt, that their own disciples had
those mysteries communicated to them only
according to the rank which they had at-
tained, and the degree to which they had
been admitted.
The Druids, as has been said, possessed,
exclusively, the higher mysteries of religion.
The Bards, the order next in dignity, had a