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NO. XVIII.

GLASGOW, 2nd March, 1863.

DR. SCOULAR read a paper on "Celtic Mythology." During the present century philologists have shown that from India to Ireland an ancient race of men have spread from the north-west of India to the plains of Bengal on the one extremity, and on the other through Western Asia to the extreme west of Europe. No doctrine in comparative philology is better established than that the language of the Vidas, the Greek, Latin, Sclavonian, and Celtic, are all descendants of a primitive language spoken by the ancestors of such a variety of nations. Science is progressive; and, taking the linguistic affinities of the Aryan tongues as a proof of common descent, we now attempt to find in addition the evidences of a common faith in the study of their mythologies and the investigation of their religious monuments. The mode in which this research should be conducted had been sketched out in the admirable essay by Professor Müller, which went to show that mythology is very much a branch of philology. The contents of the Vida hymns enabled us to assist at the formation of a mythology, and showed us the true origin of Pagan myths. The early religion of the Aryan races consisted in the worship of the heavenly bodies and the powers of nature. As these objects exhibit many phenomena and run through many changes, these attributes were considered apart, and afterwards personified, and hence the endless fables relating to these attributes. This system of personified attributes pervades all the Aryan mythologies from Greece to Scandinavia and Ireland. A more important consideration is, that the names of these predicates can be usually traced back to the Aryan language in its oldest surviving child-the Vida hymns. In some cases the evidence of this appears on the surface; thus there can be no doubt that the Dyans and Varuna (the firmament), are the Zeus and Uranos of the Greek; and the myths of Homer and Hesiod may be traced up to the people of Aryana.

It is more difficult to apply this to the mythologies of Western Europe. These have reached us in a modern and fragmentary state,

and in no case more so than in that of the Celts. What Guinm has done for German mythology may be attempted with the Celtic, although at best with far more meagre results.

The oldest and most interesting remains of Irish mythology which we possess, is to be found in the hymn of St. Patrick, of which a manuscript eight centuries old still exists. In this hymn, which is in the Irish language, we have the expression-"cretim in dulemain duie," that is "credo in numinis elementorum." We have here the Pagan name for the Deity, the Christian term being Dia.-Petrie on Tara Hill. It is remarkable that this Pagan name is used by the Irish and Highlanders of the present day. In an ancient Gloss given by Zeus, we have "dule," equivalent to "Creator." The word "dul" occurs in Welsh, and also in the ancient language of Gaul. Dioscorides tells us that the plant "Cinquefoil" was called TEμжEdovla by the Gauls. It is obviously the same as "dula,"— πεμπεδουλα Sanscrit, hence quλλov, foleum, from pvw. Dulem is therefore the all-pervading animating power, the source of life and activity in all things.-Zeus' Grammatica Celtica.

Under this Dulem the elements also were worshipped, and evidence of this was given from the Pagan oaths of the Irish and other sources. That the Irish and other Celts worshipped fountains, was shown by quotations from The Life of St. Patrick and Adamnan's Life of St. Columba.

With respect to groves and trees Irish history abounds in evidences of the veneration in which they were held. It is true we find nothing to be compared to the ash of Yggdrasil; but what is perhaps as important, we find undoubted vestiges of an Aryan origin. A frequent expression in old Irish writers to designate a sacred tree or sanctuary is "fidh nemedh;" the Irish "fidh" is equivalent to "vih," a wood or grove, old Saxon "vidh;" hence "vi gild," equivalent to "cultus idolorum." The second word-"nemedh," is called in Latin "nemus," from the Sanscrit "nam," equivalent to "sanctus;" hence the Irish "naomh," a saint;" hence "fidh nemedh," equivalent to "Sylva sacra."-Grimn Deutsches Mythologie. This explains the passage in the Capitularies of Charlemagne-"De sacris sylvarum quae nemidos vocant," that is, the worship of trees; and the form of the law shows that it was intended for Celts, not for Teutons. That the term was common to the whole Celtic races is obvious. In Strabo we find purepetor, a grove of oaks. In Venantius For

tunatus, a Christian poet of the fourth century, we have the following verses which prove that he had a knowledge of the Celtic tongues when he translates

"Nomini vernemtis voluit vocitare velustos,

Quod quasi fanum ingens Gallica lingua refert."

The object of the paper, which is the first part of a more lengthened one, was to show that the mythic names of the Celts did not stand alone, but had a manifest affinity with those of the Germans and Sclavonians, and that all had their source in the language and mythology of Aryana.

NO. XIX.

REPORT OF SUMMER MEETING, AND EXCURSION TO HAGGS AND CROOKSTON CASTLES, &c., UPON 27TH AUGUST, 1863.

DR. SCOULAR, one of the Vice-Presidents, Preses.

The members proceeded to Haggs Castle, belonging to Sir John Maxwell, Bart., of Poloc, and were received by Mr. Colledge, his factor, under whose guidance they made a minute inspection of the building.

From the following inscription in a panel over the entrance-door, 1585:-NI DOMINUS ÆDES STRUXERIT FRUSTRA STRUIS. ST JOHN MAXWELL OF POLLOK, KNYGHT, AND D. MARGARET CONYNGHAM HIS

WYF BIGGET THIS HOUS, it would appear that the building was erected towards the latter part of the sixteenth century, the characteristics of the architecture of which period are very beautifully exhibited. The plan of the house is one which was common at the period, viz., L-shaped, and although not possessing the same strength as houses of a similar class erected at an earlier and more turbulent period, still the vaulted first storey, with its small windows, shews plainly the feeling of insecurity which was not yet removed.

The building is described by Mr. Baird as being about 55 feet in length, 39 feet in width at the west end, and 24 feet at the east end, and is three stories in height. The principal apartment is about 28 feet by 18. While partaking of the features of the Scotch manorial buildings in its high-pitched roofs, crow-stepped gables, dormer windows, and circular stair-turrets, it wants the very common feature of corbelled angle-turrets.

The details are very effective and well arranged: for example, the jambs of the entrance-door, which are of the Early Pointed period, are enriched with the dog-tooth ornament, the whole enclosed with a cable-moulding continued round the panel, containing the inscription before quoted, and three panels above it, which originally, as now, were evidently filled with armorial bearings. The cornice on the principal front is exceedingly rich, the upper member being the cable-moulding, and the under portion being formed with small dentils, so as to give the effect of chequer-work. The dormer

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