5

—
NOTES. 335
red hair and largo limbs of the Caledonians indicate a Germaa,
origin."
From this passage, when fully stated, it is
quite certain that
Tacitus could procure no certain information respecting the original
inhabitants of Britain. It is equally certain that he perceived
no characteristic difference, except in the make of their
bodies and the colour of their hair. The same author, whea
treating of the Germans, never fails to point out particular customs,
and the difference of language.
He specially relates (as
a clear proof that the Gothini and Osi were not Germans) that
the one spoke the Gaelic and the other the Pannonian language.
Had he stated that the Caledonians spoke the German language,
the argument would have been conclusive ;
but a mere conjecture,
f»unded on the size of their bodies and the colour of their
hair, will prove nothing, especially when Tacitus himself informs
us that he could procure no certain information respecting the
original inhabitants.
Mr, Innes, who made the original inha.
bilants of Scotland his particular
study, and who possessed all
Mr. Pinkarton's abilities and research, and tea times his honesty,
is clearly of opinion that the Picts and Caledonians were Cells.
— See his Critical Essay. Mr. Pinkarton's great art lies in detaching
some mutilated portion of a clause or sentence, and
wresting it to serve
his purpose, whereas, when the natural import
of the whole is taken, it subverts the very point which he
wished to establish.
The detached part of the sentence respecting
the Germanic origin of the Caledonians, when taken by it.
self, seems to have some weight; but when taken in conjunction
with the preceding part of the sentence, wherein Tacitus professes
complete ignorance of the matter, it amounts to nothing at
all. Indeed there cannot be a clearer proof of the uniformity of
the language, customs, and manners of the inhabitants of Great
Britain, than this very passage, in as much as Tacitus could not
find one characteristic trait of difference, except in the massy
limbs and red hair of the Caledonians. Poor and baseless as this
argument of Pinkarton's is, he hugs it with all his might, and
says
the signs given by Tacitus are, in a savage state ofsociety^
u u2