The loss, or discouragement of either of them would be, as the Spartan said of the destruction of Athens, the extinction of one of the eyes of Greece; and that each of them may continue to find able champions and zealous partisans will be the wish of all those who believe that truth makes more real way amidst the eddies of conflicting tendencies, than where the current of one predominating influence has turned back, or swallowed up those which should serve to correct and control it. But, leaving these high considerations for others of more worldly import, connected with the political prospects of our times, it is impossible not to be amused at the ill-disguised terror and anxiety with which the array of these valiant but rash allies is contemplated-not by those whom they assail-but by those in whose ranks they stand. For, in any charge which they make upon the common enemy, they deal their blows with such zeal and impartiality that the recoil is sure to lay prostrate some of their own well-wishers. Their high disdain of all compromise and expediency, their glorious contempt for principles of popular sovereignty, their impracticable notions of church authority, and, above all, the utter incompatibility of their views with those of the ultra-Protestants of England and Ireland, or with those of our Presbyterians ;-all these are so many points of repulsion, which drive off, and keep at a distance, those who would fain associate with them for purposes of mutual advantage. Their voice is a potent element of discord in that camp of many languages in which their tents are pitched. Still the alliance may subsist tolerably well, as long as the confederates are sunk together in the darkness of opposition. 'Concordes animæ nunc et dum nocte premuntur; Aspiciant, quantas acies stragemque ciebunt!' Should they ever emerge into the daylight of power, the illconcealed contrast of parties and principles will soon burst out into open hostility, and end in permanent separation. ART. VI.-The Highlanders of Scotland, their Origin, History, and Antiquities; with a Sketch of their Manners and Customs; and an Account of the Clans into which they are divided, and of the State of Society which existed among them. By WILLIAM SKENE, F. S. A. S. Two volumes, 8vo. London: 1837. interest which we have invariably evinced in the progress Tof our historical literature, and the pains we have taken to bring into view every contribution that seemed calculated to promote its advancement, naturally fixed our attention upon the present work. In the actual state of depression and neglect into which historical enquiry has unhappily fallen in this country, as compared with some others, particularly Germany and France, we were disposed to hail its appearance as symptomatic of the approach of a new era in the intellectual pursuits of our countrymen; and, under the influence of this feeling, we turned to it with that avidity which the curious and interesting topics announced for discussion in its title-page is so strongly calculated to excite. Nor have we been altogether disappointed. The work, independently of its instrinsic merits, possesses several intrinsic recommendations, which, of themselves, would have been sufficient to direct particular attention to its contents. In the first place, it is ushered into the world under the sanction and auspices of the Highland Society of Scotland, which having offered a premium for the best History of the Highland Clans, adjudged the prize to Mr Skene; and 'deeming his work worthy of the attention of the public, requested that it might be published.' Secondly, in complying with this request, the author has, in his own person, preferred ample claims to originality. A glance ' at the table of contents,' says he, in his preface,' will show that the system is entirely new; that it is diametrically oppo'sed to all the generally received opinions on the subject; and that it is in itself of a nature so startling, as to require a very 'rigid and attentive examination before it can be received.' On the double ground, therefore, of authority and of novelty, this 'system,' described as at once so 'new' and so 'startling,' and which 'is diametrically opposed to all the generally received opi'nions on the subject,' certainly demands 'a very rigid and at'tentive examination;' much more so, indeed, than, we fear, it will be in our power to bestow upon it, notwithstanding our desire to afford our readers a just measure of the author's preten 6 sions, and at the same time to put to the test the authorities and arguments upon which his system' is founded. But, without attempting to follow Mr Skene through the wide field in which he expatiates, or to discuss all the doubtful and perplexed questions which he conceives himself to have definitively resolved, we shall endeavour, first, to make our readers somewhat acquainted with the entirely new system' which he has proposed, in contradistinction, or, rather, in 'diametrical opposition, to all the gene'rally received opinions on the subject;' seeondly, we shall shortly consider the validity of the claims to originality which he has so unequivocally announced; and, thirdly, we shall briefly discuss some of the leading arguments and authorities upon which his 'system' is founded. To prevent misconception, however, it is proper to premise, that, in the present article, we intend to confine ourselves exclusively to the consideration of the speculative or theoretical views which have led Mr Skene to adopt the conclusion, that the received opinion respecting the descent of the Highlanders from the Dalriadic Scots is fundamentally erroneous. His work, it will be observed, resolves into two parts; the first treats of the origin, history, and antiquities of the Highlanders, and also of their peculiar customs and manners; whilst the second embraces a history of the Highland clans, constructed in conformity to certain old genealogies. The latter portion, however, is entirely beyond the purview of the scheme according to which our observations will be arranged; and even in regard to the former, our criticisms will be strictly limited to the chapters in which the author has endeavoured at once to overthrow the received system, and to build up one ' entirely new' upon its ruins. We have neither time nor space to devote to matters of mere detail, even if they were of a more interesting nature than is really the case. Nor is it at all necessary that any such exposition should be attempted. For Mr Skene himself has distinctly admitted, that the system of history' developed in the second part of his work, emerged upon the basis' of his theory as to the Pictish descent of the Gael; and, consequently, if it can be shown that the foundation is insecure, the emergent superstructure may safely be left to its fate. I. That the Highlanders, who were at first called Scots, originated from Ireland, the ancient Scotia, has hitherto been considered as an undoubted historical fact. The arrival or return of the Scots, from Ireland, under Fergus MacErth and his brother Loarn, is established by the concurring testimony of every Scottish and Irish historian; and their first landing is stated by the Venerable Bede to have taken place under their leader Reuda or Riada, from whom their settlement was named Dalriada.