the same was extracted out of the Registers and Books he mention'd and particularly out of the second Book of Verimund Sir Richard Baker cites this Verimund among the Authors out of whom he compiled his History and with him he cites Ioannes Campbellus who he says wrote the History of the Scots from the Origine of the Nation till the Year 1260 in which he liv'd And also Turgot who he says wrote our Annals from the beginning till the Year 1098 in which he liv'd and him likewise Hollinshed cites as also Aluredus Rivallensis who wrote the History of King David and died Anno 1166 and Bartholomeus Anglicus who wrote a Chronicle of the Scots and liv'd in the Year 1360. Two of which three last we have reason to think were Scots-men and have been called English-men only because they liv'd in the Counties which now belong to England but then certainly belong'd to us and if they be Englishmen they are yet the more credible Witnesses for us And as the worthy Baker says he compil'd his History out of these Books which he neither would nor could have said if he had not seen them So it is very probable that he did see them our Records and Manuscripts having been industriously carry'd to England by Edward the First as shall be hereafter observ'd Nor can it be answer'd that he cited them at second-hand from Boeth or Buchannan for else he had cited the other Authors whom they cite such as Richardus de sancto victore Fordon Major c. All this doth evidently demonstrate that we had such Historians as Verimund and the others above-cited who asserted before Fordon what he has related so that it was most unwarrantable to say that these things were dream'd by Fordon and Boethius but that Verimund was seen and consider'd by others and cited in a particular part of his Book which could not be copied from Boethius because he doth not cite Verimund for all those Transactions and upon this Balaeus a Learn'd English-man hath rested And Holinshed says that Verimund wrote a Book De Regibus Scotorum Nor can it be deny'd that Gesner in verbo Verimund and other famous Strangers cite him as one who has written our History ab exordio Scoticae gentis usque ad Malcolmi tempora And it is incredible to think so good and grave a Man as Boetius could have been so impudent to assert in his Dedication to King Iames the 5th That these Books were sent to him by the Earl of Argile and his Brother the Thesaurer from Icolmkill and that he had follow'd them in writing his History Especially since he is by Erasmus that great Critick admir'd as a most Learned Man they having studied together at Paris where he remembers that he was in great esteem And in a Letter concerning him Anno 1530 inserted in the Life of Erasmuus he remarks that Boethius was a Person who could not lie How can it then be imagined that he would have adventur'd to have printed a whole Romance and have told his King and the World that he had the Manuscripts by him Nor is this asserted only by Boethius and our own Historians but by Paulus Iovius a very famous Foreign Historian who in his Description of Scotland says That in Iona which we call Icolmkill are kept the ancient Annals and Manuscripts in hidden Presses of the Church and large Parchments asigned by the King 's own hands and seal'd either with Seals of Gold or Wax By which also it appears how nice we have been in securing the Faith of our History the Seals of our Kings being put to what was written by our devout Church-men And whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph to lessen the Credit of Boethius relates that Bishop Gavin Dowglas advised Polidor Virgil not to follow his History Polidor Virgil himself is appeal'd to where there is no mention of Boethius at all nor could it be for Polidor regrates that Gavin Dowglas died Anno 1520 whereas Boethius was not publish'd till 1526 and Boethius himself informs us That the Records from which he form'd his History were sent him from Icolmkill Anno 1525 and no sooner neither did he see those Warrants from which he wrote his History till that Year And it appears by that passage that Gavin Dowglas believ'd our account and produc'd a Manuscript for it which I now cite and use as an accessory Argument and prove it by the Bishop of St. Asaph and Polidor and whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph pretends that the Relation given by Gavin Dowglas agreed with Nennius but contradicted Boethius the contrary is probable by Polidor's own Relation of what Gavin Dowglas writ to him which agrees with Boethius in every thing relating to our Antiquity The Bishop of St. Asaph is also most unjust to Boethius in alledging that Vossius considers him as a fabulous Author For Vossius commends him from what Erasmus and Buchannan say of him and in the end taxes him only a little for having believ'd too many Miracles a fault incident to most Popish Writers in those times but to none more than to the Bishop's own obscure Authors for which among many other Testimonies I refer my Reader to them who writ the Preface to the Histories of Matthew of Westminster and to the Life of King Alfred and Walsingham's History It can also be proved by many famous Gentlemen that the Black Book of Scoon containing our Histories from the beginning was among President Spotwood's Books and was given by Lewis Cant to Major General Lambert and by him to Collonel Fairfax which Book King Charles the first had ransom'd from Rome by a considerable Sum of Money And it is certain that Spotswood had it and the Black Book of Pasley signed by the hands of three Abbots when he compil'd his History Which Book of Pasley together with the famous Book of Pluscardin Buchannan says he had and frequently cites and that there were such Books is known to the whole Nation And I my self have seen in the Learned Sir Robert Sibbald's Library to whom this Nation owes very much a very old Abridgment of the Book of Pasley which Book Bp Vsher himself also cites agreeing in every thing with our Histories and which was extracted per venerabilem virum Ioannem Gibson Canonicum Glasguensem Rectorem de Renfrew Anno 1501. And two other old Manuscripts the one called Excerpta de Chronicis Scotiae Scoti-chronico which comes to the Reign of King Iames the 2d and belong'd to Doctor Arbuthnot Physician to King Iames the 5th and this proves that there were Chronica different from Fordon's And the other Extracta de Registro prioratus Sancti-Andreae giving the Irish Names of our Kings As also I have seen a Manuscript written by a Brother of the minores Observants of Iedburgh in Anno 1533 containing an Abridgment of our History and whereof Doctor Sibbald has another Copy And there is another old Manuscript
heard of it nor with one even of these few who had valu'd it and so this Author may be said rather to have suggested a new Argument than to have answered an old One For they urge now nothing to us save places of Scripture resolving to have their Presbytery Iuris Divini knowing that nothing less can secure them in opposing the Laws of the Kingdom And what can the Presbyterians think of their other Arguments which they value much Since this which they valu'd so little is thought of such force by a learned Bishop as to deserve a whole Book the cutting off of 44 Kings and the offending a Nation of Friends It is also very remarkable that the learn'd Doctor Hammond a great Champion of Episcopacy owns the Antiquity of our Nation and answers fully that Argument without overturning the truth of our History or wronging the Antiquity of our Royal-Line whereas Baxter the Presbyterian urges this Citation and yet agrees with this Author in opposing the Antiquity of our History approving what is said by Cambden and Vsher and in a Letter to the Duke of Lauderdale asserting the lateness of our settlement here Which shews that there is no necessity lying upon such as own Episcopacy to wrong the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation But how the necessity of a private corner of a remote Country in Ecclesiâ constituendâ could wrong the general practice of the Church is as little to be understood as it is undenyable that many thousands in Iapan and China were converted by Presbyters before Bishops were sent thither And since it cannot be deny'd but that those who ordain'd our Presbyters were Bishops it necessarily follows that Episcopacy was settl'd in the Christian Church before we had Presbyters or Culdees or else if these who ordain'd our Presbyters were not Bishops the practice of that Church whereby our Presbyters were ordain'd should have been impugn'd and not the Authority of our Histories and the Antiquity of our Royal-Line overturn'd And though this Reverend and Learn'd Author could prove that we were not setled here before the Year 503 yet that could not answer the Argument for the Culdees might have been settled before that time in this Country where we now live though amongst the Picts for it cannot be deny'd but the Picts were setled in this Country before that time And when our Historians say that the Abbots of Icolm-kill had Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of the Province that is to be understood as Beda observes more inusitato and my Lord St. Asaph himself well remarks these words and gives a full and clear vindication of the passages of Beda in the 173 and following Pages and might have rested therein and needed not to have been driven to seek a new Answer in overturning the Antiquity of our Nation Many examples can be given of Jurisdiction of Presbyters and even of Deacons over Bishops in the Canon Law and History So that this instance from our Historians makes nothing against Episcopacy And latter Historians meeting with these ambiguous words in our Annals De signatus Electus Ordinatus were by a mistake induc'd to appropriate these words to the formal Ceremony of Ordination and Imposition of Hands And I find by the Bishop's Concession that the Abbess Hilda did elect and send forth such of her Monks as she thought fit to be ordain'd which is all that