We infer from what Mr. Taylor says, that he is of opinion that at one
time the language of the whole of the north of Scotland was Cymric,
but that the district in which the Scots obtained a settlement
afterwards underwent a change of topography. But it is admitted
on all hands that the Scottish Dalriada comprehended no more than
the modern Argyllshire, extending no farther north than Loch Leven
and Loch Linnhe; and that the Irish Scots had little influence on
the people or their language to the north-west of the Grampians.
Indeed, Skene[71] maintains that this district, in which he places
the Northern Picts, was never subjected to the Scots, and that it
was only the Southern Picts who latterly came under their sway. Yet
we find that the _abers_ here are few and far between, or, indeed,
any indications of Cymric possession such as we find in the southern
district. Is it possible that the Northern and Southern Picts were
representatives of the two great divisions of the Celts,--the former
claiming a Gaelic origin, and the latter a Cymric? Perhaps after
all the Welsh Triads may in course of time be of some help in the
solution of this dark problem, as, according to them, there was more
than one Celtic settlement in Scotland before the migration of the
Scots. The passages above quoted are, to all appearance, much more
favourable to the Gaelic than to the Cymric hypothesis, and have
been made much of by Skene and other supporters of that side of the
question.
The Cymric origin of the Picts, besides Garnett and Taylor, is
supported by such names as Innes, Chalmers, Ritson, Whittaker, Grub,
and others.
Pinkerton, it is well known, is the great and unscrupulous upholder
of the Gothic origin of the Picts; while the Gaelic theory has for
its supporters such writers, of undoubted ability and acuteness, as
Skene, E. W. Robertson, Forbes-Leslie, &c. Burton[72] is of opinion
that the Highlanders of the present day are the true representatives
of the Dalriadic Scots of the West.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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