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—404 NOTES.others of the Celtic nations.Were these daitiiicnpts publishedwith a literal translation, the other Celtic nations might yetclaim their own, and the history of Ireland would be reducedwithin proper bounds. But till this is done, it is impossible forme, or any one else, to decide on the merits, or fix the absoluteantiquity of these manuscripts. AH that can be done is, to arguethe matter on general principles.Of allthe Celtic nations, the Scots are most interested in thepublication of these manuscripts. Their history, as well astheir identity, is intervolved with that of Ireland. Pinkartonhas strained every nerve to prove that Ireland was Scotland upto the eleventh century. Goodal, (see his Introduction to For»dun) has been equally strenuous in maintaining that the north ofScotland was Ireland.Strabo places Ireland due north of Britain,which corresponds very well to the north of Scotland.Tacitus (Vit. Agric. cap. 8.) calls that part of Scotland situatednorth of the rivers Clyde and Forth, quasi aliam insulam—i. e.*' as if another island."Indeed, from the tenour of this wholechapter, it is evident that Tacitus, by Bibeniia (Irelaud) meansthe north of Scotland.So completely was his editor at Cologneof the Allobroges in 1614 of this opinion, that, in his NotitiaBreviarium of said chapter, he says,res tertio^ quarto^ quinio,expeditionum suarum annOy prceseriim in Hibernia gestae— i. e,^^ the exploits (of Agricola) performed in the third, fourth, and£fth year of his espeditions, particularly in Ireland." Nowevery one knows that the scene of Agricola's actions, duringthese years, lay not in Ireland, but in the north of Scotland,Without entering into the merits of thisdispute, which is of noimportance to the Scots, it is sufficient to shew that Scotland wasthe parent of Ireland.The Irish (as has already been shewn)admit that the Tuaih dc Dauan (Dartmei) arrived in Ireland1260 years prior to our aira. Ptolemy makes the territories ofthe Damnii reacli from GalloziUi/ to the Tai/; and if, as Pinkartonimagines, the Novanla; were only a part of the Damnii^their territories must have stretched to the Sol way Frith.Rich,ard of Cirencester places a tribe of the game people in Argyle-