HE faint traces of past ages that are yet discernable around us, together with all traditional and recorded history, point to Central Asia as the cradle of our species, the fountain head, from which the various nations of the earth have descended. But there are no means of conjecturing, with any approach to certainty, the period at which the great primitive wave of population, generally denominated the Gaelic, first set in upon the western regions of the world. It is the opinion of those who have most attentively examined the subject, that it had overflowed the great continent of Europe, as well as the peninsulas of Spain and Italy, fully a thousand years before the Christian era. There can be no doubt, that Britain was originally peopled from the neighbouring shores of Gaul. The far greater portion of the names of mountains, lakes, and rivers, in both the British Islands, are, to this day, descriptive and significant only in some Gaelic language. The appellations of these vast and permanent parts of nature, are commonly observed to continue as unchanged as the objects themselves. It is therefore reasonable to believe, that a people using that language were the prior colonists, or earliest inhabitants, of these islands. The position of the two countries, the testimony of ancient authorities, the resemblance of manners and customs, the identity of religious doctrines and practices, above all, the clear and strong testimony of language, prove B the one people to have sprung from the other. The original name of our Island is that by which it continues to be designated in the language of the Scottish Gael, the unmixed descendants of the primitive inhabitants. By them it is still called Albinn, a name nearly similar to that of Albion,* the denomination by which it is first mentioned by Aristotle, the most ancient of the classic writers that have treated upon England. The southern Coasts of Britain, from Kent to Cornwall, appear to have been peopled before either the midland or the northern parts were penetrated. As the descendants of the original settlers increased in numbers, and as new bands successively arrived from the mother country, the backwoods were gradually cleared towards the north and west until the whole island was inhabited. In a similar manner, Ireland was, doubtless, peopled from the opposite coasts of England and Wales. To one of these bands, that thus overran Ireland, was the epithet "Scot," first applied. This word, of which, however, different interpretations are given, is most probably the same as the modern Gaelic term of Scuit or Scaoit, signifying a wandering horde, strictly descriptive of the restless disposition evinced by the early invaders. A body of these Scots, several ages afterwards, passing from Ireland to Scotland, conferred their name on that country. But Scotland had been previously peopled in part, not only on the eastern shores, but in the interior, by the gradual movement towards the north of the tide of population from south Britain. The general name given to the inhabitants of the northern part of Britain was not Scots, but Caledonians, that is, Caoilldaion, or men of the woods. They are spoken of by the Roman writers as divided into the Deucaledones and the Vecturiones, the former of these designations is nearly the same as the Gaelic Duchaoilldaoin, literally "the inhabitants of the woods." It was applied to the mountaineers in the northwest part of the country, or what is now generally termed the Highlands, to distinguish them from the inhabitants of the plains. These latter were denominated Vecturiones, a word smoothed down from the Gaelic Uachtarich, that is, the people of that part of the country called Uachtar, the name given to the Lowlands. The term is, indeed, still preserved in the appellation of the * Albion is evidently an adaptation of the word Albinn: Inn, meaning in Gaelic an Island; and Alb, white; together, the white island, a name, doubtless, given to the cliffs of chalk that present themselves to the opposite shores of Gaul. commences. mountainous ridge Drumuachtar, at which the descent of the country towards the east Some hold the Roman name Picti to be merely a corruption of Uachtarich, and therefore the same with the Vecturiones. This has, however, been much disputed, many deriving it from a Latin word signifying painting, and consequently applicable to the inhabitants of Scotland, who continued the practice of painting themselves long after it had been abandoned by the south Britons. Frequent hostilities took place between the Scots and the Picts, the latter being often assisted by the Britons. It was to repel an attack of their united forces, that the Scots obtained the assistance of Fergus, an eminent Irish warrior, who having landed a considerable body of troops from Ireland, was unanimously chosen king of the Scots. All, however, that can be gathered from the most minute investigation of the early history of these Islands, leads to the opinion that the primitive colonists, the first possessors of Great Britain,-be they denominated Britons, Caledonians, Picts, Scots, -were of Gaelic origin.