our Guldees and ancient Monks did Thus a King may be said to make one a Bishop or a Mother to have made one of her Sons a Church-man which answer the learned Nicol a zealous friend to Episcopacy thought sufficient to elide Blondel's Arguments from our Historians without denying the Antiquity of our Nation or troubling himself with our Culdees And if Beda had heard that the Presbyters did ordain Bishops he had remark'd it as a most unusal thing having marked that the Abbots had jurisdiction over Bishops they being but Presbyters such an Ordination being much more extraordinary than such a Jurisdiction And might not my Lord St. Asaph as well have inveigh'd against Gildas and the British Historians because he says that Church-men were ordain'd by the consent of the Bishops and the rest of the Presbyters from which Presbyterians and particularly the same Blondel infers a parity betwixt Bishops and Presbyters And from which it appears that dangerous Consequences should not be drawn from the dubious and heedless expressions of old Authors living in rude Times and Places and from all which we might have been secure that my Lord St. Asaph would have concur'd with the wise answer which Spotswood Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews with whom the learn'd Hammond agrees gave to that silly Argument without affronting him as a betrayer of the Episcopal Cause and caressing our Fanaticks by that unwarrantable and dangerous assertion that in consequence thereof they might reasonably conclude that when they covenanted against Episcopacy they had only us'd their own right and thrown out that which was a confess'd innovation in order to the restoring of that which was their primitive Government For it does not follow that because our Church in its infancy and necessity was without Bishops for some Years that therefore it was reasonable for Subjects to enter into a Solemn League and Covenant without and against the consent of their Monarch and to extirpate Episcopacy settled then by Law and by an old prescription of 1200 Years at least 3. Precedency being one of the Jewels of the Crown and one of the chief Glories of Princes and all who treat on that Subject confessing that the King of Great-Britain as King of Scotland is the most ancient Monarch in Europe the Line of other Kingdoms having been often interrupted whereas ours never was it seems a great injury to our Kings to have their Line shortened so as thereby to postpone them to many others and if this Author's Arguments prove any thing they must prove that our Kings cannot instruct their Antiquity till Malcolm the 3d's Time and so our Kings will be amongst the last of all Crowned-Heads Nor is it one of the least Arguments which prevail with us to hazard all for our Royal-Line that we have been so long Subjects to it and happy under it and therefore whoever shortens it lessens though without design the influence of our Kings and endangers the Succession And since Luddus owns that he durst not deny the British Descent from Brutus lest he might thereby wrong the Majesty of the English Nation I admire that any of the Subjects of Great Britain did not think it a degree of Lese-Majesty to injure and shorten the Royal-Line of their Kings 4. If this injury had been done to Kings or to a Nation when they were Enemies to Episcopacy as the Obligation was so the fault had been less But to inveigh against our Royal-Line after King Iames had made the settlement of Episcopacy his business King Charles had died for it and our late Soveraign of
same due to it from our Manuscripts and Records beyond all contradiction Bishop Lesly and Arch-bishop Spotswood are Men who have written our History with great judgment and truth and it cannot be imagin'd that they who were indeed banish'd for Loyalty and suffer'd the loss of all for their Perswasion would have asserted a whole bundle of Lies or a continued Romance as the Author calls our History especially since they had both seen Luddus and knew that their History would be enquired into And Lesly has the confidence to tell in his Preface to the Nobility That his History had been drawn with all the exactness that the truth of History requires from the ancient Records of the Kingdom and the Monasteries and he was then at Rome whither they were carried It is also very pleasant to hear the Bishop of St. Asaph inveigh against Dempster the Jesuit one of our Antiquaries whose Book certainly he had never seen else he would never have call'd him a Jesuit as he does For the very Title of his Book bears that he was Baro de Muiresk and a Lawyer and he was indeed Professor honorarius of the Civil Law at Bolognia in Italy and died married as the History of his Life writ by Peteraces bears and we may know by the Elogies of the greatest Wits in Italy how much they esteem'd him for his extraordinary Learning and Parts I may add to these David Camerarius de fortitudine c. Scotorum besides Richardus de sancto victore and Cornelius Hibernicus both which wrote our