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BISHOP PERCY'S PREFACE.

THE Author of the following work had a share in the education of that amiable Prince, Christian VII., king of Denmark. During his residence in the North, Mons. Mallet (who has all the talents of a fine writer) was engaged by the late king, Frederick V., to write a history of Denmark in the French language. By way of introduction to that history, he drew up these two prefatory volumes, the merit of which has long been acknowledged in most parts of Europe.

Though intended only as a preliminary piece, it has all the merit of a complete independent work; and, except to the natives of Denmark, is much more interesting and entertaining than the history itself, which it was intended to precede. It very early engaged the attention of the present translator whose reading having run somewhat in the same track with that of the author, made him fond of the subject, and tempted him to give in an English dress a work in which it was displayed with so much advantage. As he happened also to have many of the original books from which the French author had taken his materials, he flattered himself they would supply some illustrations, which might give an additional value to the version.

For this reason, as also to afford himself an agreeable amusement, the Translator some time ago undertook this work; but a series of unexpected avocations intervened, and it was thrown aside for several years. At length he was

Bishop Percy's Translation of M. Mallet's work was published in 1770, in 2 vols. 8vo.

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prevailed upon to resume it; and as many of his friends were so obliging as to share among them different parts of the translation, he had little more to do but to compare their performances with the original, and to superadd such remarks as occurred to him. These are distinguished from those of the author by the letter P.

He was the rather invited to undertake this task, as he perceived the author had been drawn in to adopt an opinion that has been a great source of mistake and confusion to many learned writers of the ancient history of Europe; viz., that of supposing the ancient Gauls and Germans, the Britons and Saxons, to have been all originally one and the same people; thus confounding the antiquities of the Gothic and Celtic nations. This crude opinion, which perhaps was first taken up by Cluverius*, and maintained by him with uncommon erudition, has been since incautiously adopted by Keysler and Pelloutier, the latter of whom has, with great diligence and skill, endeavoured to confirm it. In short, so much learning and ingenuity have scarcely ever been more perversely and erroneously applied, or brought to adorn and support a more groundless hypothesis. This mistake the translator thought might be easily corrected in the present work; and by weeding out this one error, he hoped he should obtain the author's pardon, and acquire some merit with the English reader.

And that it is an error he thinks will appear from the attentive consideration of a few particulars, which can here be only mentioned in brief: for to give the subject a thorough discussion, and to handle it in its full extent, would far exceed the limits of this short preface.

The ancient and original inhabitants of Europe, according to Cluverius and Pelloutier, consisted only of two distinct races of men, viz., the Celts and Sarmatians; and that from

Philippi Cluveri Germaniæ Antiquæ Libri Tres, &c. Lugduni Batav. Apud Elzev. 1616, folio.

+ Antiquitates Selectæ Septentrionales et Celticæ, &c. Auctore Joh. Georgio Keysler, &c. Hannoveræ, 1720. 8vo.

Histoire des Celtes, et particulièrement des Gaulois et des Germains, &c., par M. Simon Pelloutier. Haye, 1750. 2 tom. 12mo. This learned writer, who is a Protestant minister, counsellor of the Consistory, and librarian to the Academy at Berlin, is descended from a family originally of Lan guedoc, and was born at Leipsic, 27th October, 1694, O.Š.

one or other of these, but chiefly from the former, all the ancient nations of Europe are descended. The Sarmatians or Sauromatæ, were the ancestors of the Sclavonian tribes, viz., the Poles, Russians, Bohemians, &c., who continue to this day a distinct and separate people, extremely different in their character, manners, laws and language, from the other race, which was that of the Celts, from whom (they will have it) were uniformly descended the old inhabitants of Gaul, Germany, Scandinavia, Britain and Spain, who were all included by the ancients under the general name of Hyperboreans, Scythians, and Celts, being all originally of one race and nation, and having all the same common language, religion, laws, customs and manners.

This is the position which these writers have adopted and maintained, with an uncommon display of deep erudition, and a great variety of specious arguments. But that their position, so far as relates to the Celts, is erroneous, and the arguments that support it inconclusive, will appear, if it can be shown, that ancient Germany, Scandinavia, Gaul and Britain, were not inhabited by the descendants of one singlerace; but on the contrary, divided between two very different people; the one of whom we shall call, with most of the Roman authors, Celtic, who were the ancestors of the Gauls, Britons, and Irish; the other Gothic or Teutonic, from whom the Germans, Belgians, Saxons and Scandinavians, derived their origin; and that these were ab origine two distinct people, very unlike in their manners, customs, religion, and laws.

