JAPETIC STOCK. 



Williams (see his very interesting paper on one source of the non-Hellenic 

 portion of the Latin language ; Trans. Royal Soc. Edinb. vol. xiii. 1836) 

 has satisfactorily demonstrated, that the original population of central and 

 northern Italy, was Cumrian, or Cimbrian, cognate with the Cumri of our 

 island; and that of this race no small part of the original population 

 of ancient Rome consisted. 



It is remarkable that the Celtic tribes of every country in Europe 

 referred to Troy, or Troja, as the primitive seat of their race, and as the 

 place whence they originally migrated. 



The claim of the Cumri of Britain, to a Trojan origin, was maintained 

 in the earliest ages, long before the fabrication of Geoffroy of Monmouth ; 

 and in this Trojan origin they agreed with the Veneti, the Sabines, the 

 Latins, &c. Asia Minor was, in fact, the reputed birth-place of the Celtic 

 stock, by common consent. With respect to Troy (a city or territory of 

 mystery), the name of which was familiar to nations ignorant alike of 

 Homer and his Iliad, the inquirer is lost in vague conjectures. In the 

 time of Homer, 860 years A.C., its history was veiled in fable : and it 

 is not improbable that the traditions, on which he founded his poems, had 

 been carried far and wide by the tide of wanderers from Asia Minor, at 

 a period antecedent to that of his existence. 



Of the radical affinity between the Celtic and Latin tongues, this is 

 not the place to treat; those who desire to pursue the subject may 

 consult, with advantage, the excellent paper from which, in the notes, 

 some interesting extracts have been quoted : * all here aimed at is, to 

 prove the extent and originality of the Celtic race, and its unsuspected 

 connexion with a people destined to influence the fates of empires, and 

 to become the masters of the known world. 



The physical characters of the Celtic race are as follow : Hair, 

 varying from the dark brown to pale chestnut, or reddish ; eyes, brown, 

 or bluish grey ; complexion pale, the skin being white, verging to 

 brown ; stature, moderate, but robust, the body and limbs being well- 

 proportioned, and more hairy than in other races, the men, without ex- 

 ception, and sometimes the females, having the chest and epigastric 

 region thus furnished. The forehead more or less prominent on the 

 sides, but retreating, not ungracefully, to the temples ; the nose rectilinear, 



* Archdeacon Williams says (having observed that two languages may have a common voca- 

 bulary, but different grammars) " although the grammars of the Latin and Cumrian thus entirely 

 disagree, there is a wonderful similarity in their vocabulary, by no means to be accounted for by a 

 supposed common descent from a Caucasian race, but approaching far nearer than the old Teutonic 

 (or, as it is called, Moesi-Gothic tongue) does to the Homeric language. Giraldus Cambrensis, both 

 a Cumrian and classical scholar, remarked this similarity nearly 600 years ago. It is to be remarked, 

 that almost all the words of the British tongue agree either with the Greek or Latin. It is this 

 strong similarity of features between their own language, and that of Greece and Italy, that has 

 induced so many of my countrymen to scorn all) examination which did not commence with this 

 confession." 



VOL. I. 2G 



