ably arose the science of auspices, which formerly guided
the deliberations of councils and the motions of armies, though now they
only serve, and scarcely serve, to amuse the vulgar.

The Druid temple is represented to have been nothing more than a
consecrated wood. The ancients speak of no other. But monuments remain
which show that the Druids were not in this respect wholly confined to
groves. They had also a species of building which in all probability was
destined to religious use. This sort of structure was, indeed, without
walls or roof. It was a colonnade, generally circular, of huge, rude
stones, sometimes single, sometimes double, sometimes with, often
without, an architrave. These open temples were not in all respects
peculiar to the Northern nations. Those of the Greeks, which were
dedicated to the celestial gods, ought in strictness to have had no
roof, and were thence called _hypaethra_.[14]

Many of these monuments remain in the British islands, curious for
their antiquity, or astonishing for the greatness of the work: enormous
masses of rock, so poised as to be set in motion with the slightest
touch, yet not to be pushed from their place by a very great power; vast
altars, peculiar and mystical in their structure, thrones, basins, heaps
or cairns; and a variety of other works, displaying a wild industry, and
a strange mixture of ingenuity and rudeness. But they are all worthy of
attention,--not only as such monuments often clear up the darkness and
supply the defects of history, but as they lay open a noble field of
speculation for those who study the changes which have happened in the
manners, opinions, and sciences of men, and who think them as worthy of
regard as the fortune of wars and the revolutions of kingdoms.

The short account which I have here given does not contain the whole of
what is handed down to us by ancient writers, or discovered by modern
research, concerning this remarkable order. But I have selected those
which appear to me the most striking features, and such as throw the
strongest light on the genius and true character of the Druidical
institution. In some respects it was undoubtedly very singular; it stood
out more from the body of the people than the priesthood of other
nations; and their knowledge and policy appeared the more striking by
being contrasted with the great simplicity and rudeness of the people
over whom they presided. But, notwithstanding some peculiar appearances