name of Scots, which, in the Celtic tongue, is
said to be equivalent to that of wanderers, or vagrants. The inhabitants
of a barren land were urged to seek a fresh supply of food in the
waters. The deep lakes and bays which intersect their country, are
plentifully supplied with fish; and they gradually ventured to cast
their nets in the waves of the ocean. The vicinity of the Hebrides, so
profusely scattered along the western coast of Scotland, tempted their
curiosity, and improved their skill; and they acquired, by slow degrees,
the art, or rather the habit, of managing their boats in a tempestuous
sea, and of steering their nocturnal course by the light of the
well-known stars. The two bold headlands of Caledonia almost touch
the shores of a spacious island, which obtained, from its luxuriant
vegetation, the epithet of Green; and has preserved, with a slight
alteration, the name of Erin, or Ierne, or Ireland. It is probable,
that in some remote period of antiquity, the fertile plains of Ulster
received a colony of hungry Scots; and that the strangers of the
North, who had dared to encounter the arms of the legions, spread their
conquests over the savage and unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It
is certain, that, in the declining age of the Roman empire, Caledonia,
Ireland, and the Isle of Man, were inhabited by the Scots, and that the
kindred tribes, who were often associated in military enterprise, were
deeply affected by the various accidents of their mutual fortunes. They
long cherished the lively tradition of their common name and origin;
and the missionaries of the Isle of Saints, who diffused the light of
Christianity over North Britain, established the vain opinion, that
their Irish countrymen were the natural, as well as spiritual, fathers
of the Scottish race. The loose and obscure tradition has been preserved
by the venerable Bede, who scattered some rays of light over the
darkness of the eighth century. On this slight foundation, a huge
superstructure of fable was gradually reared, by the bards and the
monks; two orders of men, who equally abused the privilege of fiction.
The Scottish nation, with mistaken pride, adopted their Irish genealogy;
and the annals of a long line of imaginary kings have been adorned by
the fancy of Boethius, and the classic elegance of Buchanan.

Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.--Part V.

Six years after the death of Constantine, th