By the same Author, THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND DURING THE MIDDLE AGES, From the Accession of William the Conqueror to the Death of Henry VII. In Three Volumes Quarto. The early Division of Mankind into the Civilized and Nomadic Nations. -The most ancient Population of Britain proceeded from the Nomadic. I. NO subject has been more disputed by antiqua- CHAP. rian writers, than the origin of the population of Europe; and no discussions have been more fanciful, more ill-tempered, or more contradictory. As vehement and pertinacious have been the controversies on the peopling of Great Britain. Few topics would seem to be more remote from the usual currents of human passions, than the enquiry from what nations our primeval ancestors descended and yet the works of our historical polemics, on investigations so little connected with any present interest or feeling, abound with all the abusive anger that irritability can furnish, as well as with all the dogmatism, confusion, errors, dreams, and contradictions, that egotism could generate, or wranglers and adversaries pursue. BOOK Ir is not intended in this work to renew dis I. putations so interminable and so useless. But in AFTER a succession of controversies, which only increased the labyrinths of investigation, and made the doubtful more uncertain, Dr. Percy, in 1770, struck out a clear and certain path, by distinguishing the Keltic from the Gothic tribes; and by arranging the principal languages of Europe, under these two distinct genera, with specimens of the Lord's prayer in each.' |