Archaic England Part 13

It was the belief of the Celt that immediately at death man a.s.sumed a spiritual replica of his earthly body and pa.s.sed into what was termed the Land of the Living, the White Land, or the Great Strand, or The Great Land, and many other t.i.tles. An Elphin Land, where there was neither death nor old age, nor any breach of law, where he heard the n.o.ble and melodious music of the G.o.ds, travelled from realm to realm, drank from crystal cups, and entertained himself with his beloved. In this Fairyland of happy souls he supposed the virtuous and brave to roam among fields covered with sweet flowers, and amid groves laden with delicious fruits. Here some, as their taste inclined, wandered in happy groups, some reclined in pleasant bowers, while others exercised themselves with hunting, wrestling, running races, martial feats, and other manly exercises. No one grew old in this Abode, nor did the inhabitants feel tedious of enjoyment or know how the centuries pa.s.sed away. In this spiritual Land of Immortal Youth "wherein is delight of every goodness," and "where only truth is known," there was believed to be "neither age, nor decay; nor gloom, nor sadness, nor envy, nor jealousy, nor hatred, nor haughtiness"; in short, the Fairyland or Paradise of the Britons coincided exactly with the celestial garden of the Persians wherein, it is said, there was "no impotent, no lunatic, no poverty, no lying, no meanness, no jealousy, no decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined," nor any of the brands wherewith evil stamps the bodies of mortals.

To this day the unsophisticated Celts of Britain and Brittany believe in this doctrine of a heavenly hereafter, and the conception of an all-surrounding "Good People" and elemental spirits is still vividly alive. In England fairies were known as Mawmets, meaning "little mothers," and in Wales as _y mamau_, which means "the mothers". They were also known as "mothers' blessings".

To the early Christian preachers the "gentry" and the "good people" were the troops of Satan continually to be combated and exorcised, but it was a hard task to dispel the exquisite images of the fairy-paradise, subst.i.tuting in lieu of it the monkish purgatory. There is a tale extant of how St. Patrick once upon a time tried to convince Oisin that the hero Fingal was roasting in h.e.l.l. "If," cried out the old Fenian, "the children of Morni and the many tribes of the clan Ovi were alive, we would force brave Fingal out of h.e.l.l or the habitation should be our own."

Not only did the British believe that their friends were in Elysium, but they likewise supposed themselves to be under the personal and immediate guardianship of the "gentry". The Rev. S. Baring-Gould refers to the beautiful legends which centre around this belief as too often, alas, but apples of Sodom, fair cheeked, but containing the dust and ashes of heathenism. After lamenting the heresy--"too often current among the lower orders and dissenters"--that the souls of the departed become angels, he goes on to explain: "In Judaic and Christian doctrine the angel creation is distinct from that of human beings, and a Jew or a Catholic would as little dream of confusing the distinct conception of angel and soul as of believing in metempsychosis. But not so dissenting religion. According to Druidic dogma the souls of the dead were guardians of the living, a belief shared with the Ancient Indians, etc.

Thus the hymn, 'I want to be an Angel,' so popular in dissenting schools, is founded on a venerable Aryan myth and therefore of exceeding interest, but Christian it is not."[185]

Lucan, the Roman poet, alluding to the Druids observed--

If dying mortals doom they sing aright, No ghosts descend to dwell in dreadful night No parting souls to grisly Pluto go Nor seek the dreary silent shades below, But forth they fly immortal to their kind And other bodies in new worlds they find.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 45.--From _Christian Iconography_ (Didron).]

The symbolism of the b.u.t.terfly is crystallised in the word _psyche_, which in Greek meant not only _b.u.t.terfly_ but also _soul_, and to this day b.u.t.terflies in some districts of Great Britain are considered to be souls, though this may have arisen not from an ethereal imagination, but from the ancient doctrine of metemphsychosis which the Druids seemingly held. It was certainly believed that souls, like serpents, shed their old coverings and a.s.sumed newer and more lovely forms, that all things changed, but that nothing perished. In Cornwall moths, regarded by some as souls, by others as fairies, are known as pisgies or piskies. The connection between the Cornish words _pisgie_ or _piskie_ and the Greek _psyche_ has been commented upon as being "curious but surely casual".

