664 



Celts. which a free man is entitled. Among the Celts, 

 -"V^ every man who could not establish his claim to be 

 ranked with the Druids or the knights, was a slave ; 

 his comfort or misery, his life or his death, depended 

 almost exclusively upon the will of his master. In 

 order to shew that the difference now alluded to really 

 existed, we shall just set down, in opposition to one 

 another, two short sentences extracted from Caesar's 

 Commentaries, the one referring to the state of the 

 people among the Celts, and the other referring to 

 the state of the people among the Scythians, Ger- 

 mans, or Goths. The passage relating to the Celts 

 is the following : " Nam plebs, poene servornm habe- 

 tur loco, quce per se nihil audet, et nulli adhibetur 

 concilia." (De Bello Gallico, lib. vi. c. 12.) They 

 were, in point of fact, only the instruments of their 

 superiors. The passage which relates to the Ger- 

 mans or Goths, is in these remarkable words : " Atque 

 ubi quis ex principibus, in concilia se dixit ducemfore, 

 vtl qui sequi velint profiteaniur, consurgunt ii qut cau- 

 sam cl hominem probant, suumqne auxilium pollicen- 

 tur, atque a multitudine collaudanttir." (De Bello 

 Gal. lib. vi. c. 22.) When any one of the chiefs, (so 

 the words may be rendered, ) proposes himself as a 

 leader in any expedition, they (not the chiefs, but the 

 people,) who approve of the undertaking, and of him 

 who engages to execute it, signify their approbation, 

 promise their support amidst the applauses of the 

 whole assembly. That this is the true meaning of 

 the passage last quoted, we learn, beyond the possi- 

 bility of doubt or difficulty, from the declaration of 

 Tacitus with regard to the same people : " De mino- 

 ribus rebus, principes consultant, de majoribus, om~ 

 nes." De Mor. Germ. 



Among the Gothic nations, the commencement of 

 what has been called the feudal system, may easily 

 be traced. The chief men were possessed of authority 

 and influence ; but their authority was exercised 

 within considerable limits, and their influence subject- 

 ed to considerable restraint. In matters of inferior 

 concern, the decision of the chief was final, but all 

 affairs of high interest were discussed and determined 

 by the people at large. It is to the power of the 

 chiefs thus restrained, and to the mode of civil govern- 

 ment connected with it, that Mr Pinkerton has given 

 the name of the feudal system in its purity. And 

 according to the opinion of that learned gentleman, 

 this feudal system in its purity is carefully to be dis- 

 tinguished from the latter feudal system, or that sys- 

 tem in its corrupted state. Among the Celts, on 

 the other hand, while the chiefs commanded the ar- 

 mies, and were in other respects not destitute of 

 power, the supreme judicial and even legislative au- 

 thority appears to have engrossed, almost entirely, by 

 the other privileged order, that of the Druids. The 

 Druids judged in all controversies whether public or 

 private, whether of a civil or of a religious nature. 

 They ordained and inflicted punishments. If any 

 one refused to abide by their decision, he was instant- 

 ly excluded from the sacred observances ; he became 

 the subject of a most severe excommunication ; he 

 was held as accursed; he was avoided as a person on 

 whom the mark of the divine displeasure had been 

 set ; he lost all claim to justice, and all title to pro- 

 tection. In one respect, however, the two cases, 

 that of the Goths and the Celts, considered in a po- 



CELTS. 



litical point of view, may justly be said to agree. In 

 both, the power of the chief was limited ; but among 

 the Gothic tribes, the check proceeded from the peo- 

 ple, the voice of freemen was raised aloud against op- 

 pression ; while among the Celts the p iwer of the 

 chiefs seems to have been nearly absorbed in that of 

 the Druids, and the voice of the people, if heard at 

 all, was noticed, only as a symptom of rebellious in- 

 solence, and marked only to be punished. 



4. The last point of difference between the Celts 

 and the Goths, is their language. It is not to be de- 

 nied, however, that in ascertaining this point of dif- 

 ference, considerable obstacles present themselves, 

 It is not easy to procure correct specimens of any 

 ancient language, and even when correct specimens 

 have been obtained, it is not easy to determine whe- 

 ther the language be pure. With the exception of 

 tribes debarred by physical circumstances, there is, 

 perhaps, no instance upon record, of a people living 

 for a very great length of time in utter seclusion from 

 the rest of the world, retaining their original language, 

 in all its purity, and their manners in all their charac- 

 teristic features. Intercourse must always take place, 

 in a greater or less degree, among contiguous tribes. 

 Their very hostilities lead to intercourse ; and where- 

 ever intercourse is supposed, characteristic features, 

 either of language or of manners, will gradually pass 

 away. Besides, if there be any truth in the opinion- 

 of Sir William Jones, that the Celts and Goths, 

 though differing exceedingly from one another at the 

 periods to which the Greek and Roman historians re- 

 fer, were nevertheless, originally, or with regard to 

 their present stock, the same people, we must expect 

 to find the same elementary words in the speech of 

 both nations. However diversified in its general ap- 

 pearance, the substratum of their language will be the 1 

 same ; traces of the native tongue will be discoverable 

 in both ; just as in the various languages of Europe 

 which have been derived from the Latin, sufficient in- 

 dications of a common origin may still be perceived. 

 In their state of comparative advancement, how- 

 ever, the language of the Celts appears to differ very 

 obviously from that of the Goths. We have speci- 

 mens of both tongues, as well as of their kindred dia- 

 lects, given by Dr Percy in his Preface to the work 

 of M. Mallet, a work which, together with the Pre- 

 face now mentioned, has so often been quoted and 

 referred to by authors on this subject. Indeed the 

 means of deciding the question of the identity or di- 

 versity of the languages alluded to, do not appear to- 

 be very remote or inaccessible. There is a Gothic 

 Version of the Evangelists, which has frequently been 

 published (by Junius, 4to, 1665, and by Lye at Ox- 

 ford, 1750). And since the year 1750, a fragment 

 of the Epistle to the Romans, likewise in the Gothic 

 tongue, has been discovered at Wolfenbuttel, and 

 published by the Rev. F. A. Knittel, archdeacon of 

 that place. The versions of the New Testament 

 into the Gaelic or Erse language are sufficiently nu- 

 merous. See Cluverii, Gtrmania Antiqua ; Pellou- 

 tier, Histoire des Celtes; Edinburgh Review, vol. ii. ; 

 Mallet's Introduction to the History of Denmark, 

 translated by Bishop Percy, and published under the 

 title of Northern Antiquities; Pmkerton's Enquiry 

 into the History of Scotland, and Dissertation annex- 

 ed, (h) 



I 



Celts. 