ancient Histories the last of them liv'd in the year 1140. And they are both follow'd by Boethius and cited by Vossius Baleus Sixtus Senensis and others and also Adamnanus that wrote St. Columba's Life From all which it appears that our Historians have been Men of great credit and esteem and have founded their History upon more authentick Documents than almost any other Historians in the World viz. the Records of many Monasteries in the time when Monasteries were very devout and upon the universal Tradition of the times both ancient and modern and that before there was any competition or controversie concerning our Antiquity and that what they have said has been universally believ'd by all the learned World To which I shall add that our Clerk of Registers Skeen the great Antiquary had added from those ancient Records a Chronology of our Kings and which he has inserted amongst our Acts of Parliament Is not then the Bishop of St. Asaph much to blame when he would have all this pass for a Romance and all those Authors to be reputed only as one Because as he says they followed one another from Fordon and he follow'd Ieffrey neither of which is so Tho I confess the contrivance of this untruth was prety but happily disappointed by their asserting that they founded their Histories upon the old Records of our Monasteries and on Turgot Verimund and others all which they had seen and who are elder than Fordon And it might be as well objected against Witnesses that they came in and depos'd one after another giving for the reason of their knowledg that they had seen what they depos'd If all these Manuscripts which I have cited were extant I doubt not but the Author himself would acknowledg our Histories to be instructed beyond debate and therefore if I can instruct them to have once been they must be reputed as good as extant still For both Law and common Reason having consider'd that Papers are very subject to be lost and to perish have therefore allow'd that if it can be prov'd that there were such Papers and that they were lost by accident that this probation shall supply the loss And I desire to know if the Warrants of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation had been burnt would not the Bishop of St. Asaph have been angry if his Testimony and Dr. Stillingfleet's had not been sufficient to prove the tenor of them And what have we for many Authors whom Livy Iosephus and Herodot cite besides their own Testimony And what probation did ever Mankind see stronger than that which we adduce in this case For first that all our Monasteries did write our Annals is beside common Fame and universal and late Tradition which passes over all our Country prov'd by the other Authorities above cited If then two ordinary Witnesses be sufficient to prove a matter of Fact we must much more allow that this matter may be prov'd by very many Persons considerable for their Devotion and Quality 2. There are other Manuscripts yet extant some whereof I my self have seen and have formerly nam'd all agreeing with the tenour of our History and long prior to Luddus's starting of this Debate in Anno 1572. And so must prove sufficient to support our Histories and those Witnesses especially seeing they have nothing in them contrary to Reason or other credible Histories but on the contrary are supported by both and written by Authors of great Integrity and Knowledg and have been receiv'd with great applause in the World and are also confirm'd by the English Historians themselves And therefore I must conclude with the Learned Vossius That albeit the old Monuments of Rome perisht that therefore the Faith of their History should not perish with them Lest it might be thought that we our selves caus'd to destroy those Records we now cite to prevent further inquiry and to shew how much harder it is for us than other Nations to be call'd to such an account I shall desire Strangers to be inform'd as a casus omissionis that our ancient Records were destroyed in three remarkable occasions 1. When Edward the First took away all our Records that he could find having as all Historians declare resolv'd to abolish all memory of our Nation and of which we accus'd him before the Pope and he did not deny it 2. When our Monks flying to Rome at the Reformation carry'd with them their Records 3. By Cromwel who carry'd our Records into England and many of which were lost at Sea in their return But if our Historians are to be rejected I hope it must be by the Authority of far more and far more credible Authors agreeable to a Principle of Dr. Stillingfleet's the Patron of our Bishop's Book who says Certainly they who undertake to contradict that which is received by common Consent must bring stronger and clearer Evidence than that on which that Consent is grounded or else their Exceptions ought to be rejected with the highest Indignation Which Principle as it seems to be recommended by Reason so it is founded upon the express Law of all Nations by which it is acknowledg'd that the Testimonies of Witnesses are not to be reprobated but by others in a double number and who are of far greater Authority And from this Principle it is that if a Jury of fifteen hath absolv'd a Man unjustly though that Jury consisted of the meanest Men
