Notes and Queries, Number 38, July 20, 1850 | Page 4

he and his family
were deprived of it till he had discharged the uttermost of his debt."
The Druidical fires kindled in the spring of the year, on the other hand,
would appear to be those in honour of _Ashtaroth_, or _Astarte_, from
whom the British Christians may naturally enough have derived the
name of Easter for their corresponding season. We might go even
further than this, and say that the young ladies who are reported still to
take the chief part in keeping up the Druidical festivities in Cornwall,
very happily represent the ancient Estal (or _Vestal_) virgins.
"In times of Paganism," says O'Halloran, "we find in Ireland females
devoted to celibacy. There was in Tara a royal foundation of this kind,

wherein none were admitted but virgins of the noblest blood. It was
called Cluain-Feart, or the place of retirement till death," &c ... "The
duty of these virgins was to keep up the fires of Bel, or the sun, and of
Sambain, or the moon, which customs they borrowed from their
Phoenician ancestors. They both [i.e. the Irish and the Phoenicians]
adored Bel, or the sun, the moon, and the stars. The 'house of
_Rimmon_' which the Phoenicians worshipped in, like our temples of
Fleachta in Meath, was sacred to the moon. The word '_Rimmon_' has
by no means been understood by the different commentators; and yet,
by recurring to the Irish (a branch of the Phoenician) it becomes very
intelligible; for '_Re_' is Irish for the moon, and '_Muadh_' signifies an
_image_, and the compound word '_Reamhan_,' signifies
prognosticating by the appearance of the moon. It appears by the life of
our great S. Columba, that the Druid temples were here decorated with
figures of the sun, the moon, and stars. The Phoenicians, under the
name of _Bel-Samen_, adored the Supreme; and it is pretty remarkable,
that to this very day, to wish a friend every happiness this life can
afford, we say in Irish, 'The blessings of Samen and Bel be with you!'
that is, of the seasons; Bel signifying the sun, and Samhain the moon."
--(See O'Halloran's _Hist. of Ireland_, vol. i. P. 47.)
J. SANSOM.
* * * * *
FOLK LORE.
Presages of Death.--The Note by Mr. C. FORBES (Vol. ii., p. 84.) on
"High Spirits considered a Presage of impending Calamity or Death,"
reminded me of a collection of authorities I once made, for academical
purposes, of a somewhat analogous bearing,--I mean the ancient belief
in the existence of a power of prophecy at that period which
immediately precedes dissolution.
The most ancient, as well as the most striking instance, is recorded in
the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis:--

"And Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I
may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.... And when
Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his
feet into his bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his
people."
Homer affords two instances of a similar kind: thus, Patroclus
prophesies the death of Hector (Il. [Greek: p] 852.)[1]:--
[Greek: "Ou thaen oud autos daeron beae alla toi aedae Agchi
parestaeke Thanatos kai Moira krataiae, Chersi dament Achilaeos
amnmonos Aiakidao."][2]
Again, Hector in his turn prophesies the death of Achilles by the hand
of Paris (Il. [Greek: ch.] 358.):--
[Greek: "Phrazeo nun, mae toi ti theon maenima genomai Aemati to ote
ken se Pharis kai phoibus Apollon, Esthlon eont, olesosin eni Skaiaesi
pulaesin."][3]
This was not merely a poetical fancy, or a superstitious faith of the
ignorant, for we find it laid down as a great physical truth by the
greatest of the Greek philosophers, the divine Socrates:--
[Greek: "To de dae meta touto epithumo humin chraesmodaesai, o
katapsaephisamenoi mou kai gar eimi aedae entautha en o malist
anthropoi chraesmodousin hotan mellosin apothaneisthai."][4]
In Xenophon, also, the same idea is expressed, and, if possible, in
language still more definite and precise:--{117}
[Greek: "Hae de tou anthropou psuchae tote daepou theiotatae
kataphainetai, kai tote ti ton mellonton proora."][5]
Diodorus Siculus, again, has produced great authorities on this
subject:--
[Greek: "Puthagoras ho Samios, kai tines heteroi ton palaion phusikon,

apephaenanto tas psuchas ton anthropon uparchein athanatous,
akolouthos de to dogmati touto kai progignoskein autas ta mellonta,
kath hon an kairon en tae teleutae ton apo tou somatos chorismon
poiontai."][6]
From the ancient writers I yet wish to add one more authority; and I do
so especially, because the doctrine of the Stagirite is therein recorded.
Sextus Empiricus writes,--
[Greek: "Hae psuchae, phaesin Aristotelaes, promanteuetai kai
proagoreuei ta mellonta--en to kata thanaton chorizesthai ton
somaton."][7]
Without encroaching further upon the space of this periodical by
multiplying evidence corroborative of the same fact, I will content
myself by drawing the attention of the reader to our