112 proceedings of the canadian institute. 



The General History of the Celts. By Rev. Neil MacNish, LL.D. 



(Read February 19, i8g8.) 



In the topographical names of the British Isles, in the names of streams and 

 rivers and hills and mountains and lochs and headlands, an argument plausible and 

 strong can be found in favour of the theory, that the Gaelic portion of the Celtic 

 race preceded the Cymri, or Welsh, in the occupation of Britain ; and that the 

 Scottish Gaels of to-day speak the same language which our remote ancestors spoke, 

 who, of the Celtic race at least, were the first to enter and inhabit the British Isles. 

 Those whose hearts are warmed with Celtic blood have at least the satisfaction of 

 knowing that they are the descendants of perhaps the oldest race in Europe ; and 

 that, although the early appearance of the Keltoi in that Continent is enveloped in 

 hopeless obscurity, it is true beyond contradiction that their Celtic forefathers 

 were both numerous and powerful long before the English, or German, or French, 

 or Italian peoples had any distinctive existence. The Celtic dialects were strong 

 and well developed and cultivated before any of the important languages of modern 

 Europe were born. Pride of extraction and veneration for genealogies that reach 

 back into the distant past, seem to have an irresistible attraction for the human heart. 

 In the social life of modern days, there is a tacit admission that he is entitled to 

 more than ordinary respect who can establish his contention, that the blood of many 

 respectable generations is coursing in his veins. In addition to the acknowledged 

 antiquity of their presence in Europe, the Celts have the additional satisfaction, that 

 the stream of their particular blood has flowed down with comparative purity during 

 many centuries; and that in the Celts of our day, there is a large absence of that 

 admixture of blood and nationality which is so marked in the Anglo-Saxon race. 

 Mommsen asserts " that the Greek and Italian are brothers, and that the Celts, the 

 German and Slavonian are their cousins." Max Miiller thus writes : " The fourth 

 branch of our family is the Celtic. The Celts seem to have been the first of the 

 Aryans to arrive in Europe, but the pressure of subsequent migrations, particularly 

 of Teutonic tribes, had driven them towards the westernmost parts, and latterly from 

 Ireland across the Atlantic. At present the only remaining dialects are the Kymric 

 and the Gadhelic. In former times the Celts not only enjoyed political autonomy, 

 but asserted it successfully against the Germans and Romans. Gaul, Belgium and 

 Britain were Celtic dominions, and the north of Italy was chiefly inhabited by them. 

 In the time of Herodotus we find Celts in Spain and Switzerland. The Tyrol and 

 the country south of the Danube have once been the seats of Celtic tribes ; but 

 after repeated inroads into the regions of civilization, famiHarizing Latin and Greek 

 writers with the names of their kings, they disappear from the east of Europe." 

 This is the opinion of Latham regarding the Keltoi: " This stock was indigenous 

 to the water systems of the Loire, the Seine, the Rhone; in other words, to the 

 whole of France north of the Garonne, to the south of which river lay the Iberians. 

 From Gaul it spread to Great Britain. Its present representatives are the Bretons 

 of Brittany, the Welsh, the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland, and the Manxmen of the 

 Isle of Man." 



The early annals of Rome record a victory which the Gauls, under their leader, 

 Brennus, obtained over the Romans. At Allia, in the neighbourhood of Rome, the 

 Romans sustained so severe a defeat in 391 B.C. that the Gauls were allowed to 

 occupy the city without much or any molestation. Though the inventive genius 

 of Roman historians has thrown a halo of romance over the departure of Brennus 

 and his Gauls from the city, the stubborn fact remains that the Gauls were at that 

 time brave and numer6us and powerful. Further, we learn from classic story that 



