his Notice in the Geographical Science; " this he has exemplified by fome Inftances.

The antient Names of Places, which is the laft Particular neceffary to be known in Geography, is a Branch of Knowledge, as he remarks, abfolutely neceffary for the Understanding, and reaping any Pleasure from, the Greek or Roman Authors. MOLL may be of fome Service in this Matter, as he has given us the old Names of most of the remarkable Places he has taken Notice of, and made a useful Index of them at the End of his Work.

A Body of antient Geography is what, as he notes, we have long wifh'd for, and what fome Authors have promised to favour the World with: But hitherto he thinks the Attempts of the Learned this Way have been fomething imperfect; and he hints as tho' it were hardly poffible to arrive at any confiderable Discoveries in this Branch of Learning. The Authors that he thinks have fucceeded beft in this Way, are Cellarius, Reland, Cluver, and Wells. It is the antient and prefent Geography of the laft only that he now takes Notice of, referring the Student to the Names only of fuch Editions of the others as are thought most valuable. Dr. Wells's Treatife, with the Set of Maps belonging to it, he commends as a useful Compendium; and vindicates it from the Imputation of being a trifling Performance, as fome have imagined it.

In the next Place he thinks it proper, before he concludes this Chapter, to obferve how unpardonable it is in a Gentleman to be unacquainted with the Customs and Curiofities of his native Country. And therefore he advises the Student to perufe two other Geographical Treatifes, which more immediately relate to the Inland of GreatBritain, and which he looks upon as the most excellent of the Kind that are extant. These are

CAMDEN'S Britannia and HORSELEY'S Britannia Romana: Of both these Performances he has drawn up a critical Character, in which he points out all their Defects as well as Beauties.

In that of Camden's he remarks, That that Writers Obfervations on Scotland are very fhort and fomething imperfect; but that however his Account of its antient Inhabitants (the Pits) is very juft: For he afferts, (contrary to Bede, who derives them originally from Scythia, and fays they fettled upon the North Part of this Ifland, about the Year 78) that they were no other than the Extraprovincial Britons: "For when the Romans had "conquer'd fome of the Britons, others, averse "to Slavery, retreated into the Northern Parts of "the Ifland, and continued their old Way of "Painting themselves. The Romans therefore, "to diftinguish them from the civiliz'd and pro"vincial Britons,"called them the Piti. That they "were the fame People, and spoke the fame Language, is manifeft from the Poems of Merlinus

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Caudonius, who lived in the Country of Argyle "about the Year 600, and wrote in the British "Tongue. A great many Names of Places and "Rivers in Scotland, are likewife British; which

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plainly fhew us, who the antient Inhabitants of "that Kingdom were." Of thefe Names our Author has produced a few Inftances not mentioned by Cambden. That on which he lays the greatest Strefs is Kelydhon. "This Name by which the antient

Pitts call'd the Country of Scotland, (and out of "which Word the Romans undoubtedly made Caledonia)is truly British,and fignifies in that Language a Hill of Hazel, with which the North East "Part of the Country was formerly covered."

Mr. Camden's Account of the antient Inhabitants of Ireland, which makes that Country to be firft peopled from Britain, has likewise Mr. Bof

well's

well's Approbation; and he adds a few Obfervations to that Writer's Remarks, which may ferve for an Amusement to the young Student, and poffibly not be difagreeable to the learned World. Such of my Readers as have a Tafte for Antiquity, will be pleased with a Recital of them.

"The antient Inhabitants of Ireland, fays he, "were in all Probability defcended from the Cel"ta; for they are now call'd in the British Language Gedhil, Guidhel, and antiently Cedbel,

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Keyil, and, in the Plural Number, according to "the Idiom of that Language, Keilieft, or Keilt, "which the Romans could exprefs by no other "Word than Ceilte, or Celta.

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“However, it is highly probable, that that Kingdom was not immediately peopled from "Gaul, but from Britain; for as the Names "Combe, Dor, Stour, Thame, Dove, Avon, are no "other than the British Words Kam, Dur, Tave, "Divi, and Avon, and manifeftly fhew that the

Britons were the antient Inhabitants of England; "fo the Irish Names of Rivers and Mountains, "that are to be met with in almoft every Part of "Great-Britain, evidently fhew, that the Celta, or antient Irish, were once Inhabitants of this Ifland.

