much involved in the obscurity of times of so remote antiquity, and so destitute of any written records, as must baffle the ingenuity of modern researches, and limit our conclusions to this proposition, that different races of men have, in the course of ages, immixed themselves with the original inhabitants; and that the original stock is only to be found in those parts of the British Islands, into which, from local obstructions of situation, and from the repulsive genius and spirit of the people, strangers found insurmountable difficulties to penetrate.

The Celts, however largely the Greeks extended the application of that appellation, formed unquestionably only a portion of the great Gallic nation. The general name of the people was, in their own tongue, a word which the Romans modified according to the genius of their own language and pronunciation, Galli; and their country in like manner they called Gallia. The term Galli the ancient inhabitants of Britain and Ireland have preserved in their denomination of their own parent stock, that of Gael. Although the Welsh people call themselves Cymri, that they, as well as the Celti, were only a branch of the great Gallic stock, is capable of no less complete demonstration, than that the English people are a branch of the great Teutonic stock, and form at this day in Britain a mixture of the Teutonic and Gallic races of men; the language of the first having

prevailed over the latter in all parts of the island of Great Britain and Ireland, except where the Welsh and Gaelic languages are spoken. But any person who wishes to bestow even a superficial glance on The Comparative Vocabulary of the Original Languages of Britain and Ireland, by Mr Edward Lluyd, the very learned antiquarian and scholar, will be satisfied, that the Welsh and Gael are by no means two radically distinct races, who speak the Erse and Welsh tongues. The denomination of Cymri affords no better proof of the Welsh people being a distinct race from the Gael of Scotland and Ireland, than the appellations of Aberich for the inhabitants of Lochaber, or Catich for the inhabitants of ancient Cathness, and such like, which are used as distinguishing appellations, having reference to different communities of men, or to local situations, in respect of the possession of particular portions of the soil or districts of country occupied by the same national stock of people. The word Wael is evidently Gael, the consonant g transformed into the double u in the Saxon pronunciation. The French have retained the ancient pronunciation Gall. Let it be observed, that the word Erse is a corruption of the word Irish. The authors of this corruption are the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of the low country of Scotland, who call the Gaelic language Eirsh or Erse, as the same language with that of the ancient Irish. The word is never applied to

R

the people of the Highlands of Scotland, but to their language, though, in the writings of some modern authors on Irish antiquities, it is applied improperly to the people as well as to the language of the people who inhabit the Highlands of Scotland.

ALBION.

THE most ancient author, so far as we have any remains of written record, who mentions the names by which the islands of Britain and Ireland were known in his time, is Aristotle.

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This most illustrious writer, after describing, as we have already noticed, the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, and the seas in the interior parts of Europe to the Gallic Bay, which is beyond the Pillars of Hercules, points out the situation of the Britannic Islands, “ ὧν ἔξω περιῤῥέει την γην δ « Ωκεανος εν τέτω γε μήν, νῆσαι μέγιςαί τε τογχάνεσιν ὅσαι δύο, βρετανι “ι καί λεγόμεναι, Αλθιον και Ἰερνα.” "Extra quas oceanus terram fluctibus suis oberrat. Quæ ipso in mari “insulæ duæ sitæ sunt quam maximæ, quas Britannicas appellant, Albion et Ierna." Here, then, we have the venerable authority of Aristotle recording the names of those two great islands situated in the great Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Hercules and the Gallic Bay. They had in his time the general denomination of The Britannic Islands, the two largest of which were, according to the Greek pronunciation, called Albion and Ierna.

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Pliny, after describing the continent of Europe opposite to the island of Britain, writes in these

terms: "Ex adverso hujus situs Britannia in"sula, clara Græcis nostrisque monumentis, inter septentrionem et occidentem jacet.

Albion

ipsi nomen fuit, cum Britanniæ vocarentur "omnes." Here we learn that Britannia was in Pliny's time the known appellation of the island now called Britain by its present inhabitants; its old name was Albion. It is evident that the name of Albion was disused in Cæsar's time; the term Britannia is the only one he mentions as denoting the island Britain. Britanni is the general appellation of its inhabitants.

Does the most ancient name remain to this day? We answer in the affirmative. The Gael of Scotland and Ireland have in their native language preserved the ancient names of the largest of the Britannic Islands, as known in the days of Aristotle.

The Gael of Scotland have always denominated that portion of the island of Great Britain subject to their kings, Albinn; the precise name by which the whole island of Great Britain was known in the most ancient times. What is the natural inference to be drawn from this unquestionable fact? We submit it to be fairly this: that Albinn was the name which the continental Gauls applied to the island of Great Britain upon their first acquaintance with it. Emigrants from Gaul to Britain would thenceforward ac quire distinguishing appellations, denoting the name of the country, of their residence, and of