* Their migration is confirmed by all the Irish histories; and their arrival took place about the year 258, when a colony was first conducted by Riada to Argyle, in the southern part of which it settled. In the next century they are mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus, under the denomination of Attacotti and Scotti;they make a distinguished figure in the Notitia Imperii, a work of the fifth century;—and they appear to have retained the same settlements in Argyle until they were expelled from thence by the Picts. That they were a new people may be inferred from the circumstance of their being altogether unknown to Ptolemy, in whose map of North Britain no mention whatever is made of them. Restored by Fergus in 503, they re-established themselves in their original settlementst, which they continued to occupy until about the middle of the ninth century; and from this colony, which was unquestionably of Celtic origin, the Highlanders are commonly supposed to have sprung. But Mr Skene has proposed a different theory. From a very early period he had, he says, been convinced that there was in the received system' some fundamental error which prevented the elucidation of the truth,' as all errors commonly do; and ' after a long and attentive examination of the early authorities in Scottish history,' together with a thorough investigation' of the Icelandic Sagas and the Irish Annals, he arrived at the conclusion that this error consisted solely in the supposition, that the Highlanders were descended from the Dalriadic Scots, and that their country had been included in the Scottish conquest, which is supposed to have taken place in the ninth century.† The detection of error is commonly the first step towards the discovery of truth. Accordingly, Mr Skene, starting from * According to Bede Dál means a part. 'A quo videlicet duce [Reuda vel Riada) usque hodie Dalreudini vocantur; nam lingua eorum DAL partem significat.' Pinkerton, however, says that Dal or Dal is a part in the Gothic, not in the Celtic, in which Dál signifies a tribe;' and he quotes Kennedy, (p. 106), in support of this opinion. But we must be excused if, in this instance, we prefer the authority of the historian to that of the antiquary. That Dal literally means in Gaelic a part or dívision is evident from all the words into the composition of which it enters, as Dalree, the King's Field; and hence Dalriada must mean the part, district, or territory occupied by Riada, the Reuda of Bede, and other historians. + Pinkerton's Enquiry into the Hist. of Scotland, vol. ii. part iv. chap. 3 and 4. Laing's Hist. of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 410. Innes's Critical Essay, vol. ii. p. 640, et seq. this point, proceeded to investigate the subject with all the care imaginable; and the consequence has been, that he conceives himself to have completely demonstrated a series of propositions which, if actually established by sufficient evidence, would unquestionably overthrow the received opinion, supported as it is by the concurring testimony of historians, and corroborated by the admitted identity of race and of language. These propositions are,-first, That from the earliest period down to the end of the fifth century, the part of Scotland extending to the north of the Friths of Forth and Clyde, was inhabited by a single nation termed indifferently Caledonians and Picts; secondly, That in the beginning of the sixth century, an Irish colony arrived in Scotland and obtained possession of the southern part of Argyle, and that during a period of more than three centuries, the relative situations of the Picts and Dalriadic Scots remained unaltered;-thirdly, That during this period, the Picts were divided into two great nations, namely, the Dicaledones, or Northern, and the Vecturiones, or Southern Picts; that the Northern Picts inhabited the whole of the mountainous parts of the country, with the exception of the Dalriadic territories, whilst the Southern Picts occupied the plains; that in the year 843, the Dalriadic Scots conquered the Southern Picts, but this conquest was confined to that branch of the Pictish nation alone; and that, whilst the Northern Picts probably assisted the Dalriadic Scots in subduing their brethren of the plains, their own situation was not in any respect altered by this (imaginary) conquest, but, on the contrary, they remained in full possession of the north of Scotland;-and, fourthly, That the Northern Picts occupied the whole of the Highlands as late as the end of the ninth century; speaking the same language, and bearing the same national name as the Highlanders. 'These facts' says Mr Skene, 'supported as they are by evi'dence of no ordinary description, leads (lead) us to this simple result, that the Highlands of Scotland have been inhabited by 'the same nation from the earliest period to the present day;' and that while the tribes composing that nation have uniformly styled themselves Gael or Albanich, they have been known to 'the numerous invaders of the country, under the various appel⚫lations of Albiones, Caledonii (Caledones), Picti, Dicaledones, Cruithne, Northern Picts, Reddschankes, Wild Scottis, and 'Highlanders.'-(Vol. i. p. 87.) เ Now, we have two objections to the 'simple result' of Mr Skene's laborious researches: the first is, that his theory is not new; and the second, that it is not true. It has no pretension whatever to novelty, in as far as regards its essential principle, |