The Druids [antikvár]

PREFACE IF it were not that I very much dislike long titles, I would call this book An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Druids and Ancient Druidism, for that is what it is really intended to be. Frankly, its main purpose is to provide a complete and well-documented summary of the whole of the pertinent material upon which a study of this subject should properly be based ; and in order not to mask what I hope is a sober outline of fact, I have deliberately omitted various tempting discussions and elaborations of uncertainties. Thus I have not allowed myself to deal seriatim and fully with the many theories of the origin of druidism ; while, as for my own speculation on this matter, I have whittled it down to a statement of opinion so brief that it enters the field with what must be surely a minimum of offensive and defensive armour. I hope that the manner in which I have presented my material will demonstrate, as the salient lesson of this book, that an essential preliminary qualification for the study of druids and druidism is a general knowledge of the racial history and prehistory, and social atmosphere, of early Gallic and British civilisation. This method of approach is so important, that I should like to say a word about books for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with the literature of the subject. To gain the necessary general information there are two vii