SKETCH OF THE EARLY ORIGIN AND PRINCIPAL FEATURES OF CELTIC HISTORY.

I CAN only "plead guilty" to a very moderate share of reading; but, as the Celtic population of the earth has always been an object of special interest to me, I have, perhaps, been more eager in seeking information on this subject than some persons with a larger fund of general knowledge.

The result of my inquiries in this direction, and of such general observations as I have been able to make on existing facts, will be found in the following notes, which were put together, in the first instance, with the single object of making the conclusions at which I had arrived more clear to my own mind. It has been well said,-"It is better to utter one's thoughts to a statue than that they should pass away in a smother;" and every one's experience must have shown them that the only sure means of rendering our ideas distinct is that of giving them an independent existence of their own.

This, my first object, being in some measure attained, I became desirous that the conclusions at which I had arrived should be more generally accepted. It is impossible to believe any truth without longing to impart it; and my anxiety to propound to others questions of deep interest to myself was, in this instance, the greater, from the fact that Celtic history and Celtic literature are far from obtaining the attention which is their due amongst cultivated Anglo-Saxons.

I earnestly hope, therefore, that the points which in the following pages are merely suggested will be worked out at greater length by a more able and practised hand -one capable of throwing on the subject the light gained from profounder research and more varied historical information than my own.

It often strikes me that confusion and disagreement arise from our failing to go back far enough in our

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inquiries. If in moral questions we have recourse to the fundamental principle, and in historical to the primitive origin, our chances of agreement will be greatly increased. Thus, in religion, the root-love-is the harmonizing principle; in government, order; in taste, harmony and it is only in the light of these central principles that subordinate points can obtain their true value, and fall into their proper place. The more, therefore, we direct our historical inquiries to primitive origin,-never losing sight, at the same time, of existing facts, the more likelihood is there that our inferences will be sound, and our conclusions just.

Contemplated from this point of view, Celtic history, it appears to me, offers to our notice interests of a very peculiar and superior order. These are found:

1st,-In its sympathy with the Bible and the early ages. 2ndly,-In the continuation, however limited, of the integrity of this peculiar race.

3rdly,-In the superiority of character induced by its origin, genius, traditions, habits and customs.

These points, if it were necessary, might all be proved from competent authorities; for, though my early convictions on the subject were strong enough to satisfy my own mind, I have taken care to propound no opinions, and lay down no theories, that could not be substantiated by the authority of writers of repute. In this sense, and up to this point, these notes may be looked upon as a compilation, or abstract, rather than an original essay.

Let us now briefly glance at some of the leading outlines of Celtic history. It appears to me that these may be ranged under six heads.

1st, That the Japetidæ,-that is, the Gomeritæ, and sons of Javan,-began their emigration from the East before the confusion of tongues.

2ndly, The Gomeritæ, Kimmeritæ, or Celtæ, now represented by the Welsh, Highlanders, Manks, Cornish, Armoricans, Basques, Waldenses, &c., were the very primitive peoplers of the British Islands.

3rdly,-All the above-named tribes are Celtic, proved from their language, history, traditions, customs, and usages; identical, patriarchal and peculiar.

4thly,-Their language was the primitive, or Noachidic, of which the Hebrew was a dialect; chosen, as was Abraham, to be peculiarly sacred.

5thly,-There remained amongst them vestiges of primitive belief, customs, and usages, less corrupted than elsewhere (excepting among the chosen race, to whom the special charge of revelation was given).

6thly, They were not only superior in moral purity to what is supposed, but were oracles in science, which they did not learn in the way of progress, but which they had derived from their forefathers, from whom it had been handed down from generation to generation from the earliest times.

An examination on these six points of both general and internal evidence is as interesting as it appears to me satisfactory.