Grimm has recorded that in old German, the caterpillar was named Alba, and that the Alp often takes the form of a b.u.t.terfly.[186]

Referring to Ossian, Dr. Waddell states: "He recognised the Deity, if he could be said to recognise him at all, as an omnipresent vital essence everywhere diffused in the world, or centred for a lifetime in heroes.

He himself, his kindred, his forefathers, and the human race at large were dependent solely on the atmosphere, their souls were identified with the air, heaven was their natural home, earth their temporary residence."

But, though certainly upholders of what would nowadays be termed complacently "the Larger Hope," it was certainly not supposed that evil was capable of admittance to the Land of Virtues: on the contrary, the Celts believed firmly in the existence of an underworld which their poets termed "the cruel prison of the earth," "the abode of death," "the loveless land," etc.

According to the Bardic Triads there were "Three things that make a man equal to an angel; the love of every good; the love of exercising charity; and the love of pleasing G.o.d". It was further inculcated that "In creation there is no evil which is not a greater good than an evil: the things called rewards or punishments are so secured by eternal ordinances, that they are not consequences, but properties of our acts and habits."

It was not imagined as it is to-day that "the awful wrath of G.o.d" could be a.s.suaged by the sacrifice of an innocent man, or that--

Believe in Christ, who died for thee, And sure as He hath died, Thy debt is paid, thy soul is free, And thou art justified.[187]

It is still the doctrine of the Christian Church that infants dying unbaptised are doomed to h.e.l.l, but to the British this barbaric dogma evidently never appealed. In the fifth century the peace of the Church was vastly disturbed by the insidious heresy called Pelasgian, and it is a matter of some distinction to these islands that "Pelasgus," whose correct name was Morgan, was British-born. Morgan or Pelasgus, seconded by Coelestius, an Irish Scot, wilfully but gracelessly maintained that Adam's sin affected only himself, not his posterity; that children at their birth are as pure and innocent as Adam was at his creation, and that the Grace of G.o.d is not necessary to enable men to do their duty, to overcome temptations, or even to attain perfection, but that they may do all this by the freedom of their own wills. A Council of 214 Bishops, held at Carthage, formally condemned these pestilent and insidious doctrines which, according to a commentator, "strike at the root of genuine piety".

There is no known etymology for the words _G.o.d_ and _good_, and some years ago it was a matter of divided opinion whether or not they were radically the same. In Danish the two terms are identical, and there is very little doubt that the one is an adjective derived from the other.

Max Muller, however, sums up the contrary opinion as follows: "G.o.d was most likely an old heathen name of the Deity and for such a name the supposed etymological meaning of _good_ would be far too modern, too abstract, too Christian".

One might ignore this marvellous complacency were it not for the fact that it still expresses the opinion of a considerable majority. To refute the presumption that Christianity alone is capable of abstract thought, or of conceiving G.o.d as good, one need only turn to any primitive philosophy. It is, however, needless to look further afield than pagan Albion. Strabo alludes to the Druidic teaching as "moral science," and no phrase better defines the pith and dignity of certain British Triads. It was daringly maintained that G.o.d cannot be matter, therefore everything not matter was G.o.d: that:--

In every person there is a soul, In every soul there is intelligence: In every intelligence there is thought, In every thought there is either good or evil: In every evil there is death: In every good there is life, In every life there is G.o.d.[188]

The Bards of Britain, who claimed to maintain the "sciences" of piety, wisdom, and courtesy, taught that--the three princ.i.p.al properties of the Hidden G.o.d were "Power, knowledge, and love": that the three purposes of G.o.d in his works were "to consume the evil; to enliven the dead; and to cause joy from doing good": that the three ways in which G.o.d worked were "experience, wisdom, and mercy".

