and the Flemish, which belongs to Holland and
the parts northwards; a form of speech which differs from the true Dutch
less than the Lowland Scotch does from the English, and far less than
the Dutch itself does from the German. More than this. South of the line
which separates the French and Flemish, traces of the previous use of
the latter language are both definite and numerous, occurring chiefly in
the names of places such as _Dunkirk_, _Wissant_, &c.

Now, as the French language has encroached upon the Flemish, and the
Flemish has receded before the French, nothing is more legitimate than
the conclusion than that, at some earlier period, the dialects of the
great Germanic stock extended as far south as the Straits of Dover; and,
if so, Germans might have found their way into the south-eastern
counties of England 2000 years ago, or even sooner. Hence, instead of
the Angles and Saxons having been the first conquerors of the Britons,
and the earlier introducers of the English tongue, Belgae of Kent, Belgae
of Surrey, Belgae of Sussex, and Belgae of Hampshire, may have played an
important, though unrecorded, part in that long and obscure process
which converted Keltic Britain into German England, the land of the
Welsh and Gaels into the land of the Angles and Danes, the clansmen of
Cassibelaunus, Boadicea, Caractacus and Galgacus into the subjects of
Egbert, Athelstan, and Alfred.

Such views have not only been maintained, but they have been supported
by important testimonies and legitimate arguments. Foremost amongst the
former come two texts of Caesar, one applying to the well-known Belgae of
the continent, the others to certain obscurer Belgae of Great Britain.
When Caesar inquired of the legates of Remi, the ancient occupants, under
their ancient name, of the parts about Rheims, what States constituted
the power of the Belgae, and what was their military power, he found
things to be as follows--"_The majority of the Belgae were derived from
the Germans (plerosque Belgas ortos esse ab Germanus)._ Having in the
olden time crossed the Rhine, they settled in their present countries,
on account of the fruitfulness of the soil, and expelled the Gauls, who
inhabited the parts before them. They alone, with the memory of our
fathers, when all Gaul was harassed by the Teutones and Cimbri, forbid
those enemies to pass their frontier. On the strength of this they
assumed a vast authority in the affairs of war, and manifested a