V BRITISH ETHNOLOGY 267 



tion in calling a Devonshire man, or a Cornish 

 man, an " Anglo-Saxon," would think it ridiculous 

 to call a Tipperary man by the same title, though 

 he and his forefathers may have spoken English 

 for as long a time as the Cornish man. 



Ireland, at the earliest period of which we 

 have any knowledge, contained, like Britain, a 

 dark and a fair stock, which, there is every reason 

 to believe, were identical with the dark and the 

 fair stocks of Britain. When the Irish first became 

 known they spoke a Gaelic dialect, and though, 

 for many centuries, Scandinavians made continual 

 incursions upon, and settlements among them, the 

 Teutonic languages made no more way among the 

 Irish than they did among the French. How 

 much Scandinavian blood was introduced there is 

 no evidence to show. But after the conquest of 

 Ireland by Henry II., the English people, consisting 

 in part of the descendants of Cymric speakers, and 

 in part of the descendants of Teutonic speakers, 

 made good their footing in the eastern half of the 

 island, as the Saxons and Danes made good theirs 

 in England ; and did their best to complete the 

 parallel by attempting the extirpation of the 

 Gaelic-speaking Irish. And they succeeded to a 

 considerable extent; a large part of Eastern 

 Ireland is now peopled by men who are sub- 

 stantially English by descent, and the English 

 language has spread over the land far beyond the 

 limits of English blood. 



