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—430 NOTES.that St Jerome says they ate human flesh. The passage to whichhe alludes is thus quoted by Calepine, an eminent lexicographer,who wrote about 1490. Quid (inquit) loquor dc ccsteris natio,nibus quum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia viderim Scotos gentemBritannicam humanis vesci carnibus?—Vide Dictionarium inTerbo Scoti—u e." Why (says Hieronymus) do I speak of othernations, since I myself, when a boy, saw the Scots, a British nationin Gaul, eat human flesh."It would have been convenientenough for Pinkartoa to allow that the Scots ate human flesh,but not equally so that they were a Britannic nation, for whichreason he inserts the Attacotti in their stead.St. Jerome (Hie-Tonymus)was born 342, and died 420. {See Cave'sHist. Literar. )If we allow St. Jerome to be 18 years old (an age fully commensurateto the word Adolescentulus) when he saw the Scots inGaul, he must have seen them about 360, the very year whenAmmianus first mentioBS them. These Scots were unquestionablymercenary troops in the Roman armies in Gaul.From theNotitia Imperii, a work of the fifth century, it is clear that theRomans employed foreign forces from all nations, and net a fewfrom North Britain. St. Jerome imputes to them the custoixiof eating human flesh;and this very circumstance would inducehim to be particular in his enquiries respectingBation.had levied them intheir name andThe Roman oflicers who commanded them in Gaul, andBritain, were capable of giving him the correctestinformation ;and when he pronounces the Scots Britan^nicam Gentem— '' a British nation," his authority is more thana counterpoise to all that has been advanced on the other sideof the question. St. Jerome saw these Scots in Gaul more than50 years before the Romans abandoned Britain, and at leastthree centuries before the Irish claim to Scotland and the Scotswas started.The only argument which can be adduced againstthese authorities is, that St. Patrick converted the Scots in Ireland,and therefore the Scots must have been Irish. The veryfirst nanje of Scots in Ireland appears in the letters of St. Patrick,published by Usher.But the ajra of this saint was the very peripdv.licn the old Scots of Argyle, after a signal defeat by tikc