Blair Collection > Celtic gleanings, or, Notices of the history and literature of the Scottish Gael

12 LECTURE I.
became Goths, a name under which Pinkerton
fought many a fierce and bloody battle on their
behalf. Then they suddenly became Anglo-
Saxons, and from that they are passing into
Teutons. What they will be before all is over
it is hard to say. Who knows but our good
friends may become Celts ; and that after all our
battles, we may have to shake hands with them
as a kindred race. And if they do find a difficulty
in fitting themselves with a name, it is no won-
der, for they find considerable difficulty in fit-
ting themselves with an origin. Who are these
Anglo-Saxons, and whence came they ? The
fact is, nobody knows. What is said is, that
about the year 449 a.c, two buccaneers, of the
names of Hengist and Horsa (if ever such men
did exist), made their appearance from the op-
posite continent on the shores of England.
They called themselves, or were called, Saxons ;
and yet it is hardly possible that they came from
what is now called Saxony, a country lying in
the very heart of Europe, and separated by a
wide expanse of territory from the shores of the
German Ocean. It may be that the name Sax-
ony then extended over the country now called
Belgium and Holland, and gave these invaders,
or marauders, or adventurers, or whatever we
choose to call them, their name. These men