m 



British. Buch ar lin. 



Irish. Buc air liiin ; Caper apud mare. 



British. Camva laiin isc. 



Irish. Cuimeacht na nuiscidh Ian ; Pleni amnis curvatura. 



British. Caer gloyii ui. 



Irish. Cathair an uisge ghloin ; Civitas amnis limpidi. 



British. Caer bein taloch. 



Irish. Cathair beinne na tulcha ; Arx montium sublimium. 



British. Dun bel isc. 



Irish. Dun bheil uisce ; Arx ad caput aquse. 



Some words of the Welsh, Cornish, and Armoric, were lost, which 

 the Irish preserved; and others were preserved in the former, 

 Avhich are lost in the latter : a circumstance not to be wonder- 

 ed at, when we consider, that even the Greek had lost some words 

 after the use of letters in this language. 



The affinity between the different branches of the Gothic, the 

 Dutch, Saxon, and Danish, is very striking ; yet no native, accus- 

 tomed only to the one, can be understood by any of the rest. 

 The same observation is even applicable to the subdivisions of 

 those people, each of which speak in a peculiar dialect ; yet all 

 originated from the old Gothic. 



' The change effected by time in languages may be exemplified 

 in the Latin Ind English. Polybius informs us, that the articles of 

 alliance between the Romans and Carthaginians could scarcely be 

 understood even by antiquaries in his time, which was only 350 

 years after they had been executed. Alterations in a more remote 

 ao-e, and equally unexpected in this language, are recorded by 