Uysk, a name common to feveral Rivers, (which the Romans call'd Ifca and Ofca, "and which now goes by the Names of Ask, Esk, “ Usk, Ax, Ex, and Ox,) as likewife Loch, or "Luch, Kinwy, Ban, Drym, &c. are all Irish "Words, and in the Language of that People have the following Significations; viz. Uysk fignifies Water, Loch, or Luch, a Lake, Kinway, a Head or principle River, Ban, a Mountain, Drym, a Ridge. In fhort, we are entire, ly obliged to the Irish Language for the Mean"ing of thefe and feveral other Words, which are every where found amongst us. Now how the

'

"Lan

"Language of a People fhould be found in a "Kingdom, unless that People had once inhabited "it, is not eafy to be conceived: It is not improba"ble therefore, that the Irish were firft Inhabitants "of this Inland, and went from hence to Ireland."

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"When, or upon what Occafion they were "driven from hence; whether they were driven away by fucceeding Colonies from Gaul, or by a Colony of Grecians, is not certain. If there is any Dependance upon Tradition, or the Welch Hiftory, (fuch as it is) we fhould certainly be "inclined to favour the latter Opinion: This Tradition was doubtlefs the Foundation upon which Jeffry of Monmouth built his Hiftory; and tho' the Accounts of that Author in this refpect are chiefly trifling and romantick, yet I cannot think, but we had once a Colony of Gre"cians amongft us; for how elfe fuch a Number "of Greek Works fhould be intermixed with the British Language, is unaccountable. Tho' the "Romans held this Inland four hundred Years or

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..

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more, (reckoning only from the Time of "Claudius to Valentinian) yet the British Language "bears a greater Refemblance to the Greek than

any other whatfoever; there are more Greek "Words incorporated with it than there are Latin; "Sherringham has given us a Specimen of these in "his Book, de Anglorum gentis origine, and yet "these are but few in Comparison of those that may be added. be added. The The proper Names of ancient "Britons, their Cuftom of fighting in Chariots as "the Greeks did, and the Names of their Num"bers, which have a greater Affinity with the "Greek, than thofe of the Latin itfelf, are all. "evident Proofs that a Colony of Greeks were

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once here, and lived fome Time amongst us.

"But

"But however this be, it is certain that the "Irish were the ancient Celta, and fpoke the "Language of that People. Indeed there is not "that near Affinity between the Irish and British

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Tongues, that there is between the British, Ar"moric, and Cornish, which no doubt is owing to an earlier Separation of those two Nations; to "Colonies, to Conquefts, and Time, which makes "Alterations in all Things; the Difference is now "fo great between the old Irish and British, that " abundance of Words in the Irish Language are "abfolutely unknown to the Britons or Welch, as "has been obferved already; however, the ori"ginal Stock of both Languages is the Celtic."

This, Mr. Bofwell fays, has been fhewn of the British by Mr. Cambden; and he evinces the fame of the Irish by a few Inftances from Mr. Lhuyd's Archæologia Britannica. These are too many for me to cite here. Our Author goes on after them : "In short, the Laws of the Irish, their Drefs,

their Priests, their Mufick, their Drink, their "Houfes or Huts, their Carriages and Boats, "were the fame with thofe of the old Britons or "Gauls, and called by the fame Names.

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"Thus Bracca, a Sort of Garment among the "Celta, is called Brekan in Irish, and worn by the Highlanders to this very Day; Gallos Cæfar in "triumphum ducit; iidem in curia Galli Braccas depofuerunt; latum clavum fumpferunt, fays Sue"tonius. Again, the Britons or old Gauls, according to Cafar, wore a Beard only on their upper Lip, and their Hair long. Caf. Com. Lib. 5. The ancient Irish wore their Beards "after the fame Manner, and their Hair hanging "down their Backs.

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"The Irish likewife, as well as the Celta, had their Druids and Bards; and accordingly Bar

dus, a Poet in the Celtic, is Baird in Irish; and