pears to me highly probable that the doctrines of the Druids (which, according to Cæsar's testimony, were spread to Gaul from Britain) came to the latter country from Scandinavia. Hence the striking concurrence of the faith of the Druids with that of the Drottar, and the sacrifical and other monuments, which both have left us. About 120 years before the Christian era, the Cimbric deluge* (as it is called) obliged the inhabitants of scveral northern regions to emigrate in large bodies in search of new settlements; and it is probable that some hordes of them may have fled, over sea, to the coast of Britain. The northern men in later times made frequent expeditions in the North Sea; † and we see from Ossian, with what mighty fleets the Norwegians and Jutes in Fingal's days, and earlier, invaded Scotland and Ireland. As well the aboriginal Caledonian Britons, as the Scandian and Hibernian settlers, (all bearing a considerable resemblance to each other in language and manners,) in all likelihood made common cause in their wars with the Romans, from the first commencement, till the times of Caracalla and Fingal. The tyranny which the Romans exercised over those whom they subdued, added to the great discrepancy of their institutions, manners, and language, must naturally have been viewed with abhorrence by a people but half reclaimed from the savage state, but whose spirit was bold, free, proud, and unbroken; and this abhorrence produced a union of the different tribes under their particular chiefs, against the common enemy. Such leagues, however, were formed only against the Romans, or South Britons; for the elder Pictish and Celtic tribes were often at war with each other, and even among themselves. When Ossian was old and blind, and after his death, Scandinavians from abroad, or their Caledonian descendants, in all probability, made themselves masters of parts of the kingdom of Morven. Atter Fingal was no more, the heroic character of his subjects also failed; for the bard calls them "little men," timid, and feeble. The melancholy forebodings of Fingal and Ossian, as to the fall of their kingdom and capital, appear, during the lifetime of the poet, to have been partly accomplished. The men of Morven, nevertheless, seem afterward to have regained a considerable degree of the power they had enjoyed under their former princes, and, (united with the tribes lately arrived from Ireland under the name of Scotts and Attacotts,) in alliance with the Picts, and their dependents, to have attacked the empire of the Romans in Britain. We have seen, from Ossian, that about 211 years after the birth of Christ, and several generations before, the Orkneys and Shetland, with di verse tracts of the Caledonian mainland, were under the dominion of the Scandinavians. These, however, are mentioned by such Roman historians of these times as have come down to us, only under the names of Britons and Caledonians, by which appellation they designated the inhabitants of North Britain in general. It was not till afterward that those who lived in the country lying between the two * Roman walls which were drawn across the Island, were distinguished by the name of Meatæ. Eumenius Rhetor, in his panegyrics, written in the end of the third, or beginning of the fourth century, first makes mention of the Picts, partly as enemies of the Britons, and partly as a race of men to which the Caledonians belonged. In the latter half of the fourth century, Ammianus Marcellinus distinguishes the Caledonians into Picts, (a nation composed of Dicaledonians and Vecturiones,) Scotts and Attacotts. It is thus that he speaks of the irruption of the barbarians into the Roman province in Britain, in the reign of Valentinian and Valens: "Picti Saxonesque et Scotti et Attacotti ærumnis vexavere continuis." Here the Picts are mentioned before and with the Saxons, which latter may have invaded Britain by sea, although they already had a footing in the Caledonian possessions of the Picts and Scots, and are often, as Suhm and Schioening have distinctly shewn, confounded by the Roman writers with the Scandinavian nations, who, at that time, were undoubtedly more powerful at sea than the inhabitants of Lower Saxony. This connection of names, like several others already quoted, seems to intimate some sort of relationship between the Picts and Saxons. Ammianus afterwards informs us that this confederation of the barbarians had reduced the Britons to the lowest state of misery; Nectarid, their coast admiral, ("Comes maritimi tractus," )‡ was slain, and Fullafaudes, their general, surrounded by his enemies. In order to relieve the Roman provincials in this emergency, Valentinian sent his general Theodosius to make war upon The well known words, non dico Caledonum, or non Dialedonum aliorumque Pictorum sylvas, which have occasioned so much controversy, seem to me to be best explained in this way, that the Caledonians or Dicaledonians, (probably from the Latin particle dis or di,) were in fact somewhat different from the Picts, but belonged, nevertheless, as feudatories or confederates, to their nation. + Rerum Gestarum, Lib. 26, cap. 4, and Lib. 27, c. 8. Already, about the close of the third century, had the Romans sent the Comites littoris Saxonici, as they were called, into Britain, to defend them against the attacks of the nautical adventurers of the North. "diffusam variarum gentium plebem et ferocientem immaniter." These different nations are thus denominated by Ammianus, "Picti eo tempore in duas gentes divisi, Dicaledones et Vecturiones, itidemque Attacotti, bellica hominum natio, et Scotti." Is it not reasonable to consider these two names as designating the ancient Caledonians or North Britons, who had joined the Vecturiones, or strangers who had arrived in their country, and were so called by the Romans, from the circumstance of their having come in ships? In this case, the name, like Vector, vectarius, vectura, vectuarius, may be derived from the verb veho. Before this time, the Scotts, and probably also the Attacotts, had come from Ireland, to which country several ancient authors give the name of