must needs be overwhelmed with the inundations of the Ocean and must therefore be barren which alone in that Tract ought to have born Corn. But this is yet a more difficult Question That seeing the Sea-water did run on both sides the Forth why the Romans did not there make their Boundary-Wall rather than unnecessarily carry it many Miles further Beyond the County of Sterling lies Lennox divided from the Barony of Renfrew by Clyd and from the County of Glasgow by the River Kelvin from the County of Sterling by Mountains and from the Stewarty of Menteath by the Forth at length it is terminated in the Mountain Grampius or Grantsbain at the foot of which through an hollow Valley Loch-Lomund spreads it self which is 24 Miles long and 8 broad it contains above 24 Islands besides a multitude of other Fishes it hath some of a peculiar kind very pleasant to eat they call them Pollacks At length breaking out towards the South it pours out the River Levin giving Name to the whole Country and near the Castle of Dumbarton and a Town of the same Name falls into Clyd The furthermost Hills of Mount Grampius do heighten the extreme parts of Lennox being divided by a small Bay of the Sea called Loch-Ger from its shortness Beyond that there is a Bay much larger called Loch-Long from the River Long falling into it That is the Boundary between Lennox and Cowel Cowel it self Argyle and Knapdale are divided into many parts by reason of several narrow Bays of the Sea running down into them from the Firth of Clyd There is one Bay or Loch more eminent than the rest among them called Loch-Finn obtaining its Name from the River Finn which it receives into it it is above 60 Miles in length There is also in Knapdale a Loch called Loch-Awe in which there is a small Island and a Castle that is fortified The River Awe or Owe issues out from that Loch which is the only River in that Country that empties it self into the Deucaledonian Sea Beyond Knapdale to the South-West there runs out Cantyre i. e. The Head of the Country it stands over against Ireland from which it is divided but by a Narrow Sea It is not so Broad as it is Long and it is joyned to Knapdale by so Narrow an Isthmus or Neck of Land that it is scarce a Mile over and that space too is nothing but Sand so plain and level that sometimes Seamen to make their Voyages shorter do hale their small Vessels called Birlings over it from one side of Loch-Tarbet to the other Lorn touches Knapdale it borders immediately on Argyle and reaches as far as the Country of Abyr commonly called Loch-Abyr It is a plain Country and not unfruitful where the Mountain Grampius is lowest and more passable that Country is called Braid-Albin which is as much as to say The highest part of Scotland and where the loftiest Pic or Top of all is that is called Drum-Albin i. e. The Back of Scotland and not without cause for from that Back there run down Rivers into both Seas some into the North or German others into the South or Deucaledonian Sea For from Loch-Earn it pours out the River Earn towards the South-East which falls into the River Tay about three Miles below Perth From this River the Country called in Highland or old Scots Language Strath-Earn takes it Name being situate on both sides of its Banks For the Highlanders use to call a Country lying at the fall of Rivers Strat. Between the Mountains of this Country and the Forth lies the Stewarty of Menteath taking its Name from the River Teath which runs through the middle of it Next to Menteath stand the Mountains called Ocel-Hills a great part of which as also of the Country lying at the Foot of them is reckoned within the Stewarty of Strath-Earn but the rest of the Country even unto the Forth Man 's Ambition hath divided into several Stewarties as the Stewarty of Clacman of Culross and of Kinross From these Stewarties and the Ocel-Hills all the Country lying between the Forth and the Tay grows narrow like a Wedge Eastward even to the Sea and it is all called by one Name Fife a Country self-sufficient with all necessaries for the use of Life It is broadest where Loch-Leven and the River Leven running through it do divide it and from thence it narrows on each side till you come to the Town of Caraâ—l it sends forth but one remarkable River and that 's called Leven It s whole shore is stor'd with abundance of Towns of which the most remarkable for the Study of the Arts is St. Andrews which the Highlanders call Fanum Reguli More to the Inland almost in the middle of the County lies Cowper the Shire or Assize Town whither the rest of the Inhabitants of Fife do come for the Administration of Justice Where it touches Strath-Earn stands the Town of Abernethy the Ancient Royal Seat of the Picts Here the River Earn falls into the Tay. As for the Tay it self that breaks out from Loch-Tay which is in Braid-Albin a Loch Twenty Four Miles long it is without question the greatest River in Scotland for winding about towards the Grampian-Hills it touches upon Athol a fruitful Country situate in the very Woody Passages of Mount Grampius That part thereof which is extended into a Plain at the Foot of the Mountain is called the Blare of Athol which Word signifies a Soil devoid of Trees Below Athol on the Right side of the River Tay stands the Town of Caledonia which yet retains its Ancient Name though vulgarly called Dunkelden i. e. an Hill full of Hasel-Trees For those Trees growing thick in such unmanured places and shadowing the Country like a Wood gave Name both to the Town and also to the People thereabouts For the Caledons or Caledonians heretofore one of the famousest Nations amongst the Britains made up one part of the Kingdom of the Picts as we may be informed by Ammianus Marcellinus who divides the Picts into Two Tribes i. e. The Caledones and the Vecturiones though at this Day there is hardly any Footstep left of either of those Two Names Twelve Miles below Dunkelden on the same Right-hand Bank of the Tay stands Perth otherwise called St. Iohnstons And on the Left-Bank of the Tay below Athol towards the East stands Gowry a County abounding with rich Corn-Fields Below Gowry between the Tay and the Esk is extended Angus or as the Highlanders call it Aeneia some call it Horestia or according to the English Dialect Forestia In it there are these two Cities Cowper and that which Boetius to gratifie his Country-men ambitiously calls Deidonum but I think the old Name thereof was Taodunum
into Britain And that the same thing happen'd to the Scots all their Annals do testifie and Bede Lib. 1. doth affirm For all the Inhabitants of Ireland were first of all called Scots as Orosius shews and our Annals relate that the Scots passed more than once out of Ireland into Albium First of all Fergusius the Son of Ferchard being their Captain and after some Ages being expelled from their Habitations they returned into Ireland and again under their General Reutharus they return'd into Britain And afterwards in the Reign of Fergusius the Second great aid of Irish-Scots were sent who had their Quarters assigned in Gallaway And Claudian in his time shews That Auxiliaries were transmitted thence against the Romans for he says Totam cùm Scotus Iernam Movit insesto spumavit Sanguine Tethys The Scot all Ireland did excite To cross the Seas 'gainst Rome to Fight And in another place Scotorum tumulos flevit glacialis Ierne Whole heaps of Scots cold Ireland did lament But in the beginning when both People i. e. the Inhabitants of Ireland and their Colonies sent into Albium were called Scots that there might be some distinguishment betwixt them some Scots were called Irish-Scots others Albin-Scots and by degrees their Sirnames came to be their Names so that the ancient Name of Scots was almost forgotten and not to be retrieved from common Speech but only from Books and Annals As for the Name of Picts I judge it not their Antient and Country Name but occasionally given them by the Romans because their Bodies were indented as it were with Scars which the Verses of Claudian do shew Ille leves Mauros nec falso nomine Pictos Edomuit Scotumque vago mucrone secutus Fregit Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas He nimble Moors and painted Picts did tame With far-stretch'd Sword the Scots he overcame And with bold Oars the Northern Seas did Furrow And elsewhere Venit extremis Legio praetenta Britannis Quae Scoto dat froena truci ferroque notatas Perlegit exanimes Picto moriente figuras The Legion came the outmost Britains Guard Which the fierce Scot did curb with Bridle hard And Read the Marks i' th' Skins of dying Picts Insculp'd with Iron Herodian also makes mention of the same Nation but concealing its Name and says plainly That they did paint their Bodies but he doth not affirm That they did it with Iron Neither says he are they acquainted with the use of Apparel but they surround their Belly and their Neck with Iron as thinking that Metal to be an Ornament and sign of Riches as the other Barbarians do Gold And moreover they mark their Bodies with sundry Pictures and with Animals of all shapes and therefore they will put on no Garments lest they should hide their Paint With what Name they call themselves the thing is so ancient that it is hard to determine 'T is certain their Neighbour-Nations do not agree concerning their Name for the Brittons call them Pictiades The English Pichti The old Scots Peachti And besides the Names of some places which were heretofore under the Jurisdiction of the Picts but are now possessed by the Scots seem to have a different Appellation from them all For the Hills called Pentland-Hills and the Pentland-Bay or Firth seems to be derived from Penthus not from Pictus But I verily believe those Names were imposed in after-times either by the English or else by the Scots who used the English Tongue for the Ancient Scots did neither understand nor use them As for the Name of Picts whether the Romans Translated a Barbarous Word into a Latin one of a near sound or whether the Barbarians applyed a Latin Word every one to his own Country Tone and Declension 't is all a case to me Well then being agreed of the Name and it being confest by all Writers That they came from the Eastern Parts into Britain from Scythia say some from Germany say others it remains that tracing their Footsteps by Conjectures we come as near the Truth as we can Neither do I perceive any surer Foundation of my Disquisition than by painting their Bodies so did the Arii in Germany and the Agathrrsi but it was only that they might appear more terrible to the Enemy in War and they did it only with the Juyce of Herbs But seeing the Picts mark'd their Skins with Iron and stigmatized them with the Pictures of divers Animals The better way will be to inquire What Nations either in Scythia Germany or the Neighbor-Countries did use that Custom of painting their Bodies not for Terror but Ornament And First we meet with the Geloni according to Virgil of whom Claudian speaks in his first Book against Ruffinus Membraque qui ferro gaudet pinxisse Gelonus The Geloni love to Print Their Limbs with Iron Instrument We meet also with the Getae in Thrace mentioned by the same Poet Crinigeri sedere patres pellita Getarum Curia quas plagis decorat numerosa cicatrix Skin-wearing Getes consult with