a large number of verses, and in this way some of their scholars passed twenty years in completing their education.

The term Druid was originally generic, including three classes of persons, namely, bards, philosophers, and priests. The same individual, however, often held these three sister offices, each of which was recognized and supported by the state. The term was, however, in the process of time, limited to the priestly order, while the bards and philosophers became distinct and independent bodies. See Bibliotheca Sacra, April, 1850. Of the Celtic family there are two branches:

I. The Cambrian or Cymric.

Under this division are,

1. The Welsh of Wales.

2. The Cornish of Cornwall.

3. The Armorican of Bas Bretagne.

It is supposed that the old British, the ancient language of Gaul, and the Pictish, were of this branch.

II. The Gaelic.

Under this division are,

1. The Irish Gaelic of Ireland, or the Erse.

2. The Scotch Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland.

3. The Manx of the Isle of Man.

In all, here are six dialects, the three former of which are the relics of the language of the ancient Britons, and the latter three of that spoken by the inhabitants of Ireland. Of the two branches it is supposed the Gaelic is the oldest.

CLASSIFICATION

OF THE CELTIC

ELEMENTS.

§ 62. The Celtic elements of the present English, few as they are, fall into four classes.

1. Those that are of late introduction, and can not be called. original and constituent parts of the language. Such are the words flannel, crowd (a fiddle), from the Cambrian; kerne, an Irish foot-soldier, tartan, plaid, from the Gaelic branch.

2. Those that are common to both the Celtic and the Gothic; such as brathair, brother; mathair, mother.

3. Those that have come to us from the Celtic through the medium of another language; such are Druid and bard, which come to us through the Latin.

4. Those that have been retained from the original Celtic of the island, forming genuine, original, and constituent elements of our language.

a. Proper names, generally of geographical localities; as The Thames, Kent, &c.

b. Common names retained in the provincial dialects of England, but not retained in the current language; as, Gwethall =household stuff, and gwlanen flannel, in Herefordshire.

c. Common names retained in the current language; as basgawd, basket; botwm, button; bran, bran; ceubal (boat), cobble; crog, crook; darn, darn; greidel, grid or gridiron; hem, hem; matog, mattock; mop, mop; paeol, pail; pan, pan; rhail (fence), rail; syth (glue), size; tacl, tackle; tedda, tea.

"The Welsh word orc signifies that which is extreme, a limit, a border; and Orc is the name given to the Orkney group in the Welsh Triads." Orc, Manau, Gwyth; that is, Orkney, Man, and Wight. Ramsgate is from the British word ruim, Welsh rhum, that which projects; the first syllable in Canterbury, from the Welsh caint, a plain; the first syllable in Winchester, from the Welsh word Gwent.

The greater part of the names of mountains, lakes, and rivers, in both of the British islands, are to this day significant and descriptive only in some Celtic language. The appellation of these vast and permanent parts of Nature are commonly observed to continue as unchanged as themselves. Thus certain names given by the Indians to mountains, lakes, and rivers, like Alleghany, Huron, Potomac, seem destined to survive, though the race themselves have passed away before the Anglo-Saxon, just as the Celts did in our mother land.

THE INTRODUCTION OF THE LATIN ELEMENT.

§ 63. Urged on by curiosity and ambition, Julius Cæsar invaded Britain in the year 55 B.C. Though the Britons met him even in the waves with a determined resistance, yet their impetuous valor could not withstand Roman discipline. And in subsequent years, though they fought for independence under the brave Caractacus and the heroine Boadicea, the Roman legions still triumphed. Agricola completed the conquest of the island. Pursuing a liberal policy, he seems to have directed all

the energies of his mind to civilize and improve the fierce natives. He assisted them to build temples; he inspired them with a love of education; and he persuaded some of their chiefs to study letters. Roman dress, and language, and literature, spread among the natives. "Roman law and magistracies were every where established, and British lawyers as well as British ladies have obtained the panegyrics of the Roman classics."

As the Latin language was spoken by those who presided over the civil and military affairs of the country, and by a portion of those who were active in spreading the Christian religion in the island, as Roman colonies were established in different places, and as there was constantly more or less intercourse between Rome and England, we can easily believe that the language of the ancient Britons was somewhat modified by the introduction of Latin words and phrases. Only a few of these remain, and these are somewhat changed. Thus strata is changed to street, colonia into coln, as in Lincoln Lindi colonia; castra into chester and cester, as Winchester, Gloucester, which latter was originally written Gleva Castra. Corinium was called Corinii Castra, then Cyrenceaster, then Cirencester, pronounced Cicester.