Frith of Forth and Clyde and yet he confesses that amongst the South-Picts there was a Monastery of St. Martin at Whit-horn founded by St. Ninian in honour of that Saint and Whit-horn is in Galloway in the furthest south point of our Scotland near eighty miles besouth Forth and himself also confesses Whit-horn to be in Galloway The fourth Objection being that our Historians have followed Ieffrey of Monmoth in many rediculous inventions which were purely his own and particularly in the History of Bassianus who being Emperour is by him pretended to have been kill'd in Britain by Fulgentius which tho Buchannan does not exactly follow yet he still makes Bassianus to have been a Roman Lieutenant and to have been kill'd in Britain whereas it appears not from any Roman Authors that there was any Roman Lieutenant here To this it is answered That no Man comparing our Histories with Ieffrey of Monmouth can think so for we bring not our Nation from Brutus as he does against common sense and tho Ieffrey tells a story of Bassianus the Emperour being kill'd in Britain which contradicts the Roman Story yet Fordon does expresly say it was not that Bassianus who was Emperour but a Captain sent here and so does not follow but contradict Ieffrey And Buchannan to shew that he does not follow him and he understood too well the Roman Story to do so only relates that there was a Bassianus kill'd which no Roman History contradicts and which is not to be presum'd Buchannan would have made since there is nothing in it for the advantage of his Nation and as it is probable the Emperour would not have suffer'd Carausius to make such great preparations without sending a considerable Captain especially since Eutropius tells that after many Wars attempted with Carausius he at last concluded to send a Captain against him without naming who that Captain was It were a hard thing therefore to conclude so great Authors were forgers because they condescend not upon an Author for every indifferent Circumstance and the Notitia Imperii is so far from having taken notice of every Lieutenant in a Legion that I can prove by many Texts of the Civil Law that even Consuls themselves have been forgot when they were only chosen to succeed to those who died during their Consulship But the great Objection used by the Bishop against our Antiquity lyes in the 4th § of the Bishop's first Chapter wherein he asserts That Ireland was peopled by the Scots and was the only Scotland before these times viz. before the Year 503 And in the 5th § That there were no Scots in Britain before the said Year 300. And in the 6th and 8th § That the Scots betwixt the 300 and 500 Years were indeed here but not setled and only by way of Incursion And in the 9th § he asserts That about the Year 500 they first setled here and erected the Kingdom of Argile And in the 12th and 13th § he asserts That after the Year 900 we got the rest of the Country and then only it came to be called Scotland For clearing all these Mistakes without partiality or humour I shall sum up my Answers in these distinct Propositions First It is undeniable in it self and acknowledged by our Adversaries that the first special Names under which Ireland was known were Ierna among the Greeks and Hibernia among the Latins both of which are as I said acknowledg'd by Bishop Vsher himself My second Position is That before the Year 300 there is no Foreign Author produced by either Nation that mentions Scotia Scoti or Scoticae gentes except Seneca who mentions the Scoto-brigantes and Florus the Scoticae pruinae and Hegisippus who mentions Scotia and Porphyrie who mentions Scoticae gentes And tho I have prov'd formerly all these Authors and Passages to be genuine and applicable to us alone yet tho they were only spurious Authors or the conjectural Readings of new Criticks as Bishop Vsher whom my Lord St. Asaph follows alledges Porphyrie only excepted whose Testimony is admitted by him to be in the third Century It clearly follows that my Lord St. Asaph has without sufficient Warrant asserted in the forementioned place that Ireland was called Scotland before the Year 300 he admitting no Author for this save Porphyrie whose Book he acknowledges not to be extant but to be only cited by Ierom who liv'd long after the Year 300. 