220

HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

converted accounts which, from the nature of them, ought to have been con-sidered as serious truths, into tales exciting ridicule on account of their impro-bability *. The most learned and ingenious men have been, at different

times,

* The fabulous colonies of Egyptians and Trojans, of Scandinavians and Spaniards, which flattereJthe pride, and amused the credulity of our rude ancestors, have insensibly vanished in the light ofscience and philosophy. The present age is satisfied with the simple and rational opinion, that theislands of Great Britain and Ireland were gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of Gaul. Fromthe coast of Kent, to the extremity of Caithness and Ulster, the memory of a Celtic origin was dis-tinctly preserved, in the perpetual resemblance of language, of religion, and of manners ; and the pecu-liar characters of the British tribes might be naturally ascribed to the influence of accidental and localcircumstances. The Roman province was reduced to the state of civilized and peaceful servitude:the rights of savage freedom were contracted to the narrow limits of Caledonia. The inhabitants ofthat northern region were divided, as early as the reign of Constantine, between the two great tribes ofthe Scots, and of the Piets, who have since experienced a very different fortune. The power, andalmost the memory, of the Piets, have been extinguished by their successful rivals ; and the Scots, aftermaintaining for ages the dignity of an independant kingdom, have multiplied, by an equal and volun-tary union, the honours of the English name, lire hand of nature had contributed to mark theancient distinction of the Scots and Piets. The former were the men of the hills, and the latter thoseof the plain. The eastern coast of Caledonia may be considered as a level and fertile country, which,even in a rude state of tillage, was capable of producing a considerable quantity of corn ; and the epi-thet of Cruitnich, or Wheat-eaters, expressed the contempt, or envy, of the carnivorous highlander.The cultivation of the earth might introduce a more accurate separation of property, and the habits of asedentary life ; but the love of arms and rapine was still the ruling passion of the Piets: and their war-riors, who stripped themselves for a day of battle, were distinguished, in the eyes of the Romans, bythe strange fashion of painting their naked bodies with gaudy colours and fantastic figures. Thewestern part of Caledonia, rising irregularly into wild and barren hills, scarcely repayed the toil ofthe husbandman, and were most profitably used for the pasture of cattle. The highlanders were con-demned to the occupations of shepherds and hunters ; and as they seldom were fixed to any permanenthabitation, they acquired the expressive name of Scots, which, in the Celtic tongue, is said to be equi-valent to that of wanderers, or vagrants. The inhabitants of a barren land were urged to seek a freshsupply of food in the waters. The deep lakes and bays which intersect their country, are plentifullystored with fish ; and they gradually ventured to cast their nets in the waves of the ocean. The vici-nity of the Hebrides, so profusely scattered along the western coast of Scotland, tempted their curiosity,and improved their skill; and they acquired, by slow degrees, the art, or rather the habit, of managingtheir boats in a tempestuous sea, and of steering their nocturnal course by the light of the well knownstars. The two bold headlands of Caledonia almost touch the shores of a spacious island, whichobtained, from its luxuriant vegetation, the epithet of Green ; and has preserved, with a slight altera-tion, the name of Erin, or Ierne, or Ireland.

It is probable, that in some remote period of antiquity, the fertile plains of Ulster received a colonyof hungry Scots; and that the strangers of the north, who had dared to encounter the arms of thelegions, spread their conquests over the savage and unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It is cer-tain,