The genuine history of the Britons asserted against Mr. Macpherson ...

THE BRITONS ASSERTED, n^
Gael, ever landed in the ifland. And, confe-
quently, all the tranfaftlons attributed to them
mud be abfolutely faife. This feries of fuppo-
fitions, therefore, is a chain of errors. As the
Cimbri never advanced towards the North, the
Gael could not have been circumfcribed withiii
narrower limits, or forced to tranfmigrate into
the weflern ifles of Scotland. As no fuch inter-
lopers ever preiTed upon the Gael, no colonies of
them, either fmall or numerous, could have been
induced by it topafs over into Ireland.
But I am obliged here to remark again the
author's apparent inconfiflency,with regard to thd
pohtion of his Gael. In p. 32 they are ranged
from the banks of the Tweed to the northern
extremity of the ifland. Iri p. 41—44 they are
placed only to the North of the Friths. Here,
in p. 47, they are brought down as low as Galloway
again. And in p. 48 they are once more
carried back to the Friths. It is there faid, that
when the Belgce " drove the Cimbri beyond
" the Severne and Humbcr, the Gael of the
*' North, reduced within limits flill more cir-
*' cumfcribed by the preiTure of the Cimbri, fent
" frefli colonies into Ireland, while the Scottijh
" Friths became a natural and jlrong boundary to-
*' wards tht South to thofe Gael who remained in
" Britain:^ And yet at this very period, even
when the Cimbri inhabited betwixt the Humber
and Tweed, the Gael are faid before to have
I 2, reached