J. F. Campbell Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

AUTHEXTICITY OF OSSIAN's POEMS. 387
weight is due to tlie coiicurrcnt testimony of aiicient
as well as modern histovians, and to tlicse the reader's
attention shall now be directed.
That the Gauls and Albions, or Britons, were ori-
ginally one people, and the hmguage of the druids
of Gaul and of tliose of Britain was of the same
parent or Celtic stock, is not to be questioned. We
have given from Ccesar, sonie account of the educa-
tion of their disciples by the druids of Britain. That
celebratedauthorfurther infornis us, that thedruidical
system was believed to have originated in Britain,
and to have been thence transferred into Gaul; and
that in his day, such of the Gauls as wished to make
greater proficiency, passed over to study in Britain.
The stores of private knowledge, with which the
memories of their students may be said to have
been loaded, are also mentioned ; and the reasons
wliy " they do not hold it lawful to commit those
subjects to writing, though in ahnost all their other
public transactions and private business thei/ nse the
Greek characters."* Cfesar adds, " they are em-
ployed in discussions on the stars and their niotion,
on the magnitude and subdivisions of the earth, ou
natural philosophy, and on the power and domi-
nion of the immortal gods ; their knowledge iu
wliich sciences they communicate to their youth, or
disciples."'f
* Xcque fds esse existiraant ea literis raaiidare ; quiim in reliquis
feiè rebus publicis, privatibque rationibus, Grajcis literis utantur.
t Multa prffiterea du sideribus atque eorum motu, de mundi ac tcr-
rarum magnitudine, de rerura na'.urà, de deorum immortalium vi i.c
potestate disputant ; et juventuti transdunt. Caes. Com. Lib. vi, c. 13.