100 Essay Introductori) to the /Ircheeology of the JFest of England. 



before the departure of tlie Romans from Britain, in a portion of tlieir 

 territory. 



It would appear then, with respect to both Ireland* and Scotland, that 

 they were originally peopled by a Celtic race, ])robably the first and rudest 

 who were dismissed from the parent stock. The Irish are said to have 

 received some additions from Iberia ; but this is uncertain. The Caledonians 

 were overrun by tlie Scots, an Irish, and therefore Celtic colony, and the 

 Picts, who appear to have been a Germanic nation. The whole merged 

 finally in the Scots, from whom the land has received its present appellation. 



We shall attempt, at the risk of becoming tedious, a recapitulation of 

 what has been advanced. 



In the first place, we have tlie five countries of Iberia or Spain, Gaul, 

 Britain Proper, Caledonia, and Ireland. Of tiiese Iberia seems to have 

 been the earliest inhabited, and by a people whose origin, and that of their 

 language, is uncertain, but probably Indo-European. They extended 

 themselves beyond the Pyrenees to the Garonne, and along the coast of 

 the Mediterranean to the Arno ; in all which territory are traces of their 

 language, supposed still to be spoken, as the Basque, in Aquitania. 



Opposed to the Iberians, and probably arriving later in Europe, were 

 the Celts, certainly an Indo-European race, who seem to have crossed the 

 Italian frontier, and spread themselves over Gaul and the British isles. 

 Crossing the Pyrenees, they gained a footing in Iberia, and uniting with 

 the natives, formed the Celt-Iberian nation. At a period probably later, 

 a new wave of emigration was set in motion, also from the Celtic stock ; 

 and the Belgae seem to have been given ofi", who possessed themselves of 

 the north of Gaul and south of Britain. VVhether the Celtse of England 

 are to be regarded as a wave distinct from and later than the Caledonians, 

 or whether the physical circumstances of their country rendered them less 

 ferocious, does not appear. The Caledonians were overthrown by the 

 Celts, Scots, and German Picts, at a period within the historic sera. 



With respect to languages in general, it has been remarked, that those 

 first thrown off from the parent stock, are, as might have been expected, 

 rude and simple in their grammatical structure. Thus while the Sanskrit, 

 Greek, Latin, Slavonic, and Teutonic branches of the great Indo-European 

 stock, are in their grammatical structure elaborately refined, the Celtic 

 dialects which shot off earlier, are rude and simple. + 



• The names of places in Ireland are for the most part Celtic. Reference to the 

 list given by Chalmers will sufficiently prove the truth of his assertion, that the 

 topography of Ireland shows more Celtic names than that of any other country. 



t The coincidences between the Celtic, an early, and the Greek, a dialect of the 

 Pelasgian, a later offshoot, is remarkable. Thus : the Gaulic horsemen were ac- 

 companied by two retainers, also mounted, one of whom assisted his master when 

 wounded, while the other supplied his place. This arrangement was called by the 

 Greeks TpinapKtma ; the Welsh word is Tri-march. Qvpfbi, a shield, resembles the 