Hair unshorn Whose marked Bodies num'rous Scars adorn Therefore seeing the Geloni as Virgil writes are Neighbors to the Getes and either the Gothunni or Getini according to Arrâ—anus are number'd amongst the Getes and seeing the Gothunni as Tacitus says speak the Gallick Language what hinders but that we may believe the Picts had their Original from thence But from whatsoever Province of Germany they came I think it very probable that they were of the ancient Colonies of the Gauls who seated themselves either on the Swedish Sea or on the Danow For the Men of a Gallick Descent being counted Foreigners by the Germans as indeed they were I judge their Name was used in a way of reproach so that one word i. e. Walsch with them signifies a Gaul a Stranger and a Barbarian too So that it is very credible That the Ancestors of the Picts either being expell'd by their Neighbors or driven up and down by Tempests were easily reconciled to the Scots yea were befriended and aided as 't is reported by them as a People allyed to Them almost of the samâ— Language with them and their Religious Customs not unlike So that it might easily come to pass that thereupon they might mix their Blood and by Marriages make a Coalition as it were into one Nation For otherwise I do not see how the Scots which then possessed Ireland being a fierce and rough-hewn People should so easily enter into an Affinity and compleat Friendship with Strangers who were necessitous and destitute of all things which they never saw before and with whom they had no Commerce in point of Laws Religion or Language But here the Authority of Bede the Anglo-Saxon doth somewhat obstruct my passage who is the only Writer that I know of that affirms That the Picts used a different Language from the Scots For speaking of Britain he says That It did
with the former they had less acquaintance and very rare Commerce And if the English called them Valli in reproach would the Brittons think we who for so many Ages were the deadly Enemies of the English and now made more obnoxious to them by this affront own that Name Which they do not unwillingly calling themselves in their own Tongue Cumbri Besides the Word Walsh doth not primarily signifie a Stranger or Barbarian but in its first and proper acceptation a Gaul And therefore in my Judgment the Word Vallia is changed by the English from Gallia they agreeing with other Neighbour Nations in the Name but observing the propriety of the German Tongue in pronouncing the first Letter by W viz. Wallia The Ancient Inhabitants of that Peninsula were called Silures as appears out of Pliny which Name in some part of Wales was long retained even in succeeding Ages But Leland a Britain by Birth and a Man very diligent in discovering the Monuments of his own Country doth affirm That some part of Wales was somtime called Ross which Word in Scotland signifies a Peninsule But the Neighbour Nations seem in Speaking to have used a Name or Word which held forth the Original of the Nation rather than One that demonstrated the site and form of the Country The same hath happened in the Name Scots For whereas they call themselves Albini a Name derived from Albium Yet their Neighbours call them Scoti by which Name their Original is declared to be from the Irish or Hibernians On the same side and Western Shore follows Gallovidia i. e. Galway which word 't is evident both with Scots and Welch signifieth a Gaul as being made up of Gallus and Wallus part imposed by the one and part by the other For the Valli or Welch call it Wallowithia This Country yet useth for the most part its ancient Language These three Nations comprehend all that Tract and side of Britanny which bends towards Ireland and they as yet retain no mean indications but rather deeply imprinted Marks of their Gallick Speech and Affinity of which the cheif is that the Ancient Scots did divide all the Nations inhabiting Britain into two Sorts the one they call Gael the other Galle or Gald i. e. according to my Interpretation Gallaeci and Galli Moreover the Gallaecians do please themselves with that Title Gael and they call their Language as I said before Gallaecian and do glory in it as the more refin'd and elegant undervaluing the Galli as Barbarians in respect of themselves And though originally the Scots called the Britains i. e. the most Ancient Inhabitants of the Island Galli yet custom of speaking hath by degrees obtained that they called all the Nations which afterwards fixed their Seats in Britain by that Name which they used rather as a Contumelious than a National one For the Word Galle or Gald signifies That amongst them which Barbarian doth amongst the Greeks and Latins and Walsch among the Germans Now at last we are come to this point i. e. That we are to demonstrate the Community of Speech and thereupon an ancient Affinity between the Gauls and the Britains from the Names of Towns Rivers Countries and such other Evidences A Ticklish Subject and to be warily handled for I have formerly proved that a publick Speech or Language may be altered for many Causes for though it be not changed altogether and at once yet it is in a perpetual Flux and doth easily follow the inconstancy of the alterers by reason of a certain Flexibility which it hath in its own Nature The Truth whereof doth appear chiefly in those Ranks of things which are subject not only to the Alterations of Time but are also obnoxious to every Man's Pleasure or Arbitrement such as are all particular things invented for the daily use of Mans Life whose Names either grow obsolete or are made new and refined for very light and trivial Causes But the Case is far different in those things which are time-proof and so after a sort are Perpetual or Eternal As the Heavens the Sea the Earth Fire Mountains Countries Rivers and also in those which by their Diuturnity as far as the infirmity of Nature will permit do in some sort imitate those perpetual and uncorrupted Bodies such are Towns which are built as if they were to be Sempiternal So that a Man cannot easily give Names to or change the old of Nations and Cities for they were not rashly imposed at the beginning but in a manner by general and deep advice and consent by their Founders whom Antiquity did greatly Reverence ascribing Divine Honour to them and as much as they could making them Immortal And therefore these Names are deservedly continued and receive no alteration without a mighty Perturbation of the whole Oeconomy of things so that if the rest of a Language be changed yet these are pertinaciously retained and are never supplanted by other Names but as it were with unwillingness and regret And the cause of their imposing at first contributes much to their continuance For those who in their Peregrinations either were forced from their old Seats or of their own accord sought new when they had lost their own Country yet retained the Name thereof and were willing to enjoy a Sound most pleasing to their Ears and by this umbrage of a Name such as it was the want of their Native Soil was somewhat alleviated and addule'd softned unto them so that thereupon they judged themselves not altogether Exiles or Travellers far from Home And besides there were not wanting some Persons who being superstitiously inclined did conceive an Holier and more August Representation in their Minds than could be seen in Walls and Houses and did sweetly hug that Image and delightful Pledge of their own former Country with a love more than Native And therefore a surer Argument of Affinity is taken from This sort of Words than from Those which on Trivial Causes and oft on none at all are given to or taken away from ordinary and changeable Things For though it may casually happen that the same Word may be used in divers Countries yet it is not credible that so many Nations living so far asunder should fortuitously agree in the frequent imposing of the same Name In the next place Those Names succeed which are derived from or compounded of the former Primitives For oft-times the Similitude of Declination and Composition doth more certainly declare the Affinity of a Language than the very Primitive words thereof do for these are many times casually given But the Other being declined after one certain Mode and Form are directed by one fixed Example which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And therefore this certain and perpetual manner of Nominal Affinity as Varro speaks doth after a sort lead us to an Affinity of Stock and old Communion of Language Moreover there is a certain Observation to be made in all Primogenious
those Nations which do not challenge that Word or Termination for their own only here is the difference That the old Gauls did end their Compound Words with Dunum but the Scots ordinarily place it in the beginning of Words of this sort there are found In France Augustodunum of the Aedui or Burgundians Castellodunum of the Carnotensian Province i. e. of Chartres Melodunum by the River Sequana or Sein Lugdunum at the Confluence of the Rivers Arar and Rhosne Augustodunum another Autun of the Arverni or Anvergneois and Clermontians Ptolemy Lugdunum of the Conveni or Comingeois near the River Garon Ptolemy Novidunum in the Tribocci's Country Ptolemy Vxellodunum in Caesar. Iuliodunum in the Pictons Country i. e. Poictiers Isodunum and Regiodunum of the Bituriges i. e. Inhabitants of Berry Laodunum or Laudunum in the County of Rhemes Caesarodunum Ptolomy of the Turones i. e. Tourenois Segodunum of the Ruthenians Ptolemy Velannodunum or St. Flour in Caesar. In Spain Caladunum Ptolomy of the Bracari or Braganzians Sebendunum Ptolemy In Britain Camulodunum of the Brigantes Country Ptolemy Camulodunum a Roman Colony Tacitus Dunum a Town of the Durotriges or Dorsetshire Men. Ptolemy Maridunum i. e. Carmarthen of the Demetae Ptolemy and the Itinerary of Antoninus Rigodunum of the Brigantes Ptolemy i. e. Ribchester in Lancashire Cambodunum in the Itinerary of Antoninus i. e. Râ—ines near Almonbury in Yorkshire Margidunum in the same Itinerary i. e. Margâ—doverton in Leicestershire near Belvoir Castle or as some Leicâ—stâ—r it self Sorviodunum or Sorbiodunum in the same Itinerary i. e. Old Sarum in Wiltshire Segodunum i. e. Seton in Northumberland and Axelodunum i. e. Hexam in Northumberland also in the Book of the Notitia Romanâ— Imperii or Knowledge of the Roman Empire c. Later Towns in England Venantodunum i. e. Huntingdon Dunelmum i. e. Durham In Scotland Duncaledon called also Caledonia i. e. Dunkelden Deidunum i. e. Dundee or rather Taodunum by the River Tay. Edinodunum which Word the Ancient Scots do yet retain but they who Germanize had rather call it Edinburgh Dunum a Town in Ireland called Down Noviodunum or New Down i. e. Dunmoore Castle in Coval Brittannodunum i. e. Dumbritton or Dumbarton at the Confluence of the Clyde and Levin And at this day there are abundance of Names of Castles Villages and Hills derived therefrom In Germany these Names are read in Ptolemy Lugdunum i. e. Leyden Segodunum i. e. Nurinburgh Tarodunum i. e. Friburgh Robodunum i. e. Brin Carrodunum i. e. Crainburgh In the Alps Country Ebrodunum and Sedunum In the Vindelici or Bavarians Country in Rhaetia the Grisons Country and Noricum Cambodunum Corrodunum Gesodunum Idunum and Noviodunum and