have been thought that the god had a just title to that which was begotten of man. The Minotaur with the human body and bull's head, killed by Theseus, is probably a myth illustrative of the abolition of the Moloch worship which had come from Phoenicia by way of Crete. The rape of Europa and her abduction into Crete from Phoenicia by means of the bull, may be symbolic of the colonisation of that island by the Phoenicians.

It was with this particular form of Baal worship that the worship of Ashtoreth was associated. The two are constantly mentioned together in the later Jewish chronicles. Their temple at Apheka or Hierapolis was deemed by Lucian to be the richest in the world, and Plutarch relates how Crassus, in his unjust expedition against the Parthians, spent several days in their temple weighing the gold and silver therein, instead of disciplining his army. Dr. Dollinger, one of the least sensational of religious historians, speaking of the spring festival in their honour, (the "brand feast" or "the feast of torches"), says: "Huge trees were burnt with the offerings suspended on them. Even children were sacrificed; they were put into a leathern bag and thrown the whole height of the temple to the bottom with the shocking expression that they were calves and not children. In the forecourt stood two gigantic phalli. To the excited din of drums, flutes, and inspired songs, the Galli," (a troop of flute players), "cut themselves on the arms, and the effect of this act and of the music accompanying it was so strong upon mere spectators that all their bodily and mental powers were thrown into a tumult of excitement, and they too, seized by the desire to lacerate themselves, inflicted wounds upon their bodies by means of potsherds lying ready for the purpose. Thereupon, they ran bleeding through the city, and received from the inhabitants a woman's attire," etc.

There appear to be distinct traces of this Moloch-worship in the British Isles, and strangely enough, in conjunction also with the worship of Ashtoreth, which we have already noticed. Mention has been made of the Druid custom of burning victims in osiercages shaped like men as closely resembling that of the Molochworshipping Carthagians. It appears also that some Druids were robed in black, as were the priests of Saturn (Moloch). Probably also we may interpret the setting up in Ireland of the mysterious

idolatry previously mentioned, as indicating the introduction of Moloch-worship upon the purer Melkarth-worship (which was probably the first cult introduced by the Phoenicians wherever they set up colonies), or perhaps upon the more primitive worship of the more ancient inhabitants. The idol which St. Patrick is said to have thrown down, is called by one historian, "the idol of Goroaster," probably meaning that it was a sun-god or fire-god, resembling the epicene Mithras.

But perhaps some of the best traces of this worship of Moloch and Ashtoreth (possibly transformed afterwards into Mithra) are to be found in the superstitious observances now or very recently practised among the Scottish and Irish Celts, as well as in Cumberland and Lancashire, and known as the Beltane or Beltein festival. By the Scotch it was observed on the 1st of May (old style), though in the west of that country St. Peter's day (June 29th) was preferred. In Ireland there were two celebrations, one on the 1st May, and the other on the 21st June. The ceremony differed at various places, but everywhere a tree was fixed (as in the Syrian festival), and either cattle or human beings passed through the fire. At Callander in Perthshire, the boys would go out on the moor, cut a table out of sods, sit round it, light a fire, and cook an oatmeal cake or cakes, part of which was blackened. Lots would then be drawn, and the boy or boys who drew the blackened part would be compelled to leap three times through the fire. Games and dances were also part of the festival. A similar quasi-sacrificial rite is recorded among Scotch farmers when murrain has broken out among the cattle. These are distinct traces of Moloch-worship. Human sacrifices were probably once offered in the British Isles, instead of the passing of the human being or beast through the fire, though it seems that the mere "passing through the fire" to Moloch was deemed sufficient, in very early times, by the less blood-thirsty peoples. The cooking of cakes was a distinctive feature of the worship of Ashtoreth, to which Jeremiah referred when he said, "The children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the queen of heaven." The word Beltane or Beltein which seems to have puzzled so many philologists and antiquaries, is surely connected with the Keltic deity, Beli, Beltis, or Belinus,

