SUMMARY.

451

With respect to the introduction of Ophio-latreia into Britain , it is historically certainthat the Phoenicians were the only people ofantiquity who pushed their adventurous barquesinto these remote latitudes : and although insome particulars the languages and religionscoincide, yet we cannot imagine that such apriesthood as the Druids could have sprungfrom the slow and solitary vessels which, creep-ing along the coasts of Africa and Gaul , dis-charged their ballast upon the desert Cassite-rides ; and, unconscious of any object but thatof accumulating wealth, returned home with thetin ore of those valuable islands. That acci-dental circumstances, in the lapse of ages, intro-duced many innovations into the religion of theWest, we can readily believe : but to recognizein the Druids , the magi of Chaldea, the philo-sophers of Egypt , or the Brahmins of Hindustan,(except inasmuch as they are all probably de-scended from the original idolatrous priesthooddispersed at Babel,) is a refinement of conjecturewhich requires more substantial proofs than havehitherto been advanced. Identity of remoteorigin will satisfactorily account for identity ofopinions in countries so separated by land andog2