in succeeding ages. Still we are not without sufficiently satisfactory traces to show that the Cymri once inhabited the whole Eastern shore of our island. This is not certainly any new theory, as Camden and all our best antiquarian writers have held the same opinion respecting it, but without relying on their authority 1 give you my views independently of theirs, to which those who wish to know more of the subject may therefore refer.
I have already stated that the names of the rivers in Belgic Gaul bore substantially the same names in the time of Cæsar and other Roman writers as they do now. The Rhenus is now the Rhine; the Scaldis the Scheldt; the Vahalis is the Waal; the Mosa the Maese; the Visurgis is the Weser; the Amisia the Ems; the Isela is the Yssel; the Luppia the Lippe; the Albis is the Elbe and the Granna the Gran. Of these I think the first and last betoken a Cymric origin. The Rhenus from Rhen which in Cymric signifies supreme as the chief river, and the Gran which in Cymric signifies precipitous, shelvy. The other words seem to be names given by the German invaders and explicable from their language, the same as the names of places as far as we can identify present names with the ancient. Thus the Batavi are rspresented in the modern Batawe; the Grudii in the Land Von Groede, the Bructeri in Brockmoreland and above all the Frisii whose name as Freize is yet borne and recognized as their own by so considerable a portion of the people in the country.
If we turn to any map of America or other newly settled country, we may observe how apt the first settlers always are to assign names to rivers and places from some peculiarity they find in their character. The same rule we may be sure always prevailed unless some general appellation was given, or some national epithet applied. Thus the Cam though not the largest, yet one of the most celebrated in our island, has been uniformly spoken of by Poets and Tourists as the crooked Cam. If you will look into the Welsh Dictionaries you will find that Cam there means crooked. The river Trent is distinguishable among our rivers for its force and rapidity. In Cymric or Welsh the word Trent signifies force, rapidity. The river Ouse bears a name common with several others in England, which Camden and others declare to be Celtic. I confess I do not feel so much convinced of that being the case as to make me inclined to rest my argument on what may be pronounced a doubtful derivation, but I have no hesitation in claiming the name of Lynn as Cymric. The Ouse at that place is more a pool
