1827.] The Four Nations. 477 



land, the potty kings, who were heads of clans under a different name 

 are almost invariably described as being men of giant bulk, light hair, and 

 ruddy complexion ; whereas the genuine Celts are invariably of slender 

 though active form, and dark complexion usually with thick and straight 

 hair, resembling that of the Hindoos. 



The Scandinavian tribes those hardy pirates and warriors who, in the 

 early part of the middle ages, issued from the north, and established them- 

 selves not only upon the coasts of the British islands and in Normandy, 

 but who colonized, or at least subjugated, the very southern extremity of 

 Italy had a formation of head different both from the Saxons and the 

 Celts. It was less extended in breadth than the Saxon, though broader 

 than the Celtic ; and it was more elongated and of greater elevation than 

 either. These men, accordingly, were not so cool-blooded in their 

 cruelty as the Saxons in the savage state, or so laborious, and plodding, 

 and industrious when civilized ; neither had they the irritability and versa- 

 tility of purpose of the Celts ; and thus they were, perhaps, a more intel- 

 lectual and powerful race, and, had they been as numerous as any of the 

 others, better adapted for subjugating the world than any sept of men who 

 ever left their original habitude for that purpose. Indeed, from antient 

 accounts, as well as from present appearance, in so far as the antient traces 

 have not been obliterated by intermarriages and crossings with different 

 races, the chieftains of the highlands, and the petty kings of Ireland, toge- 

 ther with a very considerable number of the English barons, are of Norwe- 

 gian, or, as it is styled in England, of Norman origin. 



Before Christianity introduced into the world a system of celestial reli- 

 gion a system which is acquired, and not invented the religions, and 

 more especially the mythologies of the different races, threw more light 

 upon their general abilities and character than perhaps any thing else ; and 

 those who choose to examine and compare even the imperfect remains 

 w-hich are left of the mythologies of the Celts, the Saxons, and the 

 Northmen, will find in them a pretty strong confirmation of the view 

 which is here taken. 



If the authenticity of the poems of Ossian is to be admitted ; and it is 

 certain for I have myself heard them repeated by persons who could not 

 possibly have had them translated from the English that, however 

 detached and however different from those published by Macpherson, 

 there have been shreds of tales and legends somewhat analogous to the 

 poems, handed down by tradition from a very remote period ; if the 

 authenticity of these poems or even of these fragments be admitted, it 

 is not a little remarkable that there is not in them any allusion to a deity, 

 or any reference to beings of a celestial or imaginary nature, other than the 

 ghosts of departed warriors, which seem to have amused themselves with 

 playing at hide-and-seek among the clouds. Indeed, from all that we can 

 glean concerning it, the religion of the Celts appears to have been a grovel- 

 ling superstition, without any thing fanciful or intellectual in its character; 

 and though the wraiths and fetches, of which tales still continue to be 

 told, may perhaps be allowed to be indigenous as they correspond, in 

 many respects, with the ghosts of the Ossianic fragments yet the fairies, 

 which, until the " march of intellect" pressed sore upon them, were very 

 general inhabitants of the Celtic districts, appear to have been of foreign, 

 and possibly of Arabic origin. How folks so very little could have tra- 

 velled so far, may puzzle many ; but those who perplex themselves with 

 that had better pause, and settle, in the first place, why the Jews and 



