54 HISTORY OP THE DRUIDS, 



as Herodotus informs us, from the Danube towards 

 the more westerly part of Europe, and settled in 



called the Highlanders, of Scotland, and by the descen- 

 dants of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland, is well known 

 to be a dialect of the Celtic language, which was at a 

 remote period spoken by the inhabitants of a considerable 

 part of the globe That this dialect of the Celtic still 

 preserves its original purity, may be reasonably presumed 

 from the circumstance, that the Caledonians have still 

 remained an unmixed people. The subjection of their 

 country, though it might serve to gratify the minds of 

 vain and ambitious conquerors, could furnish no strong 

 allurement for the establishment of settlements. 



The barrenness of the soil presented no flattering 

 temptation for fixing a permanent residence. The dif- 

 ficulty of encountering a warlike people, inhabiting a 

 country which every where presents lakes, rivers, woods, 

 and mountains, were sufficient to cool the ardour even of 

 Roman conquerors, who dreading the hazard, or seeingthe 

 itnpractibility of accomplishing the design of conquest, 

 held it more expedient to build fortified walls, as well for 

 the preservation of the provinces they had subdued, as 

 for repelling the incursion of the natives whose spirit 

 they could not reduce to obedience. It is true that the 

 Danes and the Norwegians made settlements in the west- 

 ern and northern islands of Scotland; but the language 

 of the Caledonians could not have been affected by the 

 incursions of these northern nations who never had made 

 any settlement in Caledonia, properly so called. That 

 the Gaelic is an original language can be proved by the 

 most satisfactory and demonstrable evidence. It is not 

 derived from any other language, being obviously redu- 

 cible to its own roots, its combinations are formed of 

 simple words of known signification, and those words 

 are resolvable into the simplest combinations of vowels 

 and consonants, and even into simple sounds In such 

 a language some traces, it may be expected, will be found 

 of the ideas and notions of mankind living in a state of 

 primeval simplicity ; and if so a monument is still pre- 

 served of the manners of the human race while as yet 

 under the guidance of simple nature, without any artifi- 

 cial restraint or controul. See Grant on the origin of 

 language, who observes also that the greek and latin 