in the Book of knowledge of the Roman Empire Parrodunum In Sarmatia and Dacia according to Ptolemy Corrodunum Singindunum by the Danow Noviodunum at the Mouth of the Danow also another Noviodunum And there are in the same Provinces not a few words declined from Dur which among the old Gauls and Brittons signifies Water and as yet retains the same signification amongst some as there are In France Durocotti in the Rhemish Circuit Ptolemy we read them also called Durocorti Moreover Caesar makes mention of Divodurum of the Mediomatrices Tacitus Divodurum near Paris in the Itinerary of Antoninus Batavodurum amongst the Batavi Ptolemy Tacitus Breviodurum in the Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus Gannodurum in Ptolemy near the Rhine Gannodurum in the Helvetians Country Ptolemy Octodurum or Octodorus amongst the Veragri Caesar. In Rhaetia the Vindelicis's Country and Noricum Bragodurum Carrodurum Ebodurum Gannodurum and Octodurum Ptolemy Venaxamodurum and Bododurum in the Book of the Knowledge of the Provinces In Spain Octodurum and Ocellodurum Ptolemy The River Durius flowing into the Ocean and Duria into the Mediterranean Sea and in Ireland the River Dur Ptolemy In Britain Durocobrivae Duroprovae Durolenum Durovernum Durolipont Durotriges Durocornovium Durolitum Duronovaria Lactodurum Perhaps the two Alpine Rivers Doria the Greater and the Less the one running into the Po by the Salassians Country the other by the Piemonteis do belong to the same Original And also Issidorus and Altissidorus Cities of France so called as I judge from their situation near Rivers To which Dureta may be referred which word in Spanish signifies a Wooden Throne as Suetonius writes in the Life of Augustus The like may be said of Domnacus the proper Name of a Man in Caesar which seems to be corrupted from Dunacus For Dunach may signifie Dunan and Dunensis both as Romach doth Romanus Dunacus or rather Dunachus is yet used for the proper Name of a Man which those who are ignorant of both Tongues the Latin and the British do render but amiss sometimes Duncan sometimes Donat. The word Magus also in all the Provinces in which the Publick use of the Gallick Tongue obtained is very frequent in expressing the Names of Cities which shews that it was of a Gallick Original But of the Derivatives from it we may rather guess than affirm for certain that they were wont to signifie a House City or such like Building We read in the Book of Knowledge of the Empire of the People of Rome the Prefect of the Pacensian Levies in Garison at Magi and also in the same Book the Tribune of the second Cohort placed at Magni We read also of Magni in the Itinerary of Antoninus I dare not positively assert whether it be one Town or many But I incline of the Two rather to think that they were sundry Towns Towns ending in Magus are These Noviomagus in Ptolemy amongst the Santons Noviomagus of the Lexovi Noviomagus of the Vadecassii Noviomagus of the Nemetes Noviomagus of the Tricassini Noviomagus of the Bituriges Iuliomagus of the Andegavi Rotomagus of the Venclocassi Caesaromagus of the Bellovaci Rotomagus of the Nervii Borbetomagus of the Vangiones in High Germany Vindomagus of the Volci Arecomici Also in the Itinerary of Antoninus Argentomagus and in High Germany Noviomagus In the Book of the Knowledge of the Roman Empire Noviomagus of Belgica Secunda in Rhaetia Drusomagus Ptolemy In Britain in the Itinerary of Antoninus Caesaâ—omagus Sitomagus Noviomagus of the Regni Vacomagi Magiovinium Vicomagi part of the Picts Country Ptolemy There are also other Names of Places common to many of these Nations but not so frequently used nor so much dispersed as the former such as are Hibernia i. e. Ireland amongst the Romans the Name
Nation of the Scots as part of the Picts Then after many passages he subjoins But the same Britanny was â—â—accessible and unknown to the Romans until the time of C. Julius Caesar. Whosoever thou art who readest these passages observe I pray Whence at What time and in What order this Authoâ— much more ancient and grave than Lud doth affiâ—m that these Nations entred Britain to wit that the Brittons from the Armorick Tract entred first but the time not certain That the Picts out of Scythia came next into those parts of Britain which were yet void of Inhabitants and that not long after the entrance of the Brittons who were not as yet increased into such a multitude as to be able to inhabit the whole Island What then becomes of the Scots When came they into Britain In process of time says he viz. The Picts granting them the uninhabited Seats in their Districts they came last to the former two So the Brittons as Bede affirms came into this Island out of Armorica in France and not long after the Picts out of Scythia both of them seized on the vacant and uninhabited places at last the Island being divided betwixt them the Scots entred not by force but were admitted into the Portion and Lot of the Picts and that long before Britain was known to the Romans Here How will you deal with Lud Who produces Gildas and Bâ—de as witnesses to his Fables viz. That the Scots and the Picts did first of all fix their Habitations in Britain in the Reign of the Roman Emperor Honorius in the year of Christâ—20 â—20 of which two Gildas makes nothing for him and Bede doth evidently convince him of Falshood But let the Reader beleive neither Lud nor Mâ— but his own Eyes and let him diligently weigh the Places of each Writer but says he Dion calls the Caledonians Britanni I grant he doth so so doth Lucan and also Martial in that Verse Quinte Caledonios Ovidi visure Britannos The Caledonians which in Britain be Quintus Ovidius is about to see But none of them therefore deny them to be Picts yet they have good reason to call them Britains For as the whole Island is called Britanny so all its Inhabitants are deservedly called Britains For all the Inhabitants of the Isle of Sicily are generally called by the Romans Sicilians without any difference though they themselves call one another some Sicilians other Siciliotes so the possessors of Britany are by Foreigners all called Britains but they themselves oft call the ancient Inhabitants Brittons and the other Nations living therein sometime by the private Names of the Countries whence they came and sometimes by the common Name of Britains Wherefore the Caledonians Picts and Scots are sometimes called each Nation by its own Name yet all of them not seldom by the general term Britains But Brittons of which I have spoken no Man ever gave them that appellation There is also another difference amongst them to be observed in the Word Britannia as there is amongst the Greeks and Latins in the Word Asia For Asia sometimes denotes the third part of the Habitable World and sometimes it is taken for that part of the Greater Asia which is situate on this side the Mountain Taurus and is wont to be called Asia the Less So Britanny is sometimes used for the Name of the whole Island in general and otherwhiles only for that part of it which was subjected to the Romans which part was bounded sometimes by the River Humber and sometimes by the Wall of Adrian and sometimes by the Wall of Severus and the Inhabitants of this part are by British Writers more usually called Britton than Britans but the other dwellers in the Island i. e. the Scots and the Picts Bede sometimes calls Britains and sometimes Strangers and Foreigners we may also find the same observable difference in Geoffry of Monmouth and William of Malmesbury And therefore the Caledonians will be counted Brittons never a jot the more for being styled Britains by Dion Martial Lucan or any other good Author than the Brutians will be Romans though both of them are Italians If Lud had taken notice of these things he had never involved himself in such dark Labyrinths nor had he so rashly and inconsiderately made a positive determination in a point so obscure nor had denied the Caledonians to have been Picts because they are termed by Dion Britains Neither hath Lud any just cause to wonder that no Writer more ancient than Ammianus Marcellinus and Claudian hath made mention of the Scots and Picts though they dwelt so many I will not say years but ages in Britain For not to speak of the Valli Cambri Loegri Names lately known to the World I may ask him why seeing so many Greek and Latin Writers have written of the Affairs of Greece yet no Graecian once Names his Country-men Graeci nor no Latin Author calls them Hellenes Why did the Names of the Nations which I mentioned but now creep so late into the History of Britain which that Cambro-Britain makes to be so ancient If you ask any Englishâ—man of what Country he is none will answer that he is a Saxon yet the Scots Picts Irish both the Brittons i. e. those that inhabit Britain and those who dwell in France do still unanimously call them Saxons Why do not the old Scots even to this very day acknowledge and own the Name of Scots It ought not then to seem absurd to any Man if when the Romans asked their Captives of what Nation they were one said a Mâ—atian another an Attacottian a third a Caledonian and the Names which Foreign Nations received from them they still retained and used in their common publick Discourse neither as I judge will it seem incredible that some Names are more known to Historians and Strangers and others to the Inhabitants of the Country Though the Premises do make it sufficiently appear that the coming of Scots and Picts into Britain is not only more ancient than Lud will grant it to be yea that it was but a little later than the Britains themselves coming into it yet I shall add other and those no contemptible Conjectures The Brigantes a great and powerful Nation were seated beyond the River Humber about York and did possess the whole bredth of the Island between the two Seas it is probable that they came not from the Tract of France which was nearest for no Brigantes are said to have inhabited there but out of Spain First into Ireland and from Ireland into Britain as being a Neighbour Island to it neither doth this differ from the conjecture of Cornelius Tacitus which he makes concerning the Ancient Inhabitants of the Isle If the Brigantes came from Ireland then they must be of Scotish Race as all the rest of the Inhabitants of Ireland were Seneca also seems to confirm this Opinion in that Elegant Satyr of his concerning the Death of Claudius in these
