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2$ Dissertation on
Scotland, he had recourse to Ireland, which, ac-
cording' to the vulgar errors of the times, was
reckoned the first hahitation of the Scots. He
found there that the Irish bards had carried their
pretensions to antiquity as high, if not beyond any
nation in Europe. It was from them he took those
improbable fictions which form the first part of his
history.
The writers that succeeded Fordun implicitly
followed his system, though they sometimes varied
from him in their relations of particular transac-
tions and the order of succession of their kings.
As they had no new lights, and were, equally with
him, unacquainted with the traditions of their
country, their histories contain little information
concerning the origin of the Scots. Even Buchanan
himself, except the elegance and vigour of his style,
lias very little to recommend him. Blinded with
political prejudices, he seemed more anxious to
turn the fictions of his predecessors to his own
purposes than to detect their misrepresentations,
or investigate truth amidst the darkness which they
had thrown round it. It therefore appears, that
little can be collected from their own historians
concerning the first migration of the Scots into
Britain.
That this island was peopled from Gaul admits
of no doubt. Whether colonies came afterwards
from the north of Europe is a matter of mere
speculation. When South Britain yielded to the
power of the Romans, the unconquered nations to
the north of the province were distinguished by the
name of Caledonians. From their very name it
appears that they were of those Gauls who possess-
ed themselves originally of Britain. It is com-
pounded of two Celtic words, Cael signifying Celts
or Gauls, and Dun or Don, a hill ; so that Cael-
don, or Caledonians, is as much as to say, the
" Celts of the hill country." The Highlanders to