A VINDICATION 
Within the Scythia of the antients may 
be traced each of the radical dialects of 
northern Europe. (1) Gaelic; for a 
tribe of Galatai, the Galatians of Saint 
Pau!, came thence and settled in Asia 
minor: (2) Welsh, for the Kimmerioi, 
or Cimbri, once gave their name to a 
peninsula of the Euxine: (3) Gothic ; 
tor the Massagetai, Mesogoths, Visi- 
goths, or West Goths, dwelt on the 
Araxes in the time of Cyrus, and made 
war against him: (4) Slavonic; for the 
language of the Medes was Slavonic, as 
Forster proves to Michaelis, and the 
* Sauremadi, North Medes, or Sarmatic 
tribes, are placed by antient authors in 
Scythia. Scythian is plainly a vague 
name, which often includes Getz, or 
Goths, oftener perhaps than any other 
of the four principal nations, or stem- 
tribes of the north. 
The third section attempts to prove 
that the Celts were not driven to the 
farthest limits of Gaul 500 years before 
Christ. What does this author mean 
by Celts? According to Pelloutier, and 
the old antiquaries, all the northern na- 
tions of Europe were Celts: as well 
those who spoke the Gaelic, as those who 
spoke the Welsh, and those who spoke 
the Gothic tongues. Percy, in_ his 
Northern Antiquities, separated Pellou- 
tier’s Celts into Celts and Goths; in- 
cluding the Gaelic and Welsh tribes 
under the former denomination. Schlo- 
etzer, with more precision, separated 
Percy’s Celts into Gales and Kymri, 
and strictly follows up the advice of 
Leibnitz, to class savage nations by 
their languages, which alter more slowly 
than their dwelling-places. Of France 
and England we know nothing satisfac- 
tory before Julius Cesar ; but it is evi- 
dent that, in his time, the Gaelic tribes 
(who are the only proper Celts) were 
compressed into the westmost corners of 
Europe; and as the Belge (who are 
probably a Kymric, or Welsh, tribe) al- 
ready dwelt contiguously to them, and 
were hitching westward, to make room 
for the Goths; it is not unlikely that 
this distribution had endured three or 
four hundred years, which is all that 
Mr. Pinkerton’s hypothesis requires. 
As Mr. Pinkerton maintains that the 
Pelge were Goths, he naturally some- 
what antedates the westward progress 
of the Goths ; for the Belye who dwelt 
westward of the Germans must have 
OF THE CELTS, 225 
preceded them in the progress from 
mount Ararat to capes Finistere and the 
Land’s End. 
This author says (p. 40 ) “ there were 
only four races of people in Europe, 
known to the antients; these were (1) 
the Celts; (2) the Iberi; (2) ,the Sar- 
mate; and (4) the Scythians or Goths.” 
Here is a mis-atrangement: the Sar- 
mate, or Northern Medes, being a Sla- 
vonian race, dwelt eastward of the 
Goths, and consequently forsook Asia 
at a later period; they should occur 
last. 
Here is also'a defect of enumeration. 
The Celts should be subdivided into 
Gaelic and Cimbric. The Iberi are 
stated to have settled in the north of 
Spain. If, therefore, they are not com- 
prehended in either the @aelic or Cim- 
bric tribes, they must be the progenitors 
of the people of Aquiiain, who use the 
Biscayan or Basque language. This 
language is wholly distinct from the 
Erse or Gaelic, and from the Welsh or 
Cimbric. The |beri might then form a 
Sfth distinct race, well known to the 
antients, and specifically described by 
Cesar, It is probable that they entered 
Spain from Africa, are no other than 
the Bastuli, and are the remnants of a 
Carthaginian, a Tyrian, a Hebrew tribes 
they are denominated accordingly. 
‘The fourth section discusses the iden- 
tity of the Thracians, Illyrians, Greeks, 
and Italians, with the Scytho-Goths. 
No part of Mr. Pinkerton’s hypothesis 
is more wild and untenable than the de- 
scent of the Greeks from aGothick stock. 
Except the word pur fire, which Plato 
notices as barbaric, there is scarcely a 
Gothic word in the whole Greek lan- 
guage. The main body. of Greek and 
Latin prosenitors evidently migrated 
eastward from the’ original centre of 
population; for, in the Shanskreet lan- 
guage, the numerals and many other 
words agree withthose of the Greeks and 
Latins. The Latin is Greek combined 
with a Gaelic basis; so that the primes 
val savages ot Italy, who occupied the 
interior prior to the intrusion of the 
Greek colonists, must have been Gala- 
tai. That Goths, while in their pastoral 
state, wandered through Thrace, can- 
not be doubted; that Ovid learnt there 
a Gothic dialect, and wrote the first 
Dutch verses, is probable: but no wan 
dering tribes should be denominated + 
* Saurc is aSlavonian word for north: in Lithuania, Shaure, 
Ans. Rev. Vor. Il. 