Kennethus wasted Lothian and the adjacent Country together with Those beyond the Forth that they might never be able again to recover themselves The Garisons for fear surrendred themselves Those few Picts who were left alive fled into England in an indigent and necessitous Condition The Sixth BOOK AS I formerly called Fergusius the First and after him Fergusius the Second with great reason the Founders of the Scotish Kingdom so I may justly reckon Kennethus the Son of Alpinus a Third Founder also Fergus the First from a mean beginning advanced the Affairs of the Scots to such an height as that they were Envy'd by their Neighbours Fergus the Second when they were banished and dispersed into remote Countrys and in the Judgment of their Enemies almost extirpated did as it were recal them to Life and in a few years reduced them to their Ancient Splendor But Kennethus was so Couragious as to accept of the Kingdom when Matters were almost desperate yea when others thought that the small remainder of Scots could hardly have been defended or kept together and not only so but he brake the power of the Enemy tho' assisted with Foreign aid and Triumphant also for his late Victory in many sharp yet prosperous Fights and being thus weakned he drave him out of Britanny and took from him the Kingly Name which to this day he could never recover again Tho' these were Great Atchievements yet they were not the Greatest he performed For as he enlarged his Kingdom to double of what it was before so he Governed it both by making New Laws and also by reviving the Old ones That neither Licentiousness arising from War nor Pride the product of Victory nor any footsteps of those Evils which are wont to accompany Luxury and Ease did appear during his Life Yea the Affairs of Scotland seem'd to be supported for many Years after by the Laws called by Posterity the Macalpin Laws as much as by Arms. But to let pass these things I shall proceed to relate his Noble Acts as I have begun Kennethus having driven out the Picts distributed their Lands amongst his Soldiers according to every ones Valour and Merit whose Ambition put New Names on many Places and Countrys cancelling and obliterating the Old He parted Horestia betwixt Two Brothers Aeneas and Mern one part of which in Old Scotish is yet called Aeneja they who more affect the English Speech call it Angus The other Mern The Country adjoyning from Tay to the Forth was called by the Ancients Ross i. e. Peninsule there are some signs of the Name yet remaining as Culross a Town which is as it were the Back or Hinder part of Ross and Kâ—nross which signifies the Head of Ross. Now at this day all that Country is called Fife from an Eminent Person called Fifus whose Sirname they say was Duffus Barodunum a Town in Lothian or as some call it Dâ—nbar was so called as it is thought from a Great Man named Bar. Lothian had its name not long ago from Lothus King of the Picts Cuningham is wholly a Danish Word used as I think by the Danes after the Death of Kennethus who possessed that Country for some years having driven the Scots beyond the Wall of Severus for Cuningham signifys in the Danish Language the Kings House or Palace 'T is also probable That Merch was so called by the Danes because it was the Limits between both Kingdoms As for Edinburgh either by the gross Ignorance or perverse Ill-will of some it is sometimes called Vallis Dolorosa i. e. The Dolesom Valley and sometimes Castrum Puellarum Maiden-Castle the Name in it self is not very obscure tho' it be made so by ill management They borrowed those Names from the Gallick-Fables which were devised within the space of 300 Years last past This is certain That the Ancient Scots called it Dunedinum the Later Edinburgum wherein they follow the Country Custom in imposing of Names whereas that Castle in a middle Appellation between both I think may be better named Edinum But enough in this place concerning the Old and the New Names of the Countrys of which I have spoken more largely before To return then to Kennethus Having enlarged his Kingdom as I said before and settled wholsome Laws for the Government thereof he endeavoured further to confirm his Royal Authority by mean and trivial Things even bordering upon Superstition it self There was a Marble-Stone which Simon Breccus is reported to have brought into Ireland out of Spain which Fergus the Son of Ferchard is also said to have brought over into Scotish Albion and to have placed it in Argyle This Stone Keunethus removed out of Argyle to Scone by the Rivet Tay and placed it there included in a Chair of Wood. The Kings of Scotland were wont to receive both the Name and the Habiliment of Kings sitting in that Chair till the days of Edward the First King of England of whom in his Place Kenneth Translated the Episcopal See which the Picts had placed at Abernethy to Fanum Reguli which after Ages called St. Andrews But the Ancient Scots-Bishops being chosen out of Monasteries not then contending for Place or Honour but for Sanctity and Learning did perform their Functions every where occasionally as opportunity was offered without Envy or Emulation no certain Diocesses being allotted to them in regard the Ecclesiastical Function was not yet made a matter of Gain After this sort Kennethus Reigned 20 Years In the beginning of his Fifth year he overthrew the Picts as the Black Book of Pasley hath it The other Sixteen years after he had destroyed the Government of the Picts he lived in great Tranquillity having Peace at home by reason of his just Government and Peace abroad by the Power of his Arms. He enlarged his Dominions from the Orcades to the Wall of Adrian A. C. 854. Donaldus V. The Seventieth King DONALDVS his Brother was chosen King next who quite altered the whole Publick Discipline together with his own Demeanour For whereas in the Life time of Alpinus he made a shew of Temperance and by that means had obtained the Love of the better sort When his Brother was dead as if he had been freed from all Fear and Restraint he gave himself up wholly to Pleasure And as if there had been no danger from any Enemy without he neglected all Military Study and kept almost none about him but Hunters Hawkers and Inventors of new Pleasures Upon these he spent the Publick Revenue The young Fry who were prone to Pleasures did extol the King to the Skies as a Noble and Generous Prince and scoffed at the Parsimony of former Times as Rude and Illiberal The Ancient Counsellors seeing all things likely to run to Ruin in a very short time came to the King and put him in mind of his Duty of his present Evils and Miscarriages and of the Danger imminent
Them For they seeing one Shore to be altogether Mountainous and the other depressed level and spread into Campagne or open Fields they called the first Albion from its height But whether they gave any Name to the second from its low Situation the Length of Time and the Negligence of the Inhabitants in Recording Ancient Affairs hath made uncertain Besides this also adds Strength to my Opinion That the Name of the Island derived from Album whether Albion or Albium as yet pertinaciously remains in Scotland as in its Native Soil neither could it ever be extirpated there notwithstanding so many Mutations of Inhabitants Kingdoms Languages and the Vicissitude of other things These things seem true or at least probable to me yet if any Man can inform me better I will easily be of his Opinion Hitherto of the Ancient Names of the Island The next thing is To explain the Situation of the Countries The English Writers have plainly and clearly enough described their own several Counties But Hector Boetius in his Description of Scotland hath delivered some things not so true and he hath drawn others into Mistakes whilst he was over-credulous of those to whom he committed the Inquiry after Matters and so Published their Opinions rather than the Truth But I shall briefly touch at those things which I am assured of and those which seem obscure and less true I will correct as well as I can England as far as concerns our present purpose is most conveniently divided by Four Rivers Two running into the Irish Sea viz. d ee and Severne and Two into the German Sea i. e. Thames and Humber Between Dee and Severne lies Wales being distinguished into Three several Regions Between Severne and Thames lies all that part of England which is opposite to France The Countries interjacent between Thames and Humber make the Third Part and the Countries reaching from Humber and Dee to Scotland make up the Fourth But Scotland is divided from England first by the River Tweed then by the high Mountain Cheviot and where the Mountain fails then by a Wall or Trench newly made and afterwards by the Rivers Eske and Solway Within those Bounds from the Scotish Sea to the Irish the Counties lies in this Order First Mâ—rch in which the English do now possess Berwick situate on the left side of the Tweed On the East it is bounded with the Firth of Forth On the South with England On the West on both sides the River Tweed lies Tiviotdale taking its Name from the River Tiviot It is divided from England by the Cheviot-Hills After this lie three Counties not very great Liddisdail Eusedail and Eskdail being so called of three Rivers which have a near Appellation viz. Lidal Eue and Eske The last is Annandale taking its Name from the River Annand which divides it almost in the middle and near to Solway runs into the Irish Sea Now to return again to Forth on the East it is bounded by Lothian Cockburnes Path and Lamormoore-Hills do divide it from Merch. Then bending a little to the West it touches Lauderdale and Twedale the one so called from the Town Lauder the other from the River Tweed dividing it in the middle Liddisdale Nithisdale and Clidesdale do border on Twedale on the South and West The River Nith gives Name to Nithsdale running through it into the Irish Sea Lothian was so named from Lothus King of the Picts On the North-East it is bounded with the Forth or Scotish Sea and it looks towards Clidesdale on the South-West This Country does far excel all the rest in the Civility of its Inhabitants and in plenty of all things for the use of Life It is Watered with five Rivers â—ine both the Eskes which before they fall into the Sea joyn in one Chanel Leith and Almond These Rivers arising partly from the Lamormoore-Hills and partly from Pentland-Hills disgorge themselves into the Firth of Forth Lothian contains these Towns Dunbar Hadington Dalkeith Edinburgh Leith and Linlithgoe More to the West lies Clidsdale on both sides the River Clid which by Reason of its length is divided into two Prefectures or Sheriffwicks In the uppermost of them there is an Hill not very high yet out of it Rivers run into three divers Seas Tweed into the Scotish Annand into the Irish and Clyd into the Deucaledonian-Seas The most eminent Cities in it are Lanerick and Glasgo Kyle on the South-west is adjoining to it Beyond Kyle is Galloway It is separated from Nithsdale by the River Clyd bending almost wholly to the South and by its Shore that remaining part of Scotland is also covered It is all more fruitful in Cattle than Corn it hath these Rivers running into the Irish Sea Vre or Ore d ee Kenn Cree and Luss it hath scarce any great Mountains but only some small Hills in it between which the Water stagnant in the Valleys makes abundance of Lakes by which in the first Showres after the Autumnal Aequinox the Rivers are encreased which bring down an incredible quantity of Eeles which the Inhabitants take in Weels made of Osier Twigs and salting them get no small Profit thereby The Boundary of that side is the Mul of Galloway under which in the mouth of the River Lus is a Bay which Ptolomy calls Rerigonius The Bay commonly called Loch-Rian and by Ptolomy Vidogara flows into it on the other side from the Firth of Clyd The Land running betwixt those Bays the Inhabitants do call Rinns i. e. the edge of Galloway They also call Nonantum the Mul i. e. the Beak or Jaw But the whole Country is called Galloway for Gallovid in old Scotish signifies a Gaul Below Loch-Rian on the Back side of Galloway there lies Carrick-Bailiery gently declining to the Firth of Clyd Two Rivers pass through it Stinsiar and Girvan both of them having many pleasant Villages on their Banks Between the Rivers there are some small Hills fruitful for Pasture and not unfit for Corn 'T is all not only self-sufficient with Land and Sea-Commodities but it also supplies its Neighbours with many Necessaries The River Down separates it from Kyle which ariseth from a Lake of the same Name wherein is an Island with a small Castle Kyle follows next bordering upon Galloway on the South and on the North East on Clydsdale on the West it is separated from Cuningham by the River Irwyn The River Aire divides it in the middle Near it is scituated Air a Town well traded the Country in general abounds more with valiant Men than with Corn or Cattle for the Soyle is poor and sandy and that sharpens the Industry of the Inhabitants and their Parsimony confirms the Strength both of their Bodies and Minds After Air Cuningham runs on to the North and doth as it were justle out and streighten the Clyd
