ON THE TOKC OF THE CELTS. 3G9

of the mind of man. Tims tlic same extended observation, careful com})arison, and due reflection, which enable the anatomist to pronounce upon the strncture of an extinct animal from the inspection of a single bone, may lead the architologist to the mental reproduction of a de})arted race from scattered and apparently insignificant remains. These considerations have induced me to attempt in the present paper, a classification and (lcscri])tion of the chief remains of Celtic art, the Torques and its varieties. It is unnecessary to preface the result of my incjuii-ies by a discussion of that much vexed question, viz. the descent of the Celtic races. It can- not be doubted that the origin of the Celts is to he sought among those eastern hordes, which from the earliest periods were naturally pressing on towai'ds the west, and having at length surmounted the natural momitain-barriers of Asia, spread themselves laterally southwards on its rich and fertile plains ; whence they were gradually di'iven still more to the west by the pressure of the swarms behind them. The Celts exhibit at an early period decided traces in their lan- guage, customs, and such simple arts as they exercised, of an Indo-Germanic descent. With these remarks I shall proceed to the subject I propose to treat of. 7Yie torques. The Latin word torques "^ has been applied in a very extended sense to the various necklaces or collars for the neck, found in Britain, and other countries inhabited by the Celtic tribes. This Avord has been supposed to be derived from the Welch or Irish "^ tore, which has the same significa- tion, but the converse is equally plausible, that this was derived from the Latin. It bears great analogy to the Anglo- Saxon word to twist, and is agreed by aU writers to have alluded to the twisted form of the ornament. The earlier Greek authors'^ when employing the term, and the later when translating from the Latin, use the word arpi'TrTov^^ that which is twisted, proofs if any were Avanted, that its shape w^as twisted Avhcn they first became acquainted Avitli if. The first people who appear from their monuments to have used this twisted gold ornament for the neck are the Per- " The authors in this country who have '^ Petrie in Proc. Royal Irish Acad. ] 827. written on the torques, have universally ^ Xenoph. Cyr., lib. i. followed the learned John Schefler, " de « Dio. LXII. s. 1. Joseph, x. 2. Suid. Antiquis Torquibus." Kjnio. Holm. 165G. voce TopKovaros. Pughe, in Archaeol., vol. .xi. p. 557. ' Cf. Isidor. Grig. six. c. .31.