The formation of the plural number of the genitive case by the addition of the syllable _-is_ (_blastis_, _birdis_, _bloomis_), instead of the letter _-s_ (_blasts_, _birds_, _blooms_), carries with it a metrical advantage, inasmuch as it gives a greater number of double rhymes. The same may be said of the participial forms, _affrayit_, _assurit_, for _affrayd_, _assured_. Concerning the comparative rate of change in the two languages no general assertion can be made. In the Scotch words _sterand_, _slepand_, &c., for _steering_, _sleeping_, the form is antiquated, and Anglo-Saxon rather than English. It is not so, however, with the words _thai_ (_they_), _thaim_ (_them_), _thair_ (_their_), compared with the contemporary words in English, _heo_, _hem_, _heora_. In these it is the Scottish that is least, and the English that is most Anglo-Saxon. * * * * * {132} CHAPTER IV. OF CERTAIN UNDETERMINED AND FICTITIOUS LANGUAGES OF GREAT BRITAIN. s. 191. The languages mentioned in the present chapter claim their place on one ground only,--_they have been the subject of controversy_. The notice of them will be brief. The current texts upon which the controversies have turned will be quoted; whilst the opinion of the present writer is left to be collected from the title of the chapter. _The Belgae._--By some these are considered a Germanic rather than a Celtic tribe; the view being supported by the following extracts from Caesar:--"_Gallia est omnis divisa in tres partes; quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam, qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli, appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos--a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit._"--B. G. i. "_Belgae ab extremis Galliae finibus oriuntur._"--B. G. ii. "_Quum ab his quaereret, quae civitates, quantaeque in armis essent, et quid in bello possent, sic reperiebat: plerosque Belgas esse ortos a Germanis, Rhenumque antiquit[`u]s transductos, propter loci fertilitatem ibi consedisse; Gallosque, qui ea loca incolerent, expulisse; solosque esse qui patrum nostrorum memoria, omni Gallia vexata Teutones Cimbrosque intra fines suos ingredi prohibuerunt._"--B. G. ii. 4. "_Britanniae pars interior ab iis incolitur quos natos in insul[^a] ips[^a] memori[^a] proditum dicunt: maritima pars ab iis, qui praedae ac belli inferendi causa ex Belgio transierant._"--B. G. v. 12. s. 192. The possibly Germanic origin of the Belgae, and the Belgic element of the British population, are matters which bear upon the question indicated in s. 10, or that of the Germanic influences anterior to A.D. 449. {133} They have a still more important bearing, the historian over and above identifying the Belgae with the Germans, affirms _that what applies to the Belgae applies to the Picts_ also.