6. It is a necessary consequence of the third and fourth propositions that the more ancient remains of the derivative dialects approach more nearly to the Parent Speech, and—in the ratio of their superior antiquity—unite a greater proportion of the distinctive peculiarities of all the sister-dialects, which, as previously stated, have arisen in consequence of certain portions of the Parent speech having been abandoned in some provinces and retained in others, and vice versâ. An interesting illustration of this maxim occurs in a passage from Professor Rask’s preface already quoted, in which, after giving a specimen of old Danish, which approaches closely to the Icelandic, he adds, “The few deviations from the Icelandic bear for the most part _a strong resemblance_ to the _Swedish_.” In other words, the older specimens of the Danish _unite_ those peculiarities by which the modern collateral Tongues of Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden are distinguished from each other. Let it be borne in mind, that the lapse of one thousand years has produced these changes, and the instructive nature of this example will be fully apparent. Of the accuracy of the data on which the previous deductions rest, all doubt must be removed by reference to one remarkable event. It is historically certain that the Island of Iceland is inhabited by a nation descended from emigrants from the opposite Norwegian coast. It is historically certain, also, that previously to the Ninth Century these warlike adventurers had not established themselves on the Icelandic soil. Anterior to that period, therefore, it is self-evident that, inasmuch as the Icelanders had no existence as a nation, the Icelandic Tongue could not have had a separate existence as a language. Yet it is certain that in the present day the Icelandic deviates at least as widely from the language of the adjoining Norwegian Coasts as that language deviates from the other Scandinavian Tongues. The evidence furnished by Professor Rask and the writers whose views he has combated, will be found, when fairly balanced, distinctly to support a very important Conclusion, contemplated by neither. The facts adduced on both sides conspire to show a rapid approximation of the Teutonic and Scandinavian branches of the Gothic as we ascend into remote ages.