ct area, but not actually Pict? The refinement upon the
opinion suggested by the present chapter, which arises out of the view,
will be noticed after certain other questions have been dealt with.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Mr. Garnett, _Philological Transactions_, No. II.

[8] Saxons in England.--Vol. ii. pp. 4, 5.

CHAPTER V.

ORIGIN OF THE GAELS.--DIFFICULTIES OF ITS INVESTIGATION.--NOT
ELUCIDATED BY ANY RECORDS, NOR YET BY TRADITIONS.--ARGUMENTS FROM
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BRITISH AND GAELIC LANGUAGES.--THE
BRITISH LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN GAUL.--THE GAELIC NOT KNOWN TO BE SPOKEN
IN ANY PART OF THE CONTINENT.--LHUYD'S DOCTRINE.--THE HIBERNIAN
HYPOTHESIS.--THE CALEDONIAN HYPOTHESIS.--POSTULATES.

The origin of the Britons has been a question of no great difficulty.
They could not well have come from the west, because Britain lies almost
on the extremity of the ancient world; so we look towards the continent
of Europe, and find, exactly opposite to the Britons, the Gauls,
speaking a mutually intelligible language. On this we rest, just pausing
for a short time to dispose of one or two refinements on the natural
inference.

But if no such language as that of the ancient Gauls, a language
_closely_ akin to the British, had been discovered, the ethnologist
would have been put to straits; indeed, he would have had to be
satisfied with saying that Gaul was the likeliest part of Europe for the
Britons to have come from. No more. A strong presumption is all he would
have obtained. The similarity, however, of the languages has helped him.

Now the difficulty which has just been noticed as a possible one in the
investigation of the origin of the Britons, is a real one in the case of
the Gaels. The exact parallel to the Gaelic language cannot be found on
any part of the continent. Hence, whilst the British branch of the
Keltic is found in both England and Gaul,--on the continent as well as
in the Islands,--the Gaelic is limited to the British Isles exclusively.
Neither in Gaul itself, nor the parts either north or south of Gaul can
any member of the Gaelic branch be found.

Even within the British Islands the Gaelic is limited in its
distribution. There is no British in Ireland, and no Gaelic in South
Britain. In Scotland both the tongues occur, the Gaelic being spoken
north of the British. Now this position of the Gaelic to the west and
north of the British increases the difficulty--since it is c