* With the exception of these general facts, the whole of British history is lost in impenetrable darkness, until within half a century of the Christian era. At the time of Cæsar's landing, A. c. 55, Britain was inhabited by a multitude of petty nations, of whom the Roman historians have preserved the names of upwards of forty. The number of such tribes living in a state of lawless independence is, alone, a proof of their barbarism. In the maritime provinces to the southward of the Thames, colonies, probably recent from Belgic Gaul, first introduced tillage. They retained the names of their parent tribes on the continent, and surpassed the other hordes in the manners of civil life. The greater part of the inhabitants of the interior raised no corn, and appear to have been more fierce and rude than the people on the shores. They subsisted on milk and flesh, and clothed themselves with the skins of the beasts which they destroyed for food. In their domestic life, they were little removed above promiscuous intercourse. It is in vain to inquire into the forms of government * It is so unfashionable to use the term Gael or Gaul, that it may not be unnecessary to state that it has been preferred to that of Kelt or Celt, because the latter was only a particular class or division of the Gauls. The Kelts were the Caoiltich, or the inhabitants of a woody country, so called from Caoill, a wood, the same elementary word that enters into the composition of Caledonia. Cunningham, in his introduction to the "Lives of Eminent Englishmen," has treated upon this subject at great length, and with much ability. existing among a people in such a wretched state of uncivilization. The Britons had a government rather occasional than permanent, in which various political principles prevailed by turns. The power of eloquence, of valour, of experience, sometimes even of beauty, over the multitude, for a time threw them into the appearance of a democracy. When their humour led them to follow the counsel of their elders, the community seemed to be aristocratic. The necessities of war, or the popularity of a fortunate commander, invested him, in times of danger, with a sort of monarchical power, limited rather by his own prudence, or by the patience of his followers, than by laws, or even customs. It is an abuse of terms to bestow the name of a free government upon such a state of Society; men in such circumstances might live without restraint, but they lived without security. Two of these nations were settled in Cheshire,-one, the Cangii, a tribe of little importance, and of whom still less is known; the other, the Carnavii, or Carnabii, which subsequently extended itself into a large portion of the neighbouring country. The etymology of the early designation of the county of Chester and of its inhabitants, has been the subject of frequent discussions among the learned. Antiquarians have so completely exhausted their ingenuity in support of their respective theories, that little of novelty can now be advanced. Dr. Whittaker, whose investigations into ancient topography are so well known, and so generally considered entitled to respect, maintains that the name of Carnabii, Carnavii, or Corinavii, by which the inhabitants of this and several of the adjacent counties were designated previously to the Roman invasion, was derived from the peculiar shape or formation of the coasts between the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey. "Within the peninsula of Wirral, and on the contiguous parts of the county," he observes "the Carnabii resided. From thence they originally sallied out and spread their dominions over the rest of the county, and the whole of Shropshire, and the neighbouring parts of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Flintshire. The Britons residing on similar promontories or horns of Cornwall and of Caithness, had doubtless, from the same cause acquired the name of Carnabii, or the men of the promontory." This theory is, however, contradicted by Mr. Owen and others, who contend that the peninsula of Wirral was too insignificant to confer a name upon a people so numerous, or a country so extensive as that of the Carnavii. They would rather deduce it from Corain, winding, and air, stream, A combination of these two words would give one descriptive of the inhabitants of the bank of a winding river, and therefore strictly applicable to a people whose residence was on the banks of the Dee and the Severn. The accuracy of these hypotheses has been warmly maintained by their several supporters, but as their arguments had little effect on their opponents, and cannot be considered conclusive, the question will most probably for ever remain undecided. Camden, who devoted much attention to the subject two hundred years since, frankly avowed he was entirely ignorant of the derivation of the word, under which was comprehended the entire country between the cities of Chester and Worcester. The Cangii, "a nation that has been so long and so much sought for," Camden supposes were also situated in Cheshire, and he supports his opinion by reference to some "twenty sowes of Lead" that had been found on the shores of the Mersey near Runcorn, and at Rock Savage. Others, similar to these, had been previously found on the shores of the Dee; and they all bear the following inscription, commemorative of a victory over the Cangii: On the one side, And on the other. IMP. DOMIT. AVG. GER. DE IMP. VESP. VII. T. IMP. V. In cutting the railway between Chester and Crewe, a few years since, several of these ingots or pigs of Lead were discovered near Boughton, bearing a similar description; and there is reason to believe that others had been previously found by the workmen, and sold. Dr. Leigh suggests, in confirmation of the opinion that Cheshire was the seat of the Cangii, that in various parts of the county, their name is yet to be traced in that of several places, such as Conghill, Conghall, Congleton. If, however, these were the mere tribe of shepherds they are usually considered to have been, a victory over them would scarcely have deserved such a memorial. Whatever may have been the origin of the Carnavii, or the derivation of their name, it is certain that the Romans found this part of the country in their possession. Cæsar, as remarked by Tacitus, rather showed the Romans the way into Britain than put them in possession of it, for twenty years after his decease no tribute was exacted from the nominally conquered Britons. Nearly a century elapsed C |