APPENDIX to BOOK I. NUMBER IX. Differtation on the Roman walls in Bri- 469 THE HISTORY OF GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK I. CHAP. IV. The hiftory of learning, learned men, and feminaries of learning in Great Britain, from the first invafion of it by the Romans under Julius Cæfar, A. A. C. 55. to the arrival of the Saxons, A. D. 449. N ATIONS, as well as particular perfons, have their infancy, in which they are not only fmall and weak, but also rude and ignorant. Even thofe nations which have arrived at the highest pitch of power and greatness, and have been most renowned for wifdom, learning, and politenefs, when they are traced up to their infant ftate, are found to have been equally weak and ignorant. It would be eafy to give a great many examples of the truth of this obfervation, but very difficult to produce one exception to it, VOL. II. either B Original of nations, ignorance Hiftorians have neglected to trace the rife and progrefs of learning. either from ancient or modern hiftory. We need not, therefore, be surprised to find, nor afhamed to own, that there was a time, when the inhabitants of this ifland were divided into a great many petty states or tribes, each of them confisting of a small number of rude unlettered favages. The hiftorians of all thofe nations which have become great and eminent, have taken much pains in difcovering and defcribing the progress of their arms, the enlargement of their territories, and increase of their power and greatnefs; but unhappily they have not taken the same pains in tracing and delineating the cultivation of their intellectual faculties, and their gradual improvements in learning and ufeful knowledge. While the exploits of every victorious prince and general who had contributed to the aggrandizement of his nation, have been recorded with the greatest care, and extolled with the highest praifes; the very names of thofe peaceful fages, who had enlarged the empire of reafon, had improved the minds, and polifhed the manners of their fellowcitizens, have hardly found a place in the annals of their country. To fupply this defect; at leaft in fome measure, in the Hiftory of Britain, the fourth chapter of each book of this work is allotted to the investigation of the ftate of learning, and the grateful commemoration of thofe who have been moft diftinguifhed for their genius and erudition in the period which is the fubject of that book. fooner of learning than the Roman invafion. The want of fufficient and authentic materials Improper to begin prevented our beginning the civil and military the hiftory hiftory of this ifland at a more ancient period than the first Roman invasion. The fame thing forbids us to attempt deducing the hiftory of learning from a more diftant æra. The first dawn of science, like the dawn of day, is fo faint and languid, that it is hardly poffible to discover the precife period of its appearance in any country. Even in the favage ftate, ingenious and active fpirits may now and then arife, who have a tafte for study and fpeculation; but they are little regarded by their rude and roaming countrymen, and both their names and opinions are' foon forgotten. It is not until ftates have arrived at fome good degree of order, stability, and ftrength, and a competent number of their members enjoy leifure and encouragement for study, that learning becomes an object of importance, and a proper fubject of history. There is fufficient evidence, that feveral of the British states had arrived at this period when they were first invaded by the Romans. In thefe ftates a very numerous body of men was fupported in honour and affluence, at the public expence, for the study of learning and religion. These were the Druids, who were the philofophers, as well as the priests, of the Britons, Gauls, and all` the other Celtic nations. "They pay the highest ". honours (fays Diodorus Siculus of the Gauls) A great body of men ap plied to study at that pe riod; : "to their divines and philofophers, which are "called Druids. It is their cuftom never to "perform any facred rite without one of these philofophers; for as they believe them to be "well acquainted with the will of the Gods, "they think them the most proper perfons to "prefent both their thanksgivings and their "prayers "." "There are three claffes of inen (fays Strabo) which are highly and univerfally << esteemed. These are the Bards, the Vates, and the Druids. The Bards are poets and "musicians, the Vates are priefts and phyfiolo"gifts, and the Druids add the ftudy of moral "philofophy to that of phyfiology." The civilization of the ancient inhabitants of Gaul, and the introduction of learning amongst them, is afcribed by Ammianus Marcellinus to the Druids. The inhabitants of Gaul having been by degrees a little polifhed, the study of fome "branches of ufeful learning was introduced "among them by the Bards, the Eubates, and "the Druids. The Eubates made refearches "into the order of things, and endeavoured to lay open the most hidden fecrets of nature. "The Druids were men of a ftill more fublime and penetrating spirit, and acquired the highest "renown by their fpeculations, which were at "once fubtile and lofty *." If it were neceffary, the teftimonies of feveral other authors of anti 2 Diod. Sicul. 1. 5. § 31. Diogen. Laert. 1. 1. § 3. 3 Strabo, 1. 4. p. 197. 5 Pomponius Mela, l. 3. c. 2. |