Gothish Language signifies a Stag. Two Miles distant from Iura lies Scarba in length from East to West four Miles in breadth one 't is Inhabited but in few places The Tide is so violent between It and Iura that there is no passage neither with Sails nor Oars but at certain Seasons only After This there are many Islands of less note spread up and down as Bâ—llach or Genisteria Gewrasdil Lunga both the Fiola's or Findlass's also the three Garvillans distinguished by their respective Sirnames then Culbrenin Dunconnel Luparia Belhac Whoker Gavin Luing Seil and Suin these Three last named are fruitful enough in Corn and Cattle and are under the Jurisdiction of the Earls of Argyle The next to these is Slata or Sleach so called because out of a Rock therein Tyles named Slats are cut and extracted Then follow Naosg Easdale Schanni and the Isle called Tyan from an Herb which is prejudicial to Fruits not unlike Guild or Loose-strife but that 't is of a more dilute Colour then Vridich and the Rye Island Then Dow i. e. the black Island and the Island Eglish or of the Church and Triarach after these follow the Islands Ard or High Ishol Green Heath as also Coney-Isles and that which is called the Island of the Otiost and Eris-bach as also Lismore in which heretofore there was the Bishop of Argyle's See it is eight Miles in length two in bredth in it there are found Metals besides the Commodities common to other Isles Then succeed Ovilia and Siuna Ilan na Port and Geirach as also Falda the Isle of Cloich Gramry the Islands More Ardiescara Musadil and Bernera heretofore called the Holy Sanctuary the Noble Yew-Isle Molochasgar and Drinacha which is all covered over with Thorns Elder and the Ruins of great Houses then another Isle Drinâ—ch which is full of Wood also Ramsay and Kâ—rrera The greatest Island of the Western ones next to Iura is Yla which is Twenty four Miles long and Sixteen broad it is extended from South to North and is very fruitful in Cattel Corn Deer and Lead there is a River of fresh Water in it called Avonlaggan as also a Bay of Salt Water in which are sundry Islands besides it hath a Lough of fresh Water in which there is an Island called Finlagan which heretofore was the chief of all the Islands in which the Prince of the Islanders assuming the Name of King was wont to dwell Neer to that but lesser is the Island called Ilan na-Covihaslop called also the Island of Council for there was a Court in it wherein Fourteen of the cheif Men did daily sit for the Administration of Justice and Determining matters of Controversie whose great Equity and Moderation procured Peace both Foreign and Domestick and as a concomitant of Peace the affluence of all things Between Ila and Iura there is seated a small Island called Rock Isle taking its Name from an heap of Stones therein moreover on the South side of Ila lie these Islands Chourna Maalmori Osrim Bridi Corshera the Island Ishol Immersi Bethick Texa Gearach Naosg Rinard Cana Tarskeir Achnar the Isle More the Island resembling the Figure of a Man the Island Iean and Stachabadda at the West corner of Yla stands Oversa there also the Sea is very raging not passable for Ships but at certain Hours The Island Channard and toward the North-West are situate Vsabrast and Tanast Naomph and the Island Banni Eight Miles from Yla more toward the North lies Oversa next to it Porcaria and half a Mile from Oversa lies Collonsa Beyond Collonsa to the North lies Mull twelve Miles distant from Yla This Island is Twenty four Miles in length and as many in breadth 't is Craggy yet not wholly devoid of Corn. It hath many Woods in it and great Herds of Deer and a Port safe enough for Ships over against Icolumkill it hath two large Rivers full of Salmon besides other lesser Rivers not without Fish it hath also two Loughs in each of which are several Islands and Castles in them all The Sea breaking into it in divers places makes four Bays all abounding with Herrings On the South-West is seated Calaman or the Island of Doves on the North-East stands Erra both these Islands are Commodious for Cattle Corn and Fishing The Island of Icolumkill is distant from them two Miles it is Two Miles long and above a Mile broad fruitful in all things which that Climate can produce and famed for as many ancient Monuments as could be well expected in such a Country but it was made yet more famous by the severe Discipline and Holiness of St. Columbus It was beautified with two Monasteries one of Monks the other of Nuns with one Curia or as they call it a Parish Church and with many Chapels some of them built by the Magnificence of the Kings of Scotland and others by the Petty Kings of the Islands in the old Monastery of St. Columbus the Bishops of the Islanders placed their See their ancient Mansion House which was before in the Isle of Man being taken by the English There remains as yet among the ancient Ruins a Church-yard or Burying place common to all the Noble Families which dwelt in the Western Islands There are three Tombs in it more eminent than the rest at a small distance one from another having little Shrines looking toward the East built over them In the West part of each of them there is a Stone with an Inscription declaring whose Tombs they are the middlemost of them hath this Inscription The Tombs of the Kings of Scotland for it is reported that Forty four of the Scotish Kings were there buried In the Right-Hand one there is this Title Carved The Tombs of the Kings of Ireland for Four Kings of Ireland are said to be interred there that on the Left side is inscribed The Tombs of the Kings of Norway for Report says That Eight Kings of that Nation were inhum'd there In the rest of the Coemetery the Eminent Families of the Islands have each their Tombs apart There are Six Islands adjacent to it small indeed yet not unfruitful which have been given by ancient Kings and by the Princes of the Islanders to the Nunnery of St. Columb The Island Soa though it hath convenient Pasturage for Sheep yet its greatest Revenue is from the Sitting and Hatching of Sea-Fowl and especially from their Eggs. The next to that is Nuns-Island Then Rudana after that Reringa after which follows Skanny distant half a Mile from Mull it hath one Parish in it but the Parishioners live mostly in Mull The Shore abounds with Coneys A Mile from Skanny stands Eorsa All these are under the Jurisdiction of the Monks of St. Columbus his Monastery Two Miles from Eorsa stands Vlva which is five Miles long and for its bigness fruitful in Corn and
he was there he saw Sheep for that kind of Cattle very old wandring up and down without any certain Owner And the Number of them is increased from hence that neither Fox Wolf or Serpent was ever seen there though betwixt This part and Lewis great Woods are interjacent which breed many Stags but low ones and not big-bodied at all In this part of the Island is a River very full of Salmon In the North part lies Lewis inhabited enough towards the Shore It hath four Parish-Churches in it one Fort seven great Rivers and twelve lesser ones all of them according to their bigness full of Salmons in many places the Sea penetrates into the Land and there diffuses it self into Bays all abounding with plenty of Herrings There is also great plenty of Sheep which wander freely amongst the Thickets and Heath-Bushes The Inhabitants drive them into a narrow place like a Sheep-fold and there every Year they sheer them after the ancient custom The Champion part of the Country abounds with Heath-Bushes in which the Earth is black at top occasioned by Moss and the Coalition of Rotten Wood gathered together for many Ages even a Foot thick This upper Crust being cut into long and slender Turffs and dryed in the Sun serves for Firing in stead of Wood The next Year after the naked Ground being Dunged with Sea-Weed is sown with Barley In this Island there is commonly so great a quantity of Whales taken that sometimes as the old Inhabitants relate Twenty seven some very great some smaller fall to the share of the Priests for their Tithes There is also a great Cave in this Island in which when the Tide is out the Water is yet two Fathom deep but when the Tide is in 't is above four Fathom There Multitudes of People of both Sexes and of all Ages sitting on the Rocks with Hooks and Lines do promiscuously catch all sorts of Fish in great abundance There is a small Island about Sixty Miles from Lewis to the North-East of a low and plain Soil and well inhabited its Name is Rona the Inhabitants thereof are rude Persons void almost of all Religion The Laird of it assigns a certain number of Families to Inhabit and Till it and he allows them a sufficiency of great and small Cattle whereby they may live well and pay their Tribute too that which is above their own provision they send every year to Lewis to their Land-lord who lives there they commonly pay him in the Name of a Tribute or Rent a great quantity of Barly-Meal sewed up in the Skins of Sheep for that kind of Grain grows plentifully amongst them Muttons and Sea-Fowl dried in the Sun as much as remains as a Surplusage of their yearly Provision and if the multitude of Heads doth abound they send also the Supernumerary Persons to their Land-lords So that these in my Judgment are the only Persons in the whole World who want nothing but have all things to Satiety And besides being ignorant of Luxury and Covetousness they enjoy that Innocency and Tranquillity of Mind which others take great pains to obtain from the Precepts and Institutions of Wise Men. And this they have from their Ignorance of Vices neither doth any thing seem to be wanting to their great Happiness but that they do not understand the excellency of their Condition There is in this Island a Chapel dedicated to St. Ronanus wherein as old Men say there is a Spade always left wherewith if any one Dye there is alway a place marked out and prepared for his Grave moreover in this Island besides other Fishery many Whales are also taken Sixteen Mile from thence towards the West lies the Island Suilkyr a Mile long which brings forth no Grass no not so much as Heath only it hath black Rocks some of which are covered with black Moss Sea-Fowl do commodiously lay