As to the arguments by which Cluverius and Pelloutier support their hypothesis that the Gothic and Celtic nations were the same, they may all be reduced to two heads; viz., either to Quotations from the ancient Greek and Roman writers; or to Etymologies of the names of persons or places, &c.

With regard to the latter (viz., Etymologies), these two writers lay it down that the present high German is a genuine daughter of the ancient Celtic or Gaulish language *, because from it they can explain the etymology of innumerable names that were well known to be Gaulish or Celtict;

Pelloutier, vol. i. p. 165, &c.

↑ Vid. Cluv. lib. 1, cap. vi. vii. viii. &c. Pellout. liv. 1, chap. xv.

and this being admitted, it must follow that the Germans are a branch of the Celts, and consequently, that the Celtic and Teutonic nations were the same. In prosecuting this argument it must be acknowledged that they have produced many instances that appear at first sight very plausible. But whoever considers how little we can depend upon the etymology of obsolete words, derived from barbarous dead languages, in which there are no books extant, will not build very securely on proofs of this sort. No one will assert that the present German bears any resemblance now to the modern Welsh and Irish languages; and yet there are writers in abundance who will undertake to account for the name of almost every place, person or office, in ancient Europe, from one or other of these two living tongues, and will produce instances fully as plausible and conclusive, as any adduced by Cluverius or his followers. After all, there is probably a good deal of truth on both sides; I can readily believe that all the names of places and persons in ancient Germany, or such other countries as any of the Teutonic nations at any time penetrated into, will be reducible to the language now spoken by their descendants: and that in like manner, from the Irish and Welsh languages, which may be allowed to be genuine daughters of the ancient Gallic or Celtic tongue, it will be easy to explain such names as were imposed by any of the ancient Celtic or Gallic tribes. Indeed in the very remote ages, prior to history, one cannot pretend to say what were the distinct bounds or limits of each people. They were, like all other barbarous nations, roving and unsettled; and often varied their situation; being sometimes spread over a country; at other times driven out by some stronger tribe of barbarians, or forsaking it themselves in search of new settlements. Cæsar informs us, that some of the Gallic tribes forced their way into Germany, and there established themselves t. It is equally probable, that before his time, bands of Germans might at different periods penetrate into

* See that excellent antiquary Lluyd, in Archæologia Britannica, &c., not to mention many late writers of a different stamp, viz., Jones, Parsons, &c. &c.

Fuit antea tempus cum Germanos Galli virtute superarent et ultrò bella inferrent, ac trans Rhenum colonias mitterent, &c. Vid. plura apud. Cæs. de Bell. Gall. lib. vi.

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Gaul; where, although their numbers might be too small to preserve them a distinct nation, yet these emigrants might import many names of persons and places that would outlive the remembrance of their founders. This will sufficiently account for the dispersion of words derived from both languages, and inform us why Celtic derivations may be found in Germany, and German names discovered in Gaul. So much for arguments derived from etymology; which are so very uncertain and precarious, that they can only amount to presumptions at best, and can never be opposed to solid positive proofs.

With regard to the other source of arguments, by which these learned writers support their opinion of the identity of the Gauls and Germans, viz., quotations from the ancient Greek and Roman authors; these they have produced in great abundance. But even if it should be granted that the Greeks and Romans applied sometimes the names of Celtic, Scythian or Hyperborean indiscriminately to the ancient inhabitants of Germany and Gaul, of Britain and Scandinavia, the inference will still be doubted by those that consider how little known all these nations were to the early writers of Greece and Rome; who, giving them all the general name of Barbarians, inquired little farther about them, and took very little pains to be accurately informed about their peculiar differences and distinctions. Even a long time after these rude nations had begun to press upon the empire, and had made the Romans dread their valour, still their writers continued to have so confused and indistinct a knowledge of their different descent and character, as to confound both the Celts and Goths with the Sarmatians, whom all writers allow to have been a distinct nation from them both t: thus Zosimus, an historian of the third century, includes them all under the common name of Scythians; and this, at a time when, after their long and frequent intercourse with the Romans, their historians ought to have been taught to distinguish them better.

This Cæsar expressly tells us of the Belgae, who were settled to the north of the Seine and the Marne. Plerosque Belgas esse ortos à Germania ; Rhenumque antiquitus transductos, propter loci fertilitatem ibi consedisse ; Gallosque qui ea loca incollerent, expulissc. De Bell. Gall. lib. ii. + See Pelloutier, vol. i. liv. i. chap. ii. passim.

See Pelloutier, vol. i. p. 17.

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