186 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH NATION. 
ABSTRACT OF LECTURE BY REV. W. BINNS. 
(Read 17th January, 1889. ) 
The lecturer said he implied by the English nation the peoples of 
Great Britain and Ireland, those whose language was practically 
universal. There were a few Irish, a few Welsh, and a few 
Highland Scotch, to whom English was nearly, if not altogether, 
an unknown tongue. These were the survivals of primitive races 
not yet entirely incorporated with the organism of English civili- 
sation, and might be called the undeveloped members of the one 
community. There were men in Britain in pre-historic days, 
fabulous centuries, it was believed, before the times of Herodotus 
and Moses. At the close of the glacial period men were living in 
the valley of the Thames, who were gradually destroyed as the 
climate became either more temperate or arctic. Following these 
were the Cave-men, whose nearest kin were the modern Esquimaux. 
As the climate changed to a more equable temperature, the 
Neolitic men arrived, and with them the dawn of civilisation. 
Finally, but still in pre-historic days, perhaps some centuries before 
Christ, Britain was invaded by the Aryans from central Asia, and 
the Iberians, whom the former overcame, and with whom they 
commingled blood ; the joint race produced being of a finer type 
than either race was capable of producing by itself. It was im- 
possible to fix more than an approximate date for the migration of 
the Celts into the British Isles. The Galli and Belgae of Caesar 
appeared to have been of Celtic stock. The notion that the 
ancient Celts were mere painted naked Britons was a popular 
delusion. Long anterior to the futile expeditions of Caesar allusions 
to them by early Greek and Roman historians showed that they 
must have been far above the level of barbarians. Himilcar, the 
Carthaginian, penetrated beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and found 
the Britains a numerous race, endowed with spirit and dexterity, 
and all busy with the cares of trade. On the authority of Pliny, 