their Eggs and hatch them there Before the young are fledg'd enough to fly away the neighbour Islanders sail thither from Lewis and they allow themselves Eight days time more or less to cull or gather them up untill they load their Skiffs with their Flesh dried in the Sun and also with their Feathers In this Island also there is a rare kind of Bird unknown in other parts called Colca it is little less than a Goose she comes every year thither and there Hatches and Feeds her young till they can shift for themselves About that time her Feathers fall off of their own accord and so leaves her Naked then she betakes her self to the Sea again and is never seen more till the next Spring This also is singular in them that their Feathers have no Quâ—lls or Stalks but do cover their Bodies with a gentle Down wherein there is no Hardness at all Next follow the Orcades lying scattered in the North of Scotland partly in the Deucaledonian and partly in the German Seas Concerning the Name of them Writers both Ancient and Modern do well enough agree but the reason of the Name no Man that I know hath explained Neither doth it appear who first possessed them All say that they were of a German Original but from what Nation of Germany they say not If we may form a conjecture from their Speech both heretofore and now they use the Gottish Language Some think they were Picts induced by this Argument that the Sea dividing them from Caithness is called the Pentland Sea or Firth They judge also that the Picts themselves were of the Race of the Saxons grounding their Opinion chiefly on the Verses of Claudian in his seventh Panegyrick which run thus Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule Scotorum Tumulos flevit glacialis Ierne Englished thus The Orcades were moist with Saxon's Gore The Blood of Picts there spilt warm'd Thule's Shore For Tombs of Scots Icy Iern wept sore But their error may easily be refuted partly out of Bede the Anglo-Saxon who affirming that the Britains sang the Praises of God in five several Languages reckons the Pictish to be one but if the Picts had then spoke the Saxon Language he would not have distinguished it from the Saxon which then the English used without corruption And partly also out of those very Verses of Claudian where he expresly declares That the Picts were a different People from the Saxons For he says that the Orcades were the Country of the Saxons and Thule of the Picts but whatsoever their Original were in this our Age they use a Language different both from Scotch and English but very near the Gothish In their daily conversation the common People do as yet retain much of their Ancient Parsimony and therefore they are very sound in mind and healthy in Body Few of them dye of Diseases but almost all of them of old Age and their Ignorance of Delights and Pleasures contributes more to the maintaining of their health
Greek Name to that Grecian Gathelus who was indeed unknown to the Greek Writers that they allotted a Latin Name from an Haven or Port to the City built by him rather than a Greek one especially in those times when Italy it self was known to few of the Greeks that they doubt whether he were the Son of Argus or of Cecrops seeing Argus lived almost an Hundred years before Cecrops That he who had arrived at such a Figure by his Prudence even amongst the most ingenious Persons of the World as to enjoy the Second place to the King and to be put in Moses the Fugitiv's room and besides being a stranger to be honoured with the Marriage of the Kings Daughter that he I say leaving the fruitfullest Region in the World and passing by the Lands of both Continents both to the Right and Left and also so many Islands all fruitful in Corn and some of them also famous for the Temperature of the Air as Crete Sicily Corsica Sardinia which at that time were rather seiz'd than cultivated and inhabited by a wild sort of People should break out into the very Ocean the very Name whereof was formidable especially since Men had then but small skill in Marine Affairs or that he built the City of Port-Gathelus or Port a Port at the River Duero the Name of which City was never heard of till the Sarazens obtain'd the Dominion of Portugal also that he built Braga at the Mouth of the River Munda seeing there is so many Miles distance between Braga and Munda Two Rivers also being interjected betwixt them viz. Duero and Vouga or Vaca and Braga it self is not altogether a Maritime place Moreover I may well ask how Gathelus a Grecian born of a Noble Family and besides eminent for famous Deeds seeing he was of a most ambitious Nation in commending his Name to Posterity and being conveighed with a great Train into the extream parts of the World and as then matters stood almost rude and barbarous having built Towns did not impose his own no not so much as a Greek Name on them For the Name of Portugal or as some will have it the Port of Gathel being unknown to so many Ancient Writers who have professedly undertook to describe the Names of Countries and Places began to be celebrated but about Four Hundred years ago And the silence of all the Greeks and Latins concerning the coming of Gathelus into Spain makes it much suspected especially since the Ancients make notable and frequent mention of the Phaenicians Persians Carthaginians Iberians Gauls and of the Companions of Hercules and Bacchus who came into that Country But our Fablers as I judge never read the Monuments of the Ancients if they had seeing it was free for them to assume an Author and Founder of their Nation and Nobility out of any of the Famous Grecians they would never have pick'd up an Ignobler Person for their Founder passing by Hercules and Bacchus who were Famous amongst all Nations and whom they might have cull'd out as well as any other for the Original of their Race These are the things which our Writers have delivered concerning the Rise of our Nation which if I have prosecuted more largely than was necessary it is to be imputed to them who pertinaciously defended them as a Palladium dropt down from Heaven He that considers That will no doubt by reason of the obstinacy of my Adversaries be more favorable to me Concerning the other Nations which came later into these Islands and fixed their Habitations there Picts Saxons Danes Normans because their History doth not contain any Monstrous absurdity I shall speak of them hereafter in a fitter place But these two Nations which I have mentioned seem to me to have deduced their Original from the Gauls and I will give you the reasons of my Judgment therein when I have first premised a few things concerning the Antient Customs of the Gauls all Gaul tho' it be fruitful in Corn yet it is said to be and indeed is more fruitfull in Men so that as Strabo relates there were 300000 of the Celiae only who were able to bear Arms though they inhabited but a third part of France therefore though they lived in a fruitful Country yet being overburthened by their own multitudes 't is probable that for the lessening of them they were permitted to use Masculine Venery Yet neither when by this Expedient there seemed not provision enough made against the penury of their Soil the company of Heads being as yet numerous and burdensome sometimes by publick Edicts and sometimes by private Persuasions they sent forth many Colonies into all the neighbouring Countries that their Multitudes at home might be exhausted To begin with Spain They sent their Colonies so thick thither that Ephorus as Strabo relates extends the length of Gaul even to the Gades or Cadiz and indeed all that side of Spain toward the North by the Names of the People and Nations inhabiting them hath long witnessed a French Original The first we meet with are the Celtiberi Profugique a gente Vetustâ Gallorum Celtae miscentes nomen Iberis The wandring Celts in Spain their Seats did fix And there their Names with the Iberi mix These did propagate their bounds so far that though they inhabited a Craggy Country and besides not over fruitful yet Maâ—cus Marcellus exacted from them Six Hundred Talents as a Tribute Moreover from the Celtae or Celtâ—beri the Celtici derive their Original dwelling by the River Anas by Ptolomy Sirnamed Boetici and also other Celts in Portugal near to the River Anas and if we may believe Pomponius Mela a Spaniard the Celts do inhabit from the Mouth of the River Duero unto the Promontory which they call Celticum or Nerium i. e. Capo 〈◊〉 Terrae but distinguished by their Sirnames viz. the Groniâ— Presamarci Tamarici Nerii and the rest of the Gallaeci whose Name shews their Original to be Gauls On the other side there passed out of France into Italy the Ligurians the Libii the Salassii the Insubres the Cenomani the Boii and the Senones and if we may believe some Ancient Writers the Venetians themselves I need not relate how large Dominions these Nations had in Italy seeing all who are but a little versed in History cannot be ignorant thereof neither will I be too scrupulous in inquiring what Troopes of Gauls made their Seats in Thrace or leaving it having subdued Macedonia and Greece passed into Bithinia where they erected the Kingdom of Gallo-Graecia in Asia seeing that matter doth not much concern our purpose My discourse then hastens to Germany and concerning the Gaulish Colonies therein we have most Authentick Evidences C. Iulius Caesar and C. Cornelius Tacitus the first of them in his Commentaries of the Gallick War writes that at one time the Gauls were esteem'd more Valiant than the Germans And
therefore that the Tectosages possessed the most fruitful part of Germany about the Hercynian Forest and the Bohemians as the other affirms do declare by their Names that their Founders were the Boii And sometimes the Helvetians possessed the nearer places between the Rivers Main and Rhene also the Decumates beyond the Rhene were of Gallick Original and the Gothini neer the Danow whom Claudian calls Gothunni Arrianus in the Life of Alexander calls them Getini and Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus Gautunni But Claudian reckons even the Gothunni amongst the Getae and Stephanus is of Opinion that the Getes are called Getini by Ammianus so that perhaps the Getes themselves may acknowledge a Gallick Original seeing it is certain that many Gallick Nations passed over into Thrace and there resided in that Circuit thereof which the Getes are said to have possessed Tacitus also writes that in his time the Gothini used the Gallick Language besides the Cimbri as Philemon says and if we believe Tacitus the Aestâ—ones dwelling by the Swedish Sea where they gather Amber did speak British which Language was then the same with the Gallâ—ck or not much different from it There are many Footsteps of Gallick Colonies through all Germany which I would willingly recite but that what I have already alleged is enough for my purpose viz. To shew how widely France did extend her Colonies round about Brittain What then shall we say of Britain it self which did equal those Nations neither in greatness strength nor skill in Military Affairs What did she that was so neer to the Valiantest of the Gauls and not inferiour to the neighbour Nations either in the mildness of the Air or the fruitfulness of the Soil did she I say entertain no