=

It is remarkable that Roman Britain did not produce a single literary name, nor a single work from which we might form an estimate as to what degree the Latin language was used. The Latin element was, for the most part, not introduced during the five hundred years the Romans had possession of the island, but afterward, by the teachers of religion, and by the teachers and admirers of the Roman classics.

The Latin of the Saxon period comprises words relating chiefly to ecclesiastical matters, just as the Latin of the Celtic period relates to military affairs; as, mynster, a minster, monasterium; portic, a porch, porticus; cluster, a cloister, claustrum; munuc, a monk, monachus; bisceop, a bishop, episcopus; sanct, a saint, sanctus; profost, a provost, propositus; pistel, an epistle, epistola. The following are names of foreign plants and animals: Camell, a camel, camelus; ylp, elephant, elephas; fic-beam, fig-tree, ficus; pipor, pepper, piper; purpur, purple, purpura; pumic-stan, pumice-stone, pumex. See GUEST'S English Rhythms.

Since the battle of Hastings, a great number of Latin words have been introduced, first by monks, and since by learned men, especially terms relating to theology and science in general. Many of them are changed in form, in accordance with Norman analogies, when received through the Norman-French, or with English analogies, when received directly from Roman authors. See § 397. Terms of science introduced into the language frequently remain unchanged in form in both numbers. See § 253.

THE

INTRODUCTION OF THE

ANGLO-SAXON ELEMENT.

§ 64. After holding possession of Britain nearly five hundred years from the time Cæsar first landed on its shores, the Romans, pressed by enemies from without, and torn by intestine divisions, found themselves obliged to retire from the island. The Britons, thus left to enjoy their liberty, found themselves unfitted, by their long subjugation to the Romans, to defend themselves against the Picts and the Scots, who poured in upon them from the northern part of the island. Being thus hard pressed, Vortigern, the most powerful of the British kings, in A.D. 449 invited Hengist and Horsa, with their followers, to fight his battles.

"Then, sad relief, from the bleak coast that hears

The German Ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, And yellow-haired, the blue-eyed Saxon came." Saxon, a term derived from a short, crooked sword, called seax, carried under their loose garments by the warriors of the nation, was a general term given to the adventurers led by those chieftains, though they belonged to three tribes, namely, the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These belonged to the Gothic race, which composed the second great stream issuing from Asia, and spreading itself over the northern and western part of Europe. The branch to which they belonged was the Teutonic or Germanic, which occupied the part of Europe now occupied by the Germans, and by the southern part of the Danish nation.

CHARACTER OF THE

ANGLO-SAXONS.

§ 65. The Saxons were a fierce race of pirates, reckless of life, who traversed the German Ocean in osier boats, covered

with skins sewed together, in pursuit of plunder, and not of fame. Their persons were of the largest size, their eyes blue, their complexion fair, and their hair almost uniformly of a light color. Though the love of gain was their ruling passion, still they sometimes showed a high regard for honor, and a pride of mind that could not endure disgrace. Twenty-nine Saxons strangled themselves, to avoid being brought into a theatre for a gladiatorial show. Their arms were long lances, short, crooked swords or knives, called seaxes, with small shields, suspended by chains, and long iron sledge-hammers.

They were a race of idolaters, who sacrificed to their favorite idols the captives they took in battle, and the cowardly of their own army. The abstract name of the Deity was God. But there were other principal deities of the Northmen. ODIN, whom they called the All-Father; FREYA, his wife; and their son THOR. Of these, the Anglo-Saxons, like the Danes, paid the highest honor to Odin; the Norwegians and Icelanders to Thor; and the Swedes to Freya. Alphabetical characters were used by the Gothic nations on the Baltic before they received Christianity, and the origin of them is ascribed to Odin. As the profession of arms was generally aspired to by the youth of the Teutonic race, their education from the first had a bearing upon their success in that profession. Aristotle says that the "Germans used to take their new-born children and dive with them into rivers, as well to make a trial of their strength as to accustom them to hardness; and that they laid their children among their armor in the camp, it being sport to the infants to see the glittering of the armor. They taught their little boys to manage the pike, having small javelins made for the purpose."

Thus qualified to fight the battles of the Britons against their enemies, the Picts and Scots, they came, few in number, at first, as mercenaries into the army of Vortigern, until, their numbers increasing, they turned their arms against the very nation they came to protect. Afterward Ella and Cerdic came with the Saxons proper, then Ida with the Angles. To these, for many years, the Britons offered a brave but a vain resistance, under three kings; under Elrian, Owen, and Prince Arthur, with his knights of the round table, celebrated by the British bards. To escape from the exterminating sword of their enemies, the

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