5

NOTES. 293
Morib. Genn, cap. 1 5. gives a particular description of these
Fenni or Finni. Nor is tiiis mode of reasoaing, if kept within
reasonable bounds, either fanciful or hypothetical. We knovr
for certain that British colonists have carried British names to
every quarter of the globe, particularly to Artierica and the
West Indies. Were all authentic history lost, still the identity
of these names, with names still remaining in Britain, would
clearly establish their origin. Mankind in all ages have evinced
the strongest attachment to the names of their progenitors, benefactors,
deities, and native soil, and these they have generally
carried along with thum, and preserved under every difficulty
and danger.
Note XLV.—Page 129.
O patron ofSoractfshigh abodes, Sfc.—Within the country of
antient Umbria stood the celebrated hill of Soracte. '
Of this
•word I have been able to find no satisfactory analysis. In the
Gaelic
language we find Sorach or Sorch an eminence, and the
adjective Sorachta acervated, perhaps in allusion to the Acervusor
Corn of Apollo, which stood on this hill.
That the Greeks
and Romans might render the Gaelic Sorachta in their language
Soracte is by no means improbable. What will add weight to
this conjecture is that the Greek verb Soreuo and the Gaelic
verb Soracham are synonimous, both signifying to acervate.
On this hill the Hirpins (see Toland's quotation from Pliny)
performed' their yearly sacrifice to Apollo. One of the feats
practised on these occasions by them was dancing over the fire
barefooted, for which they enjoyed many important immunities
by a decree of the Roman senate.
These Hirpins used to besmear
their feet with a certain ointment (see Toland's quotation
frem^Varro) which rendered them invulnerable to the fire.
That such an ointment was known to the antients is beyond all
doubt. Ovid, lib. 2. Fab. 1. clearly alludes to it in the following
words:
Turn pater ora sui sacro medicamine nati
GoDtigit, & rapida: fecit patientia flanmie,
P p