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On the first head, if we look to the 9th chapter of Genesis, we shall see that God commanded that the children of Noah should replenish the earth; accompanying this order with a promised blessing on its fulfilment.' The 10th chapter gives an account of the division of the earth amongst Noah's sons, and the obedience of some of his descendants. The description of the portions possessed by the various families is thus related: By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands;" and it was against the command, to replenish the earth generally, that Nimrod, the Cushites, and the disaffected, rebelled, in building the tower whose "top was "to reach unto heaven," when they said, "Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 993

Moses is speaking not of a compulsory separation of families, but of a regular division of the earth amongst the Noachida, when he says, "These are the families

1 Genesis, ix. 1.

2 x. 5.

3 xi. 4.

of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood."

The name of Peleg (to cut or divide) gives occasion to specify the time when the land was divided, not when the people were scattered abroad. It must have been given him at his birth, as most ancient names were given, in commemoration. This was about one hundred years after the flood.

Thus Arphaxad born 2 Arphaxad 35 when Salah was born 35 Salah ... 30 when Eber was born 30 Eber.... 34 when Peleg was born 34

Total....101

years after the flood.

"It has been a popular opinion that the confederacy at Babel embraced the whole of mankind, excepting perhaps one family, and consequently that the whole earth was equally affected by the confusion of tongues; but this opinion appears to have arisen from considering the history of Babel as a solitary fact (Genesis, xi.), instead of connecting it with the account of Nimrod and his kingdom in the preceding chapter.6 It appears that Moses has not only alluded to writings which existed before his own time, but has actually given us transcripts of some of the compositions of the primitive ages."7

The several portions of the primitive history are detached, and often recapitulated; much attention therefore is necessary in order to obtain the historical light they are capable of throwing upon each other.

The confederacy was not joined by Noah, or any of his sons, nor were these patriarchs singular in keeping aloof from it. Nimrod (the son of rebellion) had become proverbial, "Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." This mode of description would not have been used by his own associates, but by certain societies who had rejected his authority, and were consequently become the objects of his rage. Many such there were.

4 Genesis, x. 32.

5 Genesis, x. 25, and xi. 10-17; Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 32; Hawker's Commentary, p. 615.

6 Genesis, x. 10.

8 Genesis, x. 9.

7 Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 55.

As his confederacy did not embrace the whole of mankind, there can be no reason to suppose that those who were not concerned in it immediately lost either their religion or their language, or any part of the valuable traditions of their fathers.9

The traditions of almost every country presents us with accounts of certain giants, exiles, and wanderers— usurpers who intruded themselves amongst the more regular and orderly inhabitants, to whom they became a source of annoyance, and an object of detestation. "These are the people who are described as exiles and wanderers."-Eusebius, P. E. L., i.1

Upon the whole, it appears most correct to conclude from the Mosaic history, i. e., truth and universal tradition, that some of the descendants of each of the great patriarchs joined the impious confederacy, and that other branches rejected it, pursuing their various courses according to the commands of God. According to this view, Nimrod's subjects consisted not so much of any particular families, as of individuals of a certain temper and disposition.

"The Japetida were on the move from the East anterior to the confusion of tongues; and those concerned in the treasonable erection of the Tower of Babel were rebellious tribes banded together under Nimrod." "If Japhet as well as Shem lived 500 years after the flood, it seems probable that, for that space of time, he had the sole government of his own 14 tribes, or nations, westward of the Euphrates, as Ham had of those eastward thereof, and Shem of those towards the south, until Nimrod usurped upon the patriarchal form of government instituted by Providence, and founded the kingdom of Babel. Nor does it seem probable that the descendants of Japhet, who were destined by Providence to the most western parts, were all in the time of Peleg (the fifth generation from Noah) sojourning from the East towards Shinar, or present at the confusion of tongues and nations. The original purity of the western dialects seems to prove that they were not."2

9 Davies' Celtic Researches, p. 56.

1 Ibid. p. 60.

2 Philosophy of Words, by Rowland Jones (Inner Temple). The following extract from Cyfrinach Beirdd Ynys Prydain will not be uninteresting, as exhibiting the views held by the bards relative to the derivation of the Cymric language:

"Three languages, formed by God, were obtained and have existed