the Celtic tribes
which were thinly scattered over the Hebrides and over the mountainous
parts of the northern shires, was of the same blood with the population
of England, and spoke a tongue which did not differ from the purest
English more than the dialects of Somersetshire and Lancashire differed
from each other. In Ireland, on the contrary, the population, with the
exception of the small English colony near the coast, was Celtic, and
still kept the Celtic speech and manners.

In natural courage and intelligence both the nations which now became
connected with England ranked high. In perseverance, in selfcommand, in
forethought, in all the virtues which conduce to success in life, the
Scots have never been surpassed. The Irish, on the other hand, were
distinguished by qualities which tend to make men interesting rather
than prosperous. They were an ardent and impetuous race, easily moved
to tears or to laughter, to fury or to love. Alone among the nations of
northern Europe they had the susceptibility, the vivacity, the natural
turn for acting and rhetoric, which are indigenous on the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea. In mental cultivation Scotland had an indisputable
superiority. Though that kingdom was then the poorest in Christendom,
it already vied in every branch of learning with the most favoured
countries. Scotsmen, whose dwellings and whose food were as wretched as
those of the Icelanders of our time, wrote Latin verse with more than
the delicacy of Vida, and made discoveries in science which would have
added to the renown of Galileo. Ireland could boast of no Buchanan or
Napier. The genius, with which her aboriginal inhabitants were largely
endowed' showed itself as yet only in ballads which wild and rugged as
they were, seemed to the judging eye of Spenser to contain a portion of
the pure gold of poetry.

Scotland, in becoming part of the British monarchy, preserved her
dignity. Having, during many generations, courageously withstood the
English arms, she was now joined to her stronger neighbour on the most
honourable terms. She gave a King instead of receiving one. She retained
her own constitution and laws. Her tribunals and parliaments remained
entirely independent of the tribunals and parliaments which sate at
Westminster. The administration of Scotland was in Scottish hands; for
no Englishman had any motive to emigrate northward, and to contend with
the shrewdest and most pertinacious of all races for