which Caesar mistook for Apollo because it was a sun-god and had as its symbol the bull, Beli, corresponding rather to Kronos or Saturn, and was identical with the Gaulish Cernunnos, who appears to have been worshipped also in conjunction with a female deity, and sometimes in a Triad. A brazen bull seems to have been the general representation of this idol, and it was doubtless this deity which Plutarch mentions in relating the negotiations between Catallus and the Cimbri. Now, I have mentioned the idol Crom Cruaich, or Cenn Cruaich (a purely local name) which St. Patrick is said to have thrown down. To that idol-probably a local representation of Beltis or Beli (which, by the way, signifies in the Celtic, Death) the ancient Irish used to sacrifice the first-born of their children and of their flocks to secure power and peace. It would be interesting to trace the evolution of this and many another idol, from a representation of a bloody deity, such as that of Moloch or Moloch-Astarte, to that of Mithra. Mr. J. M. Robertson, in his excellent article on Mithraism (Religious Systems of the World) has shown how Mithraic influences permeate Christianity. At another time I have to show how Mithraism drafted into its system the various customs of more primitive religions which it superseded. Suffice it at present to say that an unprejudiced study of the faiths and beliefs of man will, I am sure, convince the student that the evolution of the god-idea is everywhere co-existent with the evolution of man, in other words, it is the product of the intellect swayed by imagination. The nature and qualities of the "gods" are the reflections, the ideals, of the people individually and collectively, excepting when the religion is one imposed by a conquering race. Even under this exception there is a compromise, the customs of the two opposing systems either consciously or unconsciously becoming amalgamated. As the intellect gradually evolves, so the conceptions of the unknown gradually evolve from the gods of sacrifice and inhumanity, to the gods of love or of passivity, and, later, to the abstract ideas of matter, mind, the will to live, etc. But not till the intellect completely controls the imagination will the human mind be content to live according to the truths which experience teaches, and relegate the unknown to its proper sphere. H. O. NEWLAND.

LIFE IN AN ORPHAN SCHOOL.

I.-KING LOG.

THERE has been much discussion recently as to the merits and demerits of what are known as Barrack Schools, but hitherto they have been described only from the outside. Those who have spent their childhood in these infernos do not become guides of public opinion. They are so muzzled by their circumstances that they may say with the ghost of Hamlet's father:

"I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house."

But if they could speak assuredly they would "harrow up the soul" and "freeze the young blood," for there are even more terrible circles in this child's hell than those I have trodden. I had the misfortune to be brought up in one of those numerous institutions which are intended for the orphans "of those who once moved in prosperous circumstances," and from my description of this some idea may perhaps be formed as to what pauper institutions must be like. Let me premise that I do not write in hot blood: I have reached middle age, and my childhood has not altogether soured my subsequent life, which has at least been sufficiently happy to make me shudder as I look back.

I was just seven years of age when I stood at the gate of the "noble institution" I am about to describe. My past life had been such as to fit me to feel keenly the miseries in store for me. My father had died when I was an infant, and my mother, sunk by poverty to a lower stratum of society than that in which she had hitherto lived, kept me away from all companionship. Brought up in a household of women, I knew nothing of boys or boy-life. I was painfully shy, as sensitive as a girl, and helpless as a baby, having never even dressed or undressed myself without assistance. I was thus a very delicate instrument for re( 239 )

cording the moral atmosphere into which I was suddenly to be plunged.

We arrived at the institution in a suburb of London one winter evening. The front gate was securely locked, and the house stood some twenty or thirty yards back from the road. On pulling an iron handle a great bell clanged dismally within the house, and a man came out, who, after scrutinising us, cautiously opened the gate. No possibility of a "surprise visit" there! Once or twice since I have chanced to pull such a bell, and each time at the answering sound an indescribable sense of loneliness and desolation has fallen upon me. So indestructible are our earliest asso

ciations.

We were admitted, my mother and I, into a cozy room with a bright fire in it, and were received by a middle-aged woman all smiles and kindness. Of an affectionate disposition, I at once responded to this person's fondling words, and my mother went away comforted by the thought that I should be happy. A change, however, took place in the matron's demeanour directly we were left alone, and I soon learnt that she was as heartless a person as the institution contained. Let me relate just one fact in justification of this change. She took possession of all presents of eatables that came to the boys, and on the plea that they were too "rich" for us she consumed the best of them herself-so at least I was assured again and again by the fortunate lads who had such presents.

I shall never forget what I suffered when--fresh from a home which, in spite of poverty, was full of love and refinement-I was suddenly thrust into the society of a hundred coarse and brutal boys. My helplessness, my tears, my ignorance, my very innocence, all served as baits to attract the mischievous and cruel. Mockery and blows soon taught me not to weep before my companions, but tears were shed abundantly in secret. Often I awoke in the night fancying myself still in the crib beside my mother's bed, and, when I stretched out my arms and found no mother there, I realised suddenly the loveless world into which I had fallen, my grief would find way in violent sobs which left me utterly exhausted. No sorrow I have had to bear in after life has equalled