Scotia, before Caledonia obtained that name; but, perhaps, under one of these names is here understood the other's dependents or confederates. Heron (in his Hist. of Scot. Vol. I.) thinks, that Attacotts means (ath-na Scottic) "other Scotts;" + which might point out the same connection mentioned by Eumenes, between the Caledonians and Picts, and thus the name would imply the feudatories or confederates of the Scotts. This inquiry into the origin of the Picts I have here brought forward, to illustrate Ossian's intimations concerning the different nations by which, in his time, Scotland and its subject islands were inhabited, and, at the same time, to shew how far his accounts coincide with those of later historians. In order not to depart too far from my particular purpose, I shall not here launch out into diffuse details, or farther multiply, from the abundance of evidence that remains, the proofs upnorthern derivation of the Picts is on which my hypothesis, as to the As I have before suggested, the Normen probably continued for a long series of to arrive in small numbers sucyears cessively upon the coasts of Scotland, where they were amicably received by the Pictish population, who owned a common origin, and who probably welcomed them as seasonable auxiliaries against the Romans in South Britain, where the Scandinavians were not permitted to approach the coasts. + In the Icelandic or Old Norse language, Ættar, Attar, or Atta Skottar, signifies people of a Scottish descent, or race. grounded. Yet I cannot altogether pass over in silence the two important circumstances which have had so much weight with those who hold a different opinion; namely, the derivation of the name of the Picts, which may have been Celtic or Latin, and their usage of tattooing or painting their bodies, which many suppose never obtained among the nations of Scandinavian origin. (To be continued.) OBSERVATIONS ON THE NEPAULESE AND GOORKHAS, BY A GENTLEMAN RESIDENT AT ETAWAH, IN INDIA. THE Sepoys, who have returned from Nepaul, bring very curious accounts of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, which differ much from those of the plains. A Jemadar of the 25th regiment of native infantry, who commanded the escort of Lieutenant Boileau to Ratmandee, after staying there four months, on being relieved from his duty, has come home on leave to his village, only a few miles from hence. After Lieutenant Boileau's visit to the rajah, and return to his tent, the rajah sent him several trays of presents, which, instead of consisting as usual of cloths, silks, shawls, sweetmeats, &c. were composed of a pig, (a pig as a present in India! O horrible!) rice, spice, and all kinds of grain, &c. a horse being the only thing among the presents which agreed with the forms of other courts. The escort of thirty Sepoys were exercised and admired; but, when the Goorkha battalions are exercised, no spectator is allowed to be present, and running footmen are sent out in all directions to prevent intruders. The houses are All those denominated Picts were not descended from Scandinavians alone, as these may have mixed with the Celta, or aboriginal Britons; although the former had in a great measure the ascendancy, and gave name to the nation. It is thus that here in the North, in the remote ages of dark antiquity, the Goths were blended with the Jotner or Joter, (Ettins or Jutes,) who were probably in part Finns and Celts, &c. Although the great body of the people in Denmark is Danish, it nevertheless contains a mixture of naturalized Germans, Swedes, French, &c. who all go under the common name of Danes. VOL. I all of wood, two, three, and four stories high; the meanest person having one of two stories. Calling themselves Hindoos, dividing themselves into the same four principal branches, or castes, viz. Brahmia, Chuttry, Bise, and Sooderr, and reading the same shasters and pooranas as the Hindoos of the plains, they yet sacrifice buffaloes to the Deity, and afterwards banquet on the remnants of the offering. I need not remind you how contrary this is to the tenets of the Hindoos below; although some of them, such as Rajpoots, some Brahmins, and others, eat flesh, they would all die before they would touch that of a cow or a buffalo. Their brethren above (of the hills) eat also goat's and sheep's flesh; but in this last have made a nice distinction; those born with short stumps of tails, being a separate species, are eaten, whilst those with tails of the ordinary length cannot be touched! The chastity of the original Nepaulese women is of the lowest order; they have, of course, no Purdeh. (Í ought to be more explicit, and say, they are not kept in concealed apartments, restricted from going out.) One woman is often wife to three or four brothers, the eldest child belonging to the eldest brother, the second to the second, and so on. Their chastity seems also to be held in little veneration, for the wife conceals not her amours from the husband, and the lover walks into the female apartment under the husband's nose. Should the poor husband object to such intercourse, he repairs to court, where the seducer is fined five rupees. These last remarks are to be understood as referring to the native Nepaulese only, and not to the conquerors of the country, the Goorkhas. Though our newspapers have thrown doubts on the water having been poisoned, in order to prevent the advance of our troops, this Jemadar, my informant, was present at the taking of some out of a rivulet, which had been concealed under large stones, and in consequence of the drinking of which several of the carriage elephants died. Their military skill also (though not their bravery) seems doubtful, though so much talked of and praised. This indeed the officers as well as the Jemadar allow, that the natural obstacles presented by the country were so great, and gave such a decided ad o g vantage and superiority to the defendants, that had skill, with these advantages, been combined with their valour, it would have been impossible for our troops to have advanced and performed the achievements which have signalized their