Foreign Colonies Yes many as Caesar and Tacitus affirm and as I hold all her 〈◊〉 Inhabitants came from thence For 't is manifest that three Nations did anciently possess the whole Island the Brittons Picts and Scots of which I will speak hereafter To begin then with the Brittons whose Dominion was of largest extent in Albium The first that I know who hath discovered any certainty concerning them was C. Iulius Caesar. He thinks that the inmost Inhabitants were Indigenae because after diligent enquiry he could find nothing of their first comming thither neither had they any Monuments of Learning whence he might be informed He says that the Maritime parts of the Island were possessed by the Belgae whom hopes of Prey had allured thither and the fruitfulness of the Soil and mildness of the Air had detained there He thinks this a sufficient argument to confirm his Opinion that many did retain the Names of the Cities whence they came and that their Buildings were like those of the Gauls Cornelius Tacitus a grave Author adds that their Manners are not unlike and that they are equally bold in running into Dangers and as fearful how to get out of them that there were great Factions and Sidings among them Both. And lastly that Britain in his time was in the same State as Gaul was before the coming of the Romans Pomponius Mela adds further That the Brittons used to Fight on Horseback in Chariots and Coaches being harnessed in French Armour Add hereto that Bede who lived before all those who have wrote such Fabulous things of the Origin of the Britons and is of greater Authority than them all affirms That the first Inhabitants of the Island came out of the Tract of Armorica Some Grammatists of the Greeks differ much from the above mentioned Authors for they say that the Brittons received their Names from Britannus the Son of Celto They assuredly agree in this that they would derive their Original from the Gauls of the later Authors Robertus Caenalis and Pomponius Laetus in the Life of Dioclesian an Author not to be despised do subscribe to this Opinion both of them as I suppose being convinced by the Power of Truth Yet Both seem to me to mistake in this point that they deduce them from the Peninsula of the Brittons which is now called Britany to the River Loir especially since the Maritime Colonies of Britain as Caesar observes do testifie by their very Names whence their Transportation was It follows that we speak of the Gallick Colonies sent into Ireland I shewed before that all the North side of Spain was possessed by Gallick Colonies And there are many reasons assignable why they might pass out of Spain into Ireland for either the easie passage might be a great inducement or else the Spaniards might be expelled out of their Habitations by the excessive Power and Domination of the Persians Phaenicians and Graecians who having overcome the Spaniards rendred them Weak and Obnoxious to their Oppression and Violence Moreover there were Causes amongst the Spaniards themselves for they being a People cemented and made up of many Nations and not well agreeing among themselves the desire of Liberty and the avoiding of Servitude in the midst of Civil Wars and new Tumults arising amongst a People that was greedy of War might make them willing to depart He that weighs these causes of Transmigration will not wonder if many of them did prefer a mean condition abroad conjoyned with Liberty before a Domestick and bitter Servitude and when they were once arrived there the State of Spain growing daily more and more Turbulent made them willing there to abide for sometimes the Carthaginians and sometimes the Romans did exercise all the Miseries of Servility upon the Conquered Spaniards and so compelled them to avoid those Evils by a flight into Ireland there being no other neighbour Nation into which either in their Prosperity they might so well transport their over-abounding Multitudes or else wherein in adversity they might find a shelter against their Calamities Besides the Clemency of the Air did retain them there for as Caesar says the Air of Britain is more temperate than That of France And Ireland exceeds Both in goodness of Soil and also in an equal Temperature of the Air and Climate Besides Men born and educated in a barren Soil and given to Laziness besides as all Spaniards are being transported almost into the richest Pastures of all Europe no marvail if they willingly withdrew themselves from homebred Tumults into the bosome of a Peace beyond Sea Notwithstanding all that I have said yet I would not refuse the Opinion of any Nation concerning their Ancestors provided it were supported by probable Conjectures and ancient Testimony For Tacitus upon sure Conjectures as he thinks doth affirm that the West side of Britain or Albium was inhabited by the Posterity of the Spaniards But it is not probable that the Spaniards should leave Ireland behind them being a Country nearer and of a milder Air and Soil and first Land in Albium but rather that they first arrived in Ireland and from thence emitted their Colonies
Words from whence we may know which are foreinly introduced and which are Patriots For as the Words Philosophia Geometria and Dialectica though oft used by Latin Writers yet have scarce any Latin Word of kin to them or derived from them from whence they may seem to draw their Original so on the other side the Words Paradisus and Gaza are used by the Greeks and yet it appears by this That they are Inquiline or Forein because they can't shew any Original nor any Progeny derived from them in the Genuin Greek Tongue The same Observation may be also made in other Tongues which will help us to judge what Words are Domestick and what are Adventitious or Forein Let it suffice to have spoken thus much in General Let us now propound Examples concerning every Particular part Where First we meet with those Words which end in Bria Briga and Brica Strabo in his Seventh Book with whose Opinion Stephanus concurs says That Bria signifies a City to confirm their Opinion they produce these Names derived therefrom Pultobria Brutobria Mesembria and Selimbria But the place by them called Brutobria by others is named Brutobrica and the places which Ptolemy makes to end in Briga Pliny closes with Brica so that 't is probable That Bria Briga and Brica signifie the same thing But that they all have their Original from Gaul appears by this That the Gauls are reported anciently to have sent forth Colonies into Thrace and Spain and not They into Gaul and therefore amongst proper Classick Authors we usually read the Words following Abobrica in Pliny in the Circuit of Braga Amalo-brica in the Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus Arabrica Pliny in the Bracarensâ—an Circuit also Arabrica another Ptolemy in Lusitania or Portugal Arcobrica Ptolemy amongst the Celtiberians i. e. New-Castillians Arcobrica another Ptolemy amongst the Lusitanian-Celticks Arcobrica a Third in the * Caesar-Augustan-Province Artobrica Ptolemy in the Vindilici's Country Augustobrica Pliny and Ptolemy in Portugal Augustobrica another Ptolemy in the Vecton's Country Augustobrica a Third Ptolemy in the Pelendon's Country Axabrica Pliny of the Lusitanicks Bodobrica in the Itinerary of Antoninus and in the Book of the Knowledge of the Roman Empire in High-Germany Brige in the Itinerary of Antoninus in Britany Brige in Strabo a Town by the Cottian Alps. Bruto-brica in Strabo between the Turduli and the River Boetis Caeliobrica Ptolemy of the Celerini i. e. People in Portugal Caesarobrica Pliny in Portugal also Catobrica of the Turduli in the Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus Corimbrica Pliny in Portugal if I mistake not corruptly for Conimbrica of which mention is made in the Itinerary of Antoninus which City as yet keeps it ancient Name by the River Munda in Portugal Cotteobria Ptolemy in the Vecton's Country Deobrica Ptolemy among the Vecton's also Deobrica another Ptolemy of the Autrigones Deobricula Ptolemy of the Morbogi Dessobrica not far distant from Lacobrica in the Itinerary of Antoninus Flavio-Brica Pliny at the Port Amanus Ptolemy in the Autrigons calls it Magnus but I know not whether Magnus ought to be writ in Pliny or no. Serabrica in the Scalabitan Province which Pliny writes Ierabrica Iuliobrica in Pliny and in the Itinerary of Antoninus of the Cantabrians or Biscainers heretofore called Brigantia Lacobrica in the Vaccaeans Country in Pliny Ptolemy and Festus Pompeius Lacobrica at the Sacred Promontory in Mela. Lancobrica of the Lusitanick Celts Ptolemy Latobrigi near to the Svitzers Caesar. Medubrica Sirnamed Plumbaria by Pliny in Portugal this if I mistake not is called Mundobrica in the Itinerary of Antoninus Merobrica Sirnamed Celtica in Portugal Pliny and Ptolemy Mirobrica in the Country of the Oretani Mirobrica another in Beturia or in the Country of the Turditani Boetici Pliny and Ptolemy Nemetobrica in the Country of the Lusitanick Celts Ptolemy Nertobrica in the Turduli's Country of Boetica Ptolemy Nertobrica another in the Celtiberians Country Ptolemy which in the Itinerary of Antoninus is called Nitobrica Segobrica in the Celtiberians Country Pliny but Ptolemy counts it the Head City of Celtiberia Talabrica in Lusitania Pliny and Ptolemy Turobrica in the Celts Country of Boetica Pliny Tuntobrica amongst the Bracarean Gallaeci Ptolemy Vertobrica Sirnamed Concordia Iulia Pliny in the Celt-Beticks Country Volobrica of the Nemetes Ptolomy Very many Names of Towns and Nations seem to belong to this Class in all the Provinces into which the Gauls distributed Colonies For as Burgundus and Burgundio seem to be derived from Burgo so doth Brigantes from Briga The Nominative Case of this word in Stephanus is Brigas whence we decline Brigantes as we do Gigantes from Gigas The Brigantes according to Strabo are situate by the Cottian Alps and in the same Tract is the Village or Town Brige And the Brigiani in the Trophy of Augustus are reckoned amongst the Alpin Nations Brigantium is an Alpine Town and the Brigantii are in the Country of the Vindelici according to Strabo and Brigantia in the Itinerary of Antoninus And the Mountain Briga Ptolemy is near the Fountains of the Rohsne and the Danow Also Brigantium in Rhaetia Ptolemy is the same Town I suppose which in the Book of the Knowledge of the Provinces of the People of Rome is called Brecantia and the Brigantine Lake And in Ireland are the Brigantes Ptolemy The Brigantes also are in Albium Ptolemy Tacitus and Seneca And the Town Brige or Brage and Isobrigantium in the Itinerary of Antoninus And the Town Brigantium in Orosius by the Celtick Promontory and Flaviobrigantium or Besanzon in Ptolemy in the Great Port And a later Brigantia i. e. Braganza now in the Kingdom of Portugal There is also another Class or Rank of Words which do either begin in Dunum or end therewith which is a Gallick Word as appears by those Heaps of Sand of the Morini as yet called Duni or the Downs and those other Heaps of Sand in the Sea over against them in the English Shore which retain the same Name of Downs Yea Plutarch I mean He who wrote the Book of Rivers in declaring the Original of Lugdunum i. e. Lions acknowledges Dunum to be a Gallick Word And indeed in expressing the Names of Villages and Towns there is scarce any one Word or Termination more frequent than That amongst the Nations who yet preserve the old Gallick Tongue almost intire I mean the Brittons in Gallia Celtica and the Ancient Scots in Ireland and Albium and the Valli or Welch the Kernicovalli or Cornish in England for there is none of
