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

jjs the genuine history of
p. 54. Our author, having in p. 52—53 fatisfac-
torily proved from the Greek and Roman writers,
that the antient Irilh were the defcendants of the
Britons, fays thus— " The name of Gael, flill
** retained by the old Irilh, fufficiently demon-
*' Urates that they derive their blood from thofe
" Gael or Gauls, who, in an after-period, were
*' diftinguifhed In Britain by the name of Cale-
" donians. The wildeft enthuliafts in Hibernian
** antiquities never once afferted that the Cale-
*' donians, or their poflerity the Pifts, were of
*' Irifli extraft ; yet nothing is better afcertained
** than that the ancient Britons of the South gave
" to the Scots, the Pifts, and the Irilh, the com-
** mon name of Gael ; and confequently that they
*' very jullly concluded that the three nations
" derived their origin from the fame fource, the
" antient Gael of the continent."
This demonjiration is no argument at all. That
will immediately appear. And a very flight
examination will add one more proof to the many
which we have had before, of Mr. Macpherfon's
unhappinefs in the work of proving.
The Irifli are faid, by retaining the name of
Gael, to prove themfelves the defcendants of the
Caledonians. If the author here includes the
country to the South of the Friths in the name of
Caledonia, then he is once more in a date of
hoflility