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

128
THE GENUINE HISTORY OF
P. 50. ** Though the Scottifh Friths are ge-
** nerally allowed to have been the boundaries
*' of Caledonia towards the South, it is more than
*' probable that thofe tribes who pofleffed the
" country between the walls were principally de-
*' fcended from the antient Gael. The names of
** the Selgovae and Gadeni, two petty communis
'' ties on the northern banks of the Solway and
** Tweed, feem to ftrengthen this fuppofiuori.
*^ They carry in their fignificadon a proof that
** the tribes who bore them were in a ftate of
" hoftility with their neighbours the Ottadini
'* and Brigantes, which furnilhes a prefumption
** that they derived their origin from a different
** quarter. (Selgovte is plainly Selgovich lati-
** nized. Selgovich literally fignifies Hunters,
**
in a metaphorical fenfe Fhinderers — . Gadeni
'*
is plainly from Gadechin, Robbers ; a name
*' which arofe from the fame love of depredanon
** with their friends and neighbours the Sel-
I have more than once remarked already the
ftrange doubling of the prefent differtation, in
fometimes bringing down the Gael or Caledo-
nians to the banks of the Tweed, and in fome-
times carrying them up to the North of the
* The fame etymons of Selgova: and Gadeni are given by
Dr. Macpherfon in p. 112.
Friths.