Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

the Poems of Ossian. 25
Pictish dominions, and the very names of their kings,
which are handed down to us, are of Gaelic original,
which is a convincing proof, that the two nations
were, of old, one and the same, and only divided
into two governments, by the effect which their
situation had upon the genius of the people.
The name of Picts is said to have been given by
the Romans to the Caledonians who possessed the
east coast of Scotland, from their painting their
bodies. The story is silly, and the argument absurd.
But let us revere antiquity in her very follies. This
circiimstance made some imagine, that the Picts
were of British extract, and a different race of men
from the Scots. That more of the Bi'itons, who
fled northward from the tyranny of the Romans,
settled in the low country of Scotland, than among
the Scots of the mountains, may be easily imagined,
from the very nature of the country. It was they
who introduced painting among the Picts. From
this circumstance, affirm some antiquaries, proceeded
the name of the latter, to distinguish them from the
Scots, who never had that art among them, and
from the Britons, who discontinued it after the
Roman conquest.
The Caledonians most certainly acquired a con-
siderable knowledge in navigation, by their living
on a coast intersected with many arms of the sea,
and in islands divided one from another by wide
and dangerous firths. It is, therefore, highly pro-
bable that they very early found their way to the
north of Ireland, which is within sight of their own
countrj'-. That Ireland was first peopled from
Britain, is at length a matter that admits of no
doubt. The vicinity of the two islands, the exact
correspondence of the ancient inhabitants of both,
in point of manners and language, are sufficient
proofs, even if we had not the testimony of authors
of undoubted veracity to confirm it. The abettors
of the most romantic systems of Irish antiquities