Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-04-21
WEIRD WELSH RITES.
Funeral Ceremonies and Cremation of .
 Distinguished Arch- Druid.

Funeral Ceremonies and Cremation of .
 DIstin RuIshed Arch-Druid.
 Far away seem the times and the rites of the Druids; even under the
 mistletoe at Yuletide-the Time of
 Yowling. Theirs was one of the most ancient and primitive of religions, and its cult is greatly shrouded in mystery, Yet it is not altogether dead. Among
 the hills of Wales many strange relics of the past remain There may be no
 fragments of forgotten peoples" but there are legends and customs and songs and social and religious rites preserved unchanged from the days of Ar thur and Merlin and Taliessin. There are probably not a few seers who. like Glendower, ''can summon spirits from the vasty deep;" though whether or not they will come is yet a mooted question. And as for the Druids, their line is yet unbrol1en, and their weird rites are still celebrated as of old.
 The death has just occurred at Liam trissant of Dr. William Price, who had the distinguished office of arch Druid of Wales He was something more than ninety-three years old, and might have passed for one of the d-time bards who perished in King Edwards days, so rugged and antique was his appear ance. Six or seven years ago, it may be remembered, an infant that had been
 born to him in his old age, died, and its body was publicly cremated by him with Druidical rites For this he was arrested and brought to trial But after a hot contest in court he was ac- quilted, and 8 decree was pronounced from the bench, establishing the entire legality of this form of funeral. Ac- cordingly, when Dr. Price himself died, ! a similar ceremony was enacted, with out thought of interference. The ceremony took place on the sum- init of hi h hill at Caerlen, the very spot where the body of the infant had
 been burned. Several hundred tickets were issued to the friends and former ! patients of Dr. Price, entitling them to l enter the inclosure and witness the
 burning. The hour first set was noon. But public curiosity rose to so high pitch that, to avoid being overwhelmed
 by mob of sightseers, it was at the last moment decided to change it to 2 O clock in the morning So in the gray light of that early hour the strange procession made it's way to the hilltop. No mourning garb was to be seen. The ! closest friends of the deceased Druid were attired in the ancient costumes of
 the Welsh people.
 The body of Dr. Price was clothel in the Druidical robes he had worn in life ! and was then placed in a coffin of per forated sheet iron. On the hilltop two stone walls had been built, four feet | apart. each being about ten feet long and four feet high. A number of iron bars extending from one to the other | formed a rude grating between them, | some distance above the ground, and upon these bars the coffin was placed, the head being toward the east and the | feet toward the west A clergyman of the Established church was present | and read the ordinary service for the | dead in Welsh. The vestments of the ! church contr asted as strangely with the Druidical garb worn by some of the \ attendants as did the words of the \ prayer-book with the strange rites Some slight changes were made in the service, such as the body being ''con- \ signed to the flames"
 Then under and over and all around
 the coffin was piled great lot of wood, \ perhaps whole cord of it, and to this \ were added several tons of coal. Many gallons of parafine oil were thrown
 upon it, thoroughly saturating the en-
 tire pile. Then, at about 8 o'clock two
 of the closest friends of the late Druid
 came forward from the throng and \ applied torches to the wood, one at
 each end of the mass. In a moment it
 was all a raging furnace, anl the hill
 literally flared like a volcano brisk
 ",eze was blowing, which famed the
 4fe and carried the flame and smoke
 far into the heavens. For many miles
 the strange 'pectacle was clearly seen,
 and thousands of people came ficcking
 thither from all parts of Glamorgan-
 shire. Seven or eight thousand of them
 gathered in a ring about the pyre, as
 close to it as possible and watched it
 with eager interest all day long,
 Some hours after dark that evening
 the flames had died down and there
 was only dull glow from the coals
 Then with long hooks they dragged the
 coffin from the furnace when it was
 discovered that it had been literally
 burned through in many places, and
 when the lid was uncovered the recept-
 acle was absolutely empty without the
 faintest trace within of the remains.
 The coffin was subsequently conveyed
 on a bier, followed by an immense
 crowd, and deposited on the couch in
 the deceased's residence, where few N 1,@ l., |. .s~