Page:Essays ethnological and linguistic.djvu/9

Rh opposed to generally received opinions is the theory that the Aquitani and the Iberi were the same people, and are now represented by the Gael. Dr. Vaughan in his "Revolution of English History" expresses views similar to those maintained in the Essay on the civilization of the ancient Britons. He denies that the custom of painting the body is necessarily a proof of barbarism. He asserts that the existence of war chariots shows that there must have been good smiths, carpenters and wheel-wrights; while the harness required for the horses, and the personal ornaments worn by the people in general, evince the constant exercise of trades incompatible with barbarism. Cæsar describes the buildings in Britain as similar to those of Gaul, and Gaul we know contained cities of considerable strength and beauty: this was a subject in regard to which Cæsar could have been under no misapprehension, though he might easily have been misinformed with respect to details of domestic customs: and in describing the effect of the Roman and Saxon conquests. Dr. Vaughan considers that the language of the Britons has had much more influence on the English language than is generally supposed. This circumstance is pointed out at length with numerous instances in support of it, in the late Mr. Garnett's Essay on the Languages and Dialects of the British Islands included in the collection of his Essays which forms one of the volumes of this series.

With regard to the question of the nationality of the Etruscans, it would seem to me that the safest, as well as the most philosophical course to pursue, is to consider the evidence afforded by the ancient remains to be found in Etruria, and in Lydia and the adjoining regions. The conclusions, which persons who are qualified to form opinions on the subject deduce from an examination of these antiquities appear to me to be more entitled to our attention than mere abstract reasonings or theories. Sir Charles Fellowes