It will be observed that all these axioms are in three clauses, and it was claimed by the Welsh Bards of the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries that they possessed many similar Triads or threefold precepts which had been handed down by memory and tradition from immemorial times.[189] It is generally accepted by competent scholars that the Welsh Triads, particularly the poems attributed to "Taliesin," undoubtedly contain a great deal of pagan and pre-Christian doctrine, but to what extent this material has been garbled and alloyed is, of course, a matter of uncertainty and dispute. In some instances external and internal evidence testify alike to their authenticity. For example, Diogenes Laertius, who died in A.D. 222, stated: "The Druids philosophise sententiously and obscurely--to worship the G.o.ds, to do no evil, to exercise courage". This precise and comprehensive summary of the whole duty of man is to be found among the Bardic Triads, where it has been translated to read: "The three First Principles of Wisdom: obedience to the laws of G.o.d, concern for the good of mankind, and bravery in sustaining all the accidents of life".

In _Celtic Heathendom_ Sir John Rhys prints the following n.o.ble and majestic prayer, of which four MSS. variants are in existence:--

Grant, O G.o.d, Thy protection; And in Thy protection, strength, And in strength, understanding; And in understanding, knowledge, And in knowledge, the knowledge of justice; And in the knowledge of justice, the love of it, And in that love, the love of all existences; And in that love of all existences, the love of G.o.d.

G.o.d and all goodness.

Some have supposed that Druidism learned its secrets from the Persian Magi, others that the Magi learnt from Druidism. Pliny, speaking of the vanities of _Magiism_ or _Magic_, recorded that "Britain celebrates them to-day with such ceremonies it might seem possible that she taught Magic to the Persians". In Persian philosophy the trinity of Goodness was Good Thought, Good Deed, and Good Word, and in Britain these Three Graces were symbolised by the three Golden Berries of the Mistletoe or Golden Bough. They figure alternatively as Three Golden b.a.l.l.s or Apples growing on a crystal tree. The Mistletoe--sacred alike in Persia and in Britain--was worshipped as the All-Heal, and it was termed the Ethereal Plant, because alone among the vegetable creation it springs etherially in mid-air, and not from earth. Among the adventures of Prince Conneda of Connaught--the young and lovely son of Great and Good King Conn and Queen Eda--was a certain quest involving the most strenuous seeking.

Aided by a Druid, the youthful Conneda carried with him a small bottle of extracted All-Heal, and was led forward by a magic ball, which rolled ever in advance. The story (or rather allegory, for it is obviously such) tells us that the Three Golden Apples were plucked from the Crystal Tree in the midst of the pleasure garden, and deposited by Conneda in his bosom. On returning home Conneda planted the Three Golden Apples in his garden, and instantly a great tree bearing similar fruit sprang up. This tree caused all the district to produce an exuberance of crops and fruits, so that the neighbourhood became as fertile and plentiful as the dominion of the Firbolgs, in consequence of the extraordinary powers possessed by the Golden Fruit.[190]

The trefoil or shamrock (figured constantly in Crete) was another symbol of the Three in One, and I have little doubt that at Tara there once existed a picture of St. Patrick holding this almost world-wide emblem.

Tara is the same word as _tri_ or _three_ and in Faerie this number is similarly sacred. The Irish used to march in battle in threes, the Celtic _mairae_ or fairy mothers were generally figured in groups of three, and the gown of the Fairy Queen is said to have been--

Of pansy, pink, and primrose leaves, Most curiously laid on in _threaves_.[191]

The word shamrock in Persian is _shamrakh_, and three to four thousand years ago a Persian poet hymned: "We worship the pure, the Lord of purity. We worship the universe of the true spirit, visible, invisible, and all that sustains the welfare of the good creation. We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds, which are and will be, and keep pure all that is good. Thou true and happy Being! we strive to think, to speak, to do only what, of all actions, may promote the two lives, the body and the mind. We beseech the spirit of earth, by means of these best works (agriculture) to grant us beautiful and fertile fields, for believer and unbeliever, for rich and poor. We worship the Wise One who formed and furthered the spirit of the earth. We worship Him with our bodies and souls. We worship Him as being united with the spirits of pure men and women. We worship the promotion of all good, all that is very beautiful, shining, immortal, bright, everything that is good."