3. My chief Design in this Book is not to debate the Antiquity of the Names of Scotia or Scoti but only when we first setled under Kings in this Isle And consequently though Arch-bishop Vsher and the Bishop of St. Asaph could prove that the words Scotia and Scoti were not known the first 300 Years except in Porphyrie yet that cannot prove that we were not setled here before that Time For it is undeniable that many Nations have had peculiar Names before those Names can be found in History as Scaliger very well proves and they could not be known in Histories till other Nations had commerce with them and wrote of them which was a thing very accidental And Foreigners do oft-times design Nations by Appellatives which they themselves invent And it is asserted by Bp Vsher that the Scots inhabited Ireland long before the Year 300 tho till then he cannot give an Author for that word And who can deny that the Picts liv'd long here before Eumenius who first mention'd them and liv'd long after Porphyrie who mentions the Scots And it is very observable that to this day neither the Irish nor we are call'd Scots in the true Irish Language for they call their own Country-men Erenach from the word Ierna or Ibernia and us Albanach from Albion and Albania Which also clears that we got that name long before Iulius Caesar's Time since before that time the word Albian was run into desuetude and was succeeded to by the more known name of Britannia And these Originations are the more confirm'd that to this day the same Irish and our Highlanders know no other names to the English save Sassanach because of Saxony from which they came as they call'd us Albanach to distinguish us from themselves from the Country to which we came Which may give us likewise a hint how by Names without Histories most ancient Monuments of Antiquity may be preserv'd And it is fully prov'd before that time we were known in this Country under the name of Dalreudini and Caledonii 4. All those uncontroverted Testimonies that make first mention of the Scots and of Scotland are only applicable to us such as Claudian Pacatius Ammianus c. as has formerly been fully prov'd And since Hegesippus is the first Author produc'd by the Bp of St. Asaph who mentions Scotia and that it has been formerly prov'd that these Passages relate to Us and not to Ireland it follows clearly that the name Scotia was given to Us before it was given to Ireland or
be understood how the French and Germans could mistake their own Records and Foundations for so many hundreds of Years togeder and by this I leave my Reader to measure the other unjust pretensions of such Authors I hope it now at last appears that I have detected those ingenious Artifices which this learn'd Bishop was forc'd to use to supply his want of solid and just grounds in this his undertaking As 1. That to conciliate respect to this Undertaking as well as to excuse it he pretends that it was necessary for the defence of Episcopacy 2. He makes a great muster of old Authors in the beginning of his Book as if all these were Men of great credit and did concur with him to refute our History and adorns his Margins with formidable numbers of Citations 3. Knowing that it could be prov'd both by British and Foreign Historians that we were here very anciently he confesses this but by a new and strange Invention he asserts that we were not here as settled Inhabitants but only by way of Incursion 4. He defers our Setling here till the Year 503 and so longer than the first Inventors of this new Story did upon design to make our Settlement here later then that of the Anglo-Saxons who settl'd here in Anno 449. 5. He lessens the reputation of all our Historians and endeavours also to make them pass but for one as if the succeeding Historian had seen no other Warrants but the preceeding Histories 6. He treats in ridicule Ieffrey and some other Historians of his own Country whom he knew could not be sustain'd however and this he does upon design to shew his impartiality and that he spares not his own more than ours 7. For the same reason he decrys the British descent from Brutus in which he loses nothing because no sober Man could have defended it and he denies the Conversion of their own King Lucius to strike thereby with the greater authority at the Antiquity of our Royal-Line and Nation treating King Donald's Conversion also as a Fable and thus according to our Proverb He is content to let a Friend go with a Foe 8. He complements our Nation in latter Times to excuse the Injury he does our Kings and Antiquity 9. He uses the Foreign Authors that should be urg'd for us to prevent our using of them as proving Arguments against him 10. Finding that Ireland has been call'd Scotia he transplants our old Saints thither and applies to it all that is said of our Country nor did ever any Author improve better a pitiful Clinch 11. He concurs in another design like to this for because it could not be deny'd that Fergus was our first King all the Citations for proving this are therefore apply'd to Fergus the Second and not to Fergus the First Lastly Whereas Cambden and Arch-bishop Vsher speak doubtingly of their own Arguments the Bishop of St. Asaph fearing that his Reader could not be convinc'd of what himself was not he therefore proposesall these Arguments with a confidence which would seem to argue that full conviction in himself which he wishes in others If any Person then would know how that Scotland which was but a small Colony