more, towards the end of the eleventh century, none of the clergy could understand the Saxon without an interpreter.

Improvements in commerce and agriculture induced the settlement of strangers;―the progress of refinement occasioned the introduction of many new terms, and paved the way for fixing, in the lowlands, the Saxon language, to which several circumstances greatly conduced.

In 547, Ida, King of Northumberland, with an army of Anglo Saxons, took possession of the lower part of Roxburgh, and seized Lothian, a term which there is reason to believe was then applied to the south as well as north side of the Tweed. This invasion is, however, not likely to have made that alteration in the language which is supposed, even although the invaders had settled in the conquered provinces, for they must, as it is admitted the colonies from Germany and Scandinavia did, have eventually merged in the Celtic tribes. Oswy, King of the Nordanhymbri, or people of Northumberland, about 650, reduced the Scots and Picts, who lived between the Tweed and Forth, and exacted tribute from them until 685, when the Picts recovered their possessions. During this period, the Saxon language, it is believed, first began to be used in the south; but on the Norman invasion, the Royal family of England, the principal nobility, with their attendants and others, who would not submit to the conquerors, took refuge in Scotland; and Malcolm married the princess Margaret, sister to Edgar Atheling, and harassed the borders with fire and sword. So many refugees on this occasion accepted the protection of the Scotish King, that Simeon of Durham tells us the kingdom was "stocked with English men and maid servants, so that, to this day, there is not a farm house, or even a cottage, where they

Border Antiquities.

are not to be found." On the death of the Conqueror, and defeat of the rebellion against his successors, many Normans also retired to Scotland, and Malcolm, with much policy, settled them chiefly on the borders of his kingdom, and in the towns on the east coast that were exposed to the frequent invasions of the Danes. "The towns and boroughs of Scotland," says William of Newburgh, “are known to be inhabited by the English;" but when an opportunity offered, he adds, "the Scots, from an innate hatred towards them, which they dissembled from a fear of offending the king, destroyed all whom they found." The Celts were averse to live in towns and submit to sedentary occupations, or apply themselves to commercial pursuits; hence the Saxons, Normans, Flemings, and others, were generally the inhabitants of the Boroughs, and advantageously pursued those trades which the natives had little inclination to acquire. Through their means, chiefly, the Saxon was propagated, for it had become the language most generally understood in Europe. It was, as it were, the court language during the reign of Malcolm, and the influence, which this must have had even in those days, is easily conceived. Besides, all our kings, from MalcolmCean-more to Alexander II., lived some time in England, learned the language and married English princesses.

To those who maintain that the Gothic was the language of the Picts, or who assert that the limits of the two languages have always continued the same, or nearly so, it is to be mentioned that, so late as the reign of Queen Mary, the Gaëlic was spoken in the Gariach, Aberdeenshire, where it is now entirely unknown, and was even taught in the schools of Aberdeen. In Ireland, the nobility and gentry continued to use this language until the time of

r Lib. ii. c. 34. › See all ancient Charters, and other documents.

Elizabeth, or James the First.' The Saxon has continued to gain ground in both countries, and must inevitably, at no very distant period, wholly supplant the Gaëlic.

It is not the Saxon language alone that has excited the investigation of antiquaries; the Dalriads are said to have brought over their native tongue, which, according to some writers, they disseminated all over Scotland, a proof not only that the Scots' Monarchy was derived from Ireland, but that the people spoke a different language. Chalmers, who allows the Gaëlic of North Britain to be the purest, believes he has proved the introduction of the Irish dialect, by citing a charter which refers to "Inverin qui fuit Aberin." This is any thing but satisfactory; he means to show that the Irish Inbhear supplanted the Scottish Abar or Aber. Inver, here used with in, an island or country, signifies the land which lies between the confluence of two rivers, and Aber, which seems to be the original word, is generally applied in the same sense. Aber, however, properly denotes marsh and boggy ground, but, as this place lay on the east coast, it had been probably drained by the industrious Picts, and could no longer, with propriety, be called Aber-in. Abar is a compound word, from Ab, an obsolete Gaëlic term for water, which, as may be seen in many names still existing, became softened into Av. Bar, is a heap, a height, or point. Now the Caledonians generally chose marshes as the sites of their entrenchments, and many Highlanders I have found yet understand by abar, a work, as of an earthen mound, a trench, &c. If, however, the language of the Eirinich dif fered from that of the Scotish Gaël, which it is said to have supplanted, no tradition or valid proof remains to at

t

Highland Society's ed. of Ossian. About 1619, the use of the Irish language, in deeds, was discontinued. Trans. of Ir. Acad.

test it; and if the Dalriads brought over their language, they did so effectually, for they have left no Invers behind

them.

At the Roman abdication of Britain, in 446, there was only one race of men in Scotland, the sixteen tribes north of Antonine's wall, and the five between the prætentures, who were in some degree civilized by the Romans."

The Caledonians and Picts were, therefore, from all that is related by the ancients, from the investigations of modern writers, and from the undeniable identity of language, two divisions of one and the same Celtic people; and I see no objection to our believing, with Innes, that the Picts were "the first known people of the North," although it is not so apparent that they were, as he says, " the second in order of time."

THE Western side of Britain is mountainous, the east and south parts are champaign. These different characters are striking, and have long marked the territories of the ancient inhabitants and those who are mingled with later colonists. The same, in some degree, is the case with Ire

land.

It will not be here attempted to account for the alluvial discoveries made throughout these islands, or hazard an explanation of various remarkable appearances. Whether the flood of Noah, or any other deluge or convulsion, has produced the difference between the former and present face of the earth, is not easy to be ascertained, but a singular change has certainly taken place. Traditions, indeed, do

a See Brogniart's Works, &c.