The alleged author of this invocation to the G.o.d of Goodness and Beauty lived certainly as early as 1200 B.C., some think 2000 B.C.: the hymn itself was collected into its present canon during the fourth century of this era, but, like the British Triads and all other Bardic lore, it is supposed to have been long orally preserved. It is perfectly legitimate to compare the literature of Ancient Persia with that of Britain, for the religious systems of the two countries were admittedly almost identical; and until recently Persia was the most generally accepted cradle of the Aryans.

It is impossible to suppose that the earliest compilers and transcribers of the British Triads had access to the MSS. of the hymn just quoted; yet while Persian tradition records, "We worship the promotion of all good, all that is very beautiful, shining, immortal, bright, everything that is good," the British Bards seemingly worshipped the promotion of all good, in fact the Three Ultimate Objects of Bardism are on record as being "to reform morals and customs; to secure peace and _praise everything that is good and excellent_".

British literature, British folklore, and British custom, all alike refute Max Muller's preposterous supposition that the equation _G.o.d = Good_ is "far too modern, too abstract, too Christian," and there is manifestly some evidence in favour of the probability that Giant Albion was worshipped as the _Holy Good_ and the _All Good_. There is no known tribe of savages that is dest.i.tute of some code of ethics, and it is seemingly a world-wide paradox that spiritual wisdom and low civilisation can, and often do, exist concurrently. Side by side with the childish notions of modern savages, one finds, not infrequently, what Andrew Lang termed, "astonishing metaphysical hymns about the first stirrings of light in darkness, of becoming, of being, which remind us of Hegel and Herac.l.i.tus".[192] The sacred Books of Christendom emanated from one of the crudest and least cultivated of all the subject races of the Roman Empire. It is self-evident that the Hebrews were a predatory and semi-savage tribe who conceived their Divinity as vengeful, cursing, swearing, vomiting, his fury coming up into his face, and his nostrils smoking; nevertheless, as in the Psalms and elsewhere, are some of the n.o.blest and most lofty conceptions of Holiness and Beauty.

As a remarkable instance of this seeming universal paradox, one may refer to Micah, a Hebrew, whose work first appeared in writing about 300 B.C. There is in Micah some of the best philosophy ever penned, yet the status of the tribe among whom he lived and to whom he addressed himself, was barbarous and brutal. Of this, an example is found in Chapter III, where the prophet writes: "And I said, Hear I pray you, O heads of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgement? who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin off them, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron".

As a parallel to this cannibalism it is thus quite conceivable that while some of the MacAlpines were lauding Albani, others were larding their weaker brethren for the laird's table: but the whole trend of Alban custom and Alban literature renders the supposition unlikely.

There is extant a British Triad inculcating the three maxims for good health as "cheerfulness, temperance, and early rising". There is another enunciating the three cares that should occupy the mind of every man as: "To worship G.o.d, to avoid injuring any one, and to act justly towards every living thing". The latter of these is curiously reminiscent of Micah's Triadic utterance: "He hath showed thee O man what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with G.o.d".

FOOTNOTES:

[140] Toland, _History of the Druids_, p. 428.

[141] _Cf._ Poste, B., _Britannic Researches_, p. 110.

[142] _The Lost Language of Symbolism_, 1912.

[143] The earliest example of Irish Bardism is to the following effect:--

I invoke thee Erin Brilliant Brilliant sea, Fertile Fertile Hill, Wavy Wavy Wood Flowing Flowing stream, Fishy Fishy Lake, etc.

[144] Haslam, W., _Perran Zabuloe_, p. 8.

[145] _Survey of London_, Ev. Lib., p. 132.

[146] _Golden Legend_, III, 248.

[147] Skeat postulates a mute vowel by deriving _lazar_ or leper from _Eleazer_--_He whom G.o.d a.s.sists_.

[148] _Extinct Civilisations of the East_, p. 104.

[149] I have a chapter of evidence in MSS. supporting this suggestion.

[150] Frazer, Sir J. G., _Folklore in the Old Testament_, iii., 45.

[151] Bulfinch put the horse before the cart when he wrote: "As the name of the G.o.d signifies _all_, Pan came to be considered a symbol of the universe and personification of nature."

[152] Wavrin, John de, _Chronicles_.

[153] This name is supposed to have meant a miser or father of pennies. The _penny_ is said to have been so named from the _pen_ or _head_ figured upon it.