grew up to a Kingdom that deserv'd so well my thoughts of this are that 1. The constant defence that we were oblig'd to make against the Romans and Britons at first and English thereafter Nations wise brave and polish'd living in the same Isle with us and the Picts within us did force us to think and fight and the observing the Actions Conduct of such Enemies could not leave the observers rude or ignorant and it 's like that the Glory of such Noble Adversaries rais'd our Wit and Courage above the pitch of a Northen and confin'd Nation 2. Our Country having had the happiness to stop the Roman Conquest this gave Strangers a value for us and therefore when any of the gallant Britons scorn'd to submit to the slavery and drudgery of a Conquest they fled unto us from the Romans Saxons Danes and Normans and being passionate lovers of Liberty they animated us by their Assistance and Example This likewise brought in brave Strangers amongst us as all gallant Spirits did lately run to Holland in its first rise and as our Historians probably relate very many of those return'd with Fergus the Second from the Wars in Italy whither that generous young Prince went to assist Alarick against the Romans in a just resentment of the injury done by them to his Predecessors and with whom he was present at the sacking of Rome 3. We have been very happy in so Heroick and Wife a Race of Kings whose Blood being refin'd by a long Royal Descent hath been thereby purifiy'd from all meanness and elevated to that Love for glory which is ordinary in those who never knew what it was to obey 4. Our Country having entered early into a remarkable League with France in the Reign of Charle-Maigne our Country-men got excellent Breeding under so Wise and Valiant a Prince and have ever since by being constantly employed in the French and other Wars attain'd to a degree of Merit beyond what was to be expected in this Climate 5. Our Country having neither Bogs nor Fogs our Ground being Rocky and Gravelly and our Air fann'd by Winds this preserves us from the dulness and phlegm of the Northern Climats and the want of that superfluous Plenty and bewitching Pleasure which softned even Hannibal when he came to Capua preserves us against the Delicacy and Effeminateness of Southern Nations And whereas Heroick Virtue being still attended by Envy some in railery pretend that we were unconquer'd because we deserv'd not the pains and trouble of a War I need not seriously answer what no Historian can urge For it is ridiculous to think that the Romans would not have rather conquer'd us than built two strong and expensive Walls against us which bounded their Fame as well as their Conquest And England hath taken too much pains to gain us either by Conquest or Alliance to have undervalued us And though when we were divided by the differences betwixt the Bruce and Barliol of old and betwixt the Royalists and Covenanters of late the half of our Country having only defended its Liberties whilst the other half joyn'd with its Enemies we were rather betray'd than overcome And yet we soon recovered our former Liberty Albeit to be overcome by England had been no great affront to us England being a greater and richer Nation than we are And therefore I hope all honest Men will with Judicious Samuel Daniel in his History at the Year 1296 confess that it had been a pity we had not had a better Country to be the Theatre of so many worthy and heroick Actions Having thus clear'd how our Nation arriv'd at its present consistence I am to finish this Discourse with a representation of the many Rights which our Kings have to the Imperial Throne of these
Kingdoms and to show how they succeed to all who ever pretended to Monarchy in any of them As to the British part of the Isle Aurelius Ambrosius was by common consent chosen sole Prince of all the Britons And he had no other Succession save two Daughters Anna married to the King of the Picts and Ada married to the King of the Scots Mordredus King of the Picts Grand-child to the foresaid Aurelius finding himself debarr'd from the Succession of the British Crown employ'd the Scots who fought for him against the Britons But the Britons having called in the Saxons after a bloody Battel both Parties were forced to withdraw and the King of the Picts was induc'd to desist from his Pretentions at that time But thereafter Hungus King of the Picts and the direct Heir of the same Mordredus and consequently of Ambrosius King of the Britons gave his Sister Fergusiana to Achaius King of the Scots and in her Right Alpin King of Scotland succeeded both to the British and Pictish Crowns Hungus having died without any Children Kenneth the 2d Son to Alpin was forc'd to conquer the Picts who refus'd unjustly to receive him as their lawful King Our Kings are likewise Lineal Heirs of the Danish-Race who were Kings of England for 27 or as others say 29 Years they being the only Lineal Successors of Canutus King of the Danes in Britain for Margaret Wife to King Malcolm the 