Excerpt from History of the English Language and Literature The first language known to have been spoken in the British Islands, was one which is now totally unknown in England, but still exists, in various slightly altered shapes, in Wales, in the Highlands Of Scotland, and in many parts of Ireland. This language is usually called, in reference to England, the British tongue in reference to Scotland, the Gaelic; and in reference to Ireland, the Irish. It was originally the language of a large body Of people called the Celts, who, several centuries before the Christian era, occupied all the western parts Of Europe, but are now to be traced only in the Welsh, the Scot tish Highlanders, the Irish, and a few tribes scattered along the western shores Of France and Spain. A great number of names of places, both in England and in the Lowlands Of Scotland, and many of the designations Of natural Objects, such as hills and rivers, are borrowed from this language, but we do not derive from it many Of the words in our common speech. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.