202 Essay Introductory to the Archceology of the West of England. 



provinces in which Celtic is still spoken, Celtic names of persons are very 

 rarely, if at all, found amongst us j and above all, none of our political or 

 judicial terms, nor any of the words of the written or spoken English lan- 

 guage, can be ascribed to the Celtic source. (Note C.) 



We have, then, many of those names which are the first given, and 

 the last to change, Celtic ; evincing that Celtic names must at one time 

 have been received every where, although the influx of a different and more 

 polished tongue has ejected them from their less impregnable holds. 



Hence we must conclude, in accordance with what history teaches us, 

 that Celts were the most ancient inhabitants of our island, and that they 

 spread themselves over the whole of it ; that they were invaded by nations 

 who either did not attempt, or did not succeed in their civilisation, but 

 drove them forth whenever they met with them ; and finally, having pos- 

 sessed themselves of their fairest provinces, cooped thera up and isolated 

 them in those mountainous tracts, of which they are still the inhabitants. 



It being then demonstratively evident that the Celtic was the ancient 

 language of Britain, as it still is of some part of her dependencies, it will 

 be proper to consider that language in detail. 



Dr. Prichard, who has in one short tract thrown more light upon the 

 relations of the Celtic to other idioms, than all former writers, save Edward 

 Lluyd, put together, has examined the Celtic analytically; that is to say, 

 he has taken the points of resemblance between it and other tongues, and 

 has examined how far their coincidences denote a common origin, or com- 

 mon laws of mutation. 



These relations Dr. Prichard has reduced to four classes. 



I. Those languages whose grammatical structure discovers little or no 

 analogy, but whose vocabularies possess a number, more or less extensive, 

 of similar terms for particular objects, actions, and relations, introduced, it 

 may be, by conquest or commerce, or the diffusion of religion, science, or 

 the arts ; in which cases the new words will be confined to the new intro- 

 duction ; or they may involve words of a class expressive of simpler ideas 

 and universal objects, when they will be primitive, and indicate an earlier 

 and more intimate connexion. Similarities of this latter class may be so 

 numerous as to indicate a common origin, though different degrees of cul- 

 ture may cause them to differ in sense. 



II. To this class belong languages which have few words in common, 

 but whose grammatical construction is remarkably analogous. 



III. Other languages are connected in both the above ways, possessing a 

 multitude of words in common, and a similarity of grammatical forms. 



IV. To the last class are referred languages possessing none of the above 

 characters of connexion, and belonging to nations remote from each other 

 in descent, and often in physical character ; though even here are found 

 verbal coincidences too remarkable, perhaps, to be accidental. 



It is upon a series of striking analogies between the Celtic and other 



