Ossian Collection > Critical dissertation on the poems of Ossian, the son of Fingal

iV A D I S S E R T A T I O N.
As they had no new Hghts, and were,^ equally with him, unac-
quainted with the traditions of their country, their hiftories contain
little information concerning the origin of the Scots. Even Bu-
chanan himfelf, except the elegance and vigour of his ftile, has
very littk to recommend him. Blinded with political prejudices,
he feemed more anxious to turn the fidions of his predeceffors to
his own purpofes, than to detedt their milreprefentations, or invef-
tigate truth amldft the darknefs which they had thrown round it.
It therefore appears, that little can be colleded from their own hil-
torians, concerning the hrfl migration of the Scots into Britain.
That this ifland was peopled from Gaul admits of no doubt.
Whether colonies came afterwards from the north of Europe is a
matter of mere fpeculation. When South-Britain yielded to the
power of the Romans, the unconquered nations to the north of the
province were dillinguifhed by the name of Caled'.nuins. From,
their very name, it appears, that they were of thcfe dlts, or
Gauls, who pofleffed themfelves originally of Britain. It is com- ;
pounded of two Celtic words. Cad fignlfying Celts, or Gauls, and
Dun or Don, a hill i fo that Cacl-don, or Caledonians, is as much,
as to fay, the Cdts of the hill coiintty. The Highlanders, to this
day, call themfelves Cael, and their language Caelic, or Galic,
This, of itfelf, is fufficient to demonll:rate, that they are the ge-
auine dependents of the antient Caledonians, and not a pretended
colony of Scots, who fettled firll in the noi th, in the third or
icurth century.
From the double meaning of the word Cicl, which fignifies-
p-angers, as well as Gauls, or Celts, fome have imagined, that the
aaceftors of the Caledonians were of a different race from the relt
of