358 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



The Early History of Cornwall. 



By the Rey. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A. 



If we pass by the dusky race or races that occupied our 

 island before the historic period opens, a race or races that 

 strewed it with their rude stone monuments, we shall be able at 

 once to direct our attention to the great Celtic migration. 



This took place in two waves. The first was the G-oidelic, 

 and it is not possible for us to fix even the approximate date 

 when this took place. The second was the Brythonic, which 

 occurred not earlier than the sixth century before Christ. 



The Brythons took possession of the south of our island, 

 penetrated as a wedge into Wales, till they reached the Bay of 

 Cardigan, constituted the people of the Ordovices, afterwards the 

 kingdom of Powys, crossed into Ireland and established them- 

 selves in Dublin, Wexford, and Wicklow. If, possibly, the 

 Goidels be the Firbolgs of Irish tradition, the Brythons are, 

 certainly, the Milesians. In South Wales the bulk of the 

 population remained Ivernian, or as they were then called, 

 Silurian, a name still retained in our SciUy Isles. The conquer- 

 ing Brython, however, imposed on South Wales his language 

 and his customs. 



There is good reason to think that the cradle whence the 

 Celt sprung was at the foot of the Alps, and that the first 

 ancestors of Goidel and Brython alike lived on platforms upon 

 the lakes. 



It was thence that Brennus rushed with his Gauls over the 

 Apennines and took Eome B.C. 390, and a second Brennus who 

 fell on Greece B.C. 279. It was thence that the Helvetian 

 avalanche descended that was met and stayed by Csesar, B.C. 58. 

 To the present day the migration from Helvetia continues, 

 and must do so, but in peaceful form. The narrow glens and 

 scant pastures of the Alps will not sustain a vigorous and 

 growing population. Swarm away they must. The Swiss went 

 forth in Mediaeval times as mercenaries through Europe, now 

 they go as masons, plasterers, and pastry cooks. 