irruption. Such is the account of the Jemadar, and a Sepoy, to whom I give entire credit, as their account of several transactions fully correspond with those which have been laid before the public from various other quarters. My friend illustrated his remarks as to the difficulties of the country by saying, that his battalion and three others made a forced march through a defile to take possession of the head of the pass, "and if two old women had only sat on the summit, and rolled down large stones, every man of their party would have been annihilated." a similar style. Murthly Castle possesses another strong feature of resemblance, which Traquair House cannot pretend to, viz. local situation. It is just below the entrance into the Highlands, (as Bradwardine Castle was,) and I am of opinion that the Pass of Ballybrough, in Waverley, can be no other than that immediately above Dunkeld, leading into the Highlands. There is an air of grandeur about Murthly which I never saw surpassed. Its natural beauties are certainly very great ;-situated on the banks of the Tay, five miles below Dunkeld, and directly opposite the beautiful wooded rock of Stenton. From a grotto or moss house on the banks of the river, lately erected with great taste by Mr George Stewart, son of the present Baronet, may be seen the celebrated hills of Birnam and Dunsinnan, the former of which has for a long series of years been in the possession of the MURTHLY CASTLE, THE SUPPOSED family; and towards Dunsinnan, from ORIGINAL OF TULLY-VEOLAN. MR EDITOR, HAVING noticed in the Border Sketches which appeared in your first number of the new series, that the author had traced several features in Traquair House, which led him to suppose that mansion and its vicinage to have been the Study of Tully-Veolan, I beg to offer a few remarks. Although a particular taste and style of laying out grounds may have been very prevalent at one time in Scotland, and thus the appearance of many gentlemen's houses may be somewhat similar; yet, after a good deal of observation, I never found a place so exactly to answer Waverley's description as Murthly Castle, in Perthshire, the residence of Sir George Stewart of Grandtully, Baronet. We approach the house through a double avenue of limes, the tallest and thickest I ever witnessed. The venerable turrets overhang the terrace of the garden, which is laid out entirely in the Dutch style, as Bradwardine's is described to be. The dovecot adjoining the house, the fountain, gate, and, in short, every particular, entirely coincide. The families of Traquair and Grandtully having long been intimately connected and allied, some of the ancestors of the present possessors may have agreed to plan their grounds in this grotto, is a view which might be the boast of Italy. The Castle of Murthly is in some parts very old, having been built at different times; and, owing to its height, size, and situation, it has a singular and grand appearance, and is seen at a great distance. Connected with it, at the distance of a few hundred yards, by an avenue of fine yews and cypress, is the chapel, and within it the family burial-place, in which are several very handsome marble monuments, one of which is adorned with the arms of the numerous relations of this ancient and noble branch of the House of Stewart. I trust you will pardon me for saying so much on the subject of Murthly, which, however, is a place well worthy of all that can be said or written in praise of its beauties. I am, Sir, yours, &c. * D Edinburgh, Sept. 30, 1817. histories as among the most amusing and instructive of literary compositions. They combine, in a manner peculiarly pleasing, the powerful interest of local partialities, with the charm of philosophical disquisition, and while they gratify the rational curiosity of contemporaries, they transmit also valuable information to those who are to follow us. On so extensive a subject, however, it is impossible, within the compass of a letter, to offer more than a few imperfect and very general observations. It is universally known, that this city is indebted for its first celebrity, as a seat of learning, to the high reputation of its medical school. It is not, however, so generally understood at how very recent a period this distinction commenced; and those who have not previously considered the subject, will probably hear, with some astonishment, that the first person who ever filled any medical chair in the University of this city, was the grandfather of the present Professor of Anatomy. It was, I believe, about the year 1725, that this eminent individual received his appointment; but the lustre which he threw around the University, by the excellence of his lectures, naturally directed the attention of its patrons to the advantages which might arise from a more extended establishment. The different departments of medical science were, accordingly, soon assigned to distinct professors, who quickly obtained also those subsidiary institutions which were necessary for giving practical efficacy to their labours; and in this manner was begun, at a comparatively very recent period, that splendid career of medical instruction which has now raised the University of this place to the very first rank among the seminaries of Europe. The philosophical lectures at that time delivered here were, of course, in many respects, different from those which are given at this more advanced period. The mathematical discoveries of former ages had, indeed, been transmitted to modern times, (as it has been well remarked,) like masses of pure and native gold." And we cannot suppose that the mathematical prelections of this University have ever been given with superior effect than when the chair of this department was filled by such men as Gregory and Maclaurin. The philo- Amidst that keen agitation of systems and opinions, however, which now began very generally to prevail, and which was, indeed, the natural result of that gradual enlargement of the human understanding which, since the revival of letters, had been slowly going forward,-the state of science, which I have now described, |