3d was Sister to Edgar which Edgar was Grand-child to St. Edward who was Brother to Hardiknut Son to Canutus After this the Kingdom of England return'd to the old Stock in King Edward's Time to whom succeeded Edgar whose Sister the pious Queen Margaret married King Malcolm the 3d of Scotland by whom he came to have right to the Crown of England there being none extant of the old Royal-Saxon-Line besides her self And with her came very many of the Nobility who fled from William the Conquerour after he conquer'd England and with whom King Malcolm would not make Peace till such of them as resolved to return were restored to their Estates The next Royal-Race which flourished in England was the Norman and to that Race our Kings succeeded thus The Line of William the Conqueror was branch'd out in the Houses of Lancaster and York To the House of Lancaster they succeed as Heirs by the marriage betwixt Ioan Daughter to the Duke of Somerset and undoubted Successor of the Family of Lancaster And to both Lancaster and York they succeed by being Heirs to Henry the 7th in whom these Successions were again happily reconcil'd he having married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the 4th who had transferred the Succession of the Crown from the House of Lancaster to that of York or at least had united the two in one For clearing whereof it is fit to know that Henry the 7th had only four Children Arthur Henry Margaret and Mary Arthur and Henry dying without Succession the Right of the Crown was certainly devolv'd upon the Children of Margaret the Daughter who did bear King Iames the 5th in a first Marriage with King Iames the 4th and Margaret Dowglas by a second Marriage with the Earl of Angus which Margaret being married to Matthew Earl of Lenox had two Sons the eldest whereof was Henry who thereafter married Queen Mary Daughter to King Iames the 5th and begot upon her King Iames the 6th and thus King Iames the 6th was upon all sides Heir to William the Conquerour and to Henry the 7th The Histories also of both Nations confess that our King is the undoubted Successor of the Blood-Royal of Wales for Walter Stuart from whom our Kings are descended was Grand-Child to the King of Wales by his Daughter who married Fleanchus Son to Banqhuo and Henry the 7th to whom King Iames the 6th was the true Successor was also the righteous Heir of Cadwallader the last Prince of Wales The Histories both of Scotland and Ireland do acknowledg that our Kings are undoubtedly descended from the Royal Race of the Kings of Ireland and all the debate that can be is only whether they be desended from King Ferquhard Father to King Fergus the first or from Eeric Father to King Fergus the second or from some other Irish Kings as Vsher pretends From all which I may draw two Conclusions First that God has from an extraordinary kindness to those Kingdoms lodged in the Person of our present Soveraign King Iames the 7th whom GOD Almighty long preseve all those opposite and different Rights by which our Peace might have been formerly disturb'd 2. That His Majesty who now Reigns has deriv'd from His Royal Ancestors a just and legal Right by Law to all those Crowns without needing to found upon the Right of Conquest so that the very endeavour to exclude him from all those Legal Rights by Arbitrary Insolence under a Mask of Law was the height of Injustice as well as Imprudence FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by RICHARD CHISWELL FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Bp Wilkins real Character or Philosophical Language Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large Additions Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murderers of Esquire Thynn Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Iudges with other Observations thereupon By William Cawley Esq Sanford's Genealogical Hist. of the Kings of England Modern Reports of select Cases in the reign of King Charles the 2d Sir Tho. Murray's Collection of the Laws of Scotland Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. The History of the Island of CEYLON in the East-Indies Illustrated with Copper Figures and an exact Map of the Island By Capt. Robert Knox a Captive there near 20 Years QVARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latin and English Bp Nicholson on the Church-Catechism History of the late Wars of New-England Atwell's Faithful Surveyer Mr. Iohn Cave's seven occasional Sermons Dr. Crawford's Serious Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authothority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Mr. Hook's new Philosophical Collections Bibliotheca Norfolciana OCTAVO BIshop Wilkin's Natural Religion His Fifteen Sermons Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of the House of Peers in the Case of Skinner Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Appeals Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Impositions Letters about the Bishops Votes in Capital Cases Spaniards Conspiracy against