Welsh and Gaelic. 587 



tir, a promontory or projecting land), Penny cuik (Pen- 

 y-gwig, the head of the thicket), and many other cor- 

 rupted Welsh names. The wide area over which this 

 language was spoken is indeed proved by the ancient 

 Welsh literature, for the old heroic poem of the 

 Grododin was composed by Aneurin, a native of the 

 ancient kingdom of Strath Clwyd, which stretched 

 through the west country beyond Dumbarton over 

 Cumberland as far south as Chester. 1 In Mr. Skene's 

 opinion, it records a battle, fought on the shore of the 

 Firth of Forth some time between A.D. 586 and 603, 2 

 while others, and I incline to this view, suppose the 

 battle to have taken place at or near Catterick in 

 Yorkshire. 



However this may be, it is certain that the British 

 Celts, when the Romans invaded our country, over- 

 spread the whole of Great Britain south of the Firths 

 of Forth and Clyde. By-and-by they mixed with their 

 conquerors, but the Eomans, as far as blood is concerned, 

 seem to have played an unimportant part in our country. 

 They may have intermarried to some extent with the 

 natives, but they occupied our country very much in 

 the manner that we now occupy India. Coming as 

 military colonists, they went away as soon as their time 

 of service was up, and finally abandoned the country 

 altogether. 



Partly before, but chiefly after, the retirement of 

 the Romans, invasions took place by the Teutonic 



1 See ' Freeman's History of the Norman Conquest,' vol. i. p. 35. 



2 In the learned work by Mr. Skene, the author with great force 

 and probability shows good reason, not only for the actual existence 

 of Arthur, but he even traces his march through the country and 

 shows where his battles were fought, ending with the crowning 

 victory at Badon or Bouden Hill, in Linlithgowshire. 



