36 



Uon coimnunicated to Ptolemy by the Roman traders, and hence tite 

 Gothic appellations of the tribes of Ireland. 



In the Netherlands, Scutten was synonimous with Scythians and 

 Scots ; and, according to Camden, ' our countrymen, who dwell next 

 to Scotland, used to call them, not by the name of Scots, but Scyttes 

 Settes. And hence the early Saxon annals enumerate the languages 

 or nations of Great Britain thus : " Britlene Igland is ehta hand 

 mila long Sf twa huiid brad ; and her sind on this Igland Jif getheod 

 ^languages'), Englise, Sf Brittise, Sf Wilse, <Sf Scyttise, 8( Pyh- 

 tisc, &; Bocleden."*'- They were also known by the Brittish in 

 Wales under the name of Y. Scot,^" which comprehended the 

 Scythians as well as the Irish. The Gaoill, the subsequent Scoti 

 of Richard of Cirencester, being situate in the centre of Ireland, and 

 probably content with their herds and pastoral life, seem, thus se- 

 cluded from the busy world, to have lived as unknown to the con- 

 tinent as to Ptolemy. 



On the contrary it appears, that those Belgic tribes, during part 

 of the Roman dynasty in Britain, and in after ages, had ex- 

 changed commerce for pillage ; and, in conjunction with the 

 Picts, infested the British coasts.^^- Their manners, customs, lan- 



87. Eook-Iearned. 88. Camden. 



89. See Eiimenius, Ammian. Marcellinus, Gildas, &c. 



From Gildas' curious description of tlie third plundering excursion of the Scots and Picts 

 into Britain, which took place early in the 5th century, we have no reason to look for the 

 ruins of palaces in Ireland, nor any to admire the costume of its inhabitants. ' Itaque illis 

 ad sua revertentibus, emergunt certatim de curucis (Curach, a smuU boat of willow, covered 



with hides) quibus sunt trans Tithicam vallem vecti : de a' ctissimis foraminum caver- 



nulis, Jusci vermiculorum cunei, ietri Scotorum Pictorumque gregcs, una eademque sanguinis 

 fundendi aviditate Concordes, furciferusq. magis vultus pilis, * quam corporum pudenda, pU' 

 dendisq. proxima, veetibus tegentes, &c. 



• Tht BeJgic f libb. 



