Moreover, it may be observed that the names of localities in this Island furnish highly instructive evidence, not merely with respect to the different races by whom it has been successively peopled, but also of the order in which they arrived. Thus the names of Rivers and Mountains, and other natural objects, at least of the most conspicuous, are Celtic; the names of the most ancient Towns are Latin, or Latin grafted on British words; more modern Towns and Villages have Saxon appellations; those of more recent origin have frequently Norman designations; and last of all come those places which have names derived from our present English. These various classes of names cannot be nicely distinguished in each particular instance. Of the correctness of the general principle, however, there is no doubt. But the terms noticed by Lhuyd as significant in the Irish language do not belong to a different class of appellations from those which are obviously of British or Cymraeg origin. The Irish and Cymraeg terms are both found to predominate most in the names of the most ancient Class, viz. in those of Rivers, Mountains, &c., and to be thus applied in conjunction. Hence the natural inference that flows from his facts is not that these names were conferred by two distinct and successive races, but that they were imposed _contemporaneously_ and by the same People! Further it may be noticed, that if British Topography presents words extant only in the Irish Tongue, Irish Topography also presents names which cannot be explained by means of the Irish, though their meaning is preserved in Welsh; for example: There is a place near the head of a Stream in Roscommon, called “Glan a Modda,” (from Glan, “The bank of a Stream,” _Welsh_.) There is a place in Wales, called “Glan a Mowdduy.” There is a place called “Glan-gora,” in a Creek at the head of Bantry Bay; and another place in Ireland called “Glan-gort.” “Ben-heder,” the ancient Irish name for “The Hill of Howth,” interpreted by Mr. Moore “The Hill of Birds.” (Adar, “Birds,” _Welsh_. The word does not exist in Irish.) Arran, A mountainous Island. (Arran, a Mountain, _Welsh_. This word does not exist in Irish,) &c. &c. Mr. Chalmers in his Caledonia states that the prevalent ancient names of localities in Britain and Ireland are essentially the same. The conclusions to which these facts legitimately and necessarily lead are, that the British Islands were originally colonized by Settlers, who, at the time of the first occupation of Great Britain and Ireland, spoke one uniform language, in which the Welsh, Irish, and other living Celtic Dialects were combined. We may infer, and I conceive most clearly, that these dialects must be viewed in the light of “Disjecta Membra” of the speech of the old British and Irish Celts, just as the Icelandic, Norwegian, &c. are fragments of the ancient “Danska Tunge,” as noticed in the previous section.