fighting with their Enemies slew many of them and drove the rest beyond the limits of their Allies And thus having delivered them from their cruel Bondage they advised them to build a Wall within the Island between the two Seas which might be a Safeguard to them to repel their Enemies and then in great Triumph they returned home They hearkning to their advice erect a Wall as enjoined not so much with Stones as Turfs but having no eminent Artificers fit for such an undertaking it was good for little They made it between the two Seas or Bays of which I lately spake of the Sea for many Miles that so where the Waters were not a Defence there by the advantage of the Wall they might secure their Borders from the Inrodes of their Enemies The evident Marks and Footsteps of this high Wall and Work do remain to this day It begins at almost a Mile distant from the Monastery of Kebercurnig toward the West in a place called in the Picts Language Panuachel but in the English Penueltima and bending against the West it is terminated by the City Alcluyth But their former Enemies as soon as they perceived that the Roman Souldiers were departed being carried in Ships brake into their Borders killing and spoiling all before them and as if they were Corn ready for the Sickle they Mow Trample upon and Destroy them Hereupon the Brittons send a second Embassy to Râ—mâ— with redoubled Complaints and Lamentations desiring Aid lest their miserable Country should be wholâ—y Razed and the Name of a Roman Province wherewith they had been honoured so long should now grow cheap and precarious by the Invasion of Foreigners Hereupon another Legion was sent which according to Command arriving in Autumn made a great Slaughter of their Enemies and drove all that made their escape beyond the Seas who the year before drove all their Preys beyond those Seas without any Resistance Then the Romans told the Britains That they could come no more on such chargeable and toilsome Expeditions for their Defence but they advised them to take Arms themselves and Fight with their Enemies that were it not for their Sluggishness they might be as Valiant as They. Moreover they thought it advantageous to their Allies whom they must leave that a Wall was drawn directly from Sea to Sea between the Cities which were there built for fear of Enemies where also Severus made a Trench This Wall they built accordingly with firm Stone both with the publick and private Purse as is yet to be seen taking to their Assistance a Company of the Britains It was Eight Foot broad and Twelve high in a direct line from East to West Both are yet to be seen after they had built it they gave strict charge to the Inhabitants for their self-Defence and afforded them Examples for the Training up in Arms but in the South shore where their Ships were lodged because from thence they feared the Irruptions of the Barbarians they erected Towers at proper distances for the prospect of the Sea and so they took their leaves as never intending to Return And a little after In short they fly and are dispersed leaving their Cities and Walls their Enemies follow and make more cruel Slaughters than ever before For as Lambs are devoured by Wolves so were the poor Country-Men torn in pieces by their Enemies so that being ejected out of their Habitations and in danger to be Starved they exercised Robberies and mutual Rapacities to keep themselves alive Thus they increased external Slaughters by Domestick Broils till all the Country was quite despoiled of Food but what was got by Hunting Out of the Epistle of Gildas WHom he commanded to build a Wall between the Two Seas on the further side of the Island that it might be a Terrour to Enemies and a Defence to the Inhabitants And after The remainders of them sent lamentable Letters to Aetius a Man of great Authority in Rome beginning thus To Aetius thrice Consul the Groans of the Britains and a little after they complain The Barbarians repel us to the Sea The Sea beats us back to the Barbarians Between these Two kinds of Death we are either killed on Land or drowned at Sea neither have we any Fence or Releif against either of them The Fourth BOOK HAving undertook to write the History of our Nation that the Series thereof might appear more plain to the Reader I have in my former Books premised a few ancient Memoirs and especially Those which are freest from Fabulous Vanities and are also most Consonant to Old Writers First of all it is constantly reported and there are many Evidences to confirm the same That a great multitude of Spaniards being driven out of their own Country by their powerful Dons or else voluntarily departing by reason of their superabounding populousness transported themselves into Ireland and seized upon those Places of that Island which were nearest to them Afterward the healthiness of the Air and the fatness of the Pasturage invited many others to follow them especially seeing their Seditions at home and the Injuries offered them by Foreigners to which Spain was always subject drew many thither in hopes of a quieter Life which Voyage they were more easily persuaded to undertake because they looked upon themselves as going into an Island already possessed by their own People and by that means as it were their second Country This Stock of Spaniards did so flourish and increase in a Country fit for Propagation that now they were not contented within the bounds of Ireland but frequently made Emigrations into the lesser Islands near adjacent In the mean time the Scots for that was the general Name of the whole Nation propagating their bounds through the Islands of Aebudae and dispersing themselves by Tribes and Kindreds without either King or fixed Government A German or as Bede writes a Scythian Fleet came to the Coasts of Ireland being driven thither 't is very probable by stress of Weather for they had not their Wives or Children aboard with them They being very Poor having nothing left them by reason of so long a Voyage but only their Arms sent Ambassadors to the Scots desiring them that they might inhabit amongst them Answer was sent them That they themselves were compelled to seek their Habitations in those small Islands which by reason of the Barrenness of the Soil were also Unfruitful and if it were otherwise yet all of them if they should forsake them quite would not be sufficient to entertain so great a multitude But in regard they pitied the common Miseries of Mankind and were particularly affected with their Condition whom Divine Providence had so grievously afflicted and who did not seem to be wholly Strangers to their Lineage as by their Language and Customs appeared they would therefore give them their Advice and as far as they were able would assist them to execute it Their Advice to them was to Sail to their
they crowded and hindred one another in endeavouring to Ship themselves they were all slain to a Man Belus their King despairing to obtain Quarter slew himself Evenus having finished the War returns to the work of Peace and constitutes two Mart-Towns for Trade in convenient Places i. e. Ennerlochy and Ennerness each of them receiving their Name from Rivers gliding by them For Enner amongst the Ancient Scots signifies a Place whither Ships do usually resort He subdued the Inhabitants of the Aebudae who by reason of their long Wars were grown very Licentious and Quarrelsome He reconciled their Animosities and appeased their Disturbances and soon after died having Reigned Seventeen years Ederus the Fifteenth King EDERVS the Son of Dochamus was made King in his place who whilst he was reaping the sweet Fruits of Peace establish'd both at home and abroad and giving himself to the sport of Hunting according to the ancient Custom of the Nation had News suddenly brought him That one Bredius an Islander of Kin to the Tyrant Gillus was Landed with a great Navy of Souldiers and plundered the Country He presently gathered together a Tumultuary Army against him and marching as silently as he could in the Night he passed by the Camp of his Enemies and set upon their Ships in the Road which by this suddain surprize he easily mastered and killing the Guard he burnt the Navy In the Morning he led his Army against the Camp which he easily took finding the Souldiers negligent and in no order at all many were slain on the spot whilst they delay'd either to Fight or Fly The rest having their flight by Sea prevented by the burning of their Ships were there taken and Hanged The Prey was restored to the Owners that claimed them A few years after another of the kindred of Gillus and out of the same Island too raised the like Commotion which had the same Event and Success for his Army was overthrown his Fleet burnt the Prey recovered back and restored to the Right Owners Thus having settled a firm Peace being very old he fell Sick and died in the Forty Eight year of his Reign Evenus III. the Sixteenth King EVENVS the Third Succeeded him a Son unworthy of so Good a Father for not being contented with an Hundred Concubines of the Noblest Families he published his Filthiness and Shame to the World by Established Laws For he enacted That every Man might Marry as many Wives as he was able to maintain And also That before the Marriage of Noble Virgins the King should have one Nights lodging with them and the Nobles the like before the Marriage of Plebeians That the Wives of Plebeians should be common to the Nobility Luxury Cruelty and Covetousness did as they ordinarily do attend and follow this his flagitious Wickedness For his Incomes and Revenues not answering his Expence upon pretended Causes the Wealthier sort were put to Death and the King going snips with the Robbers by that means Theives were never punished And thus the Favour which he had obtain'd from corrupt youth by reason of his permission of Promiscuous Lust he lost by his Cruelty and Rapaciousness For a Conspiracy of the Nobles being made against him he soon perceived that the Friendship and seeming Union of Wicked Men is not to be relied upon For assoon as they came to Fight he was Deserted by his Souldiers and fell alive into his Enemies Hands by whom he was cast into the common Jail Cadallanus who Succeeded him demanding what Punishment he should have he was Condemned to perpetual Imprisonment But there one or other of his Enemies either out of some old Grudge for Injuries received from him or else hoping for Favour or at least Impunity for the Murder of the King Strangled him by Night in the Prison when he had Reigned Seven years The Murderer was Hanged for his Labour Metellanus the Seventeenth King METELLANVS Kinsman to Ederus Succeeded him in the Throne a Prince no less dear to all for his excellent Virtues than Evenus was hated by them for his flagitious Vices He was mightily Priz'd and Esteem'd for This That during his Reign there was Peace both at home and abroad But it was some allay to his Happiness that he could not abrogate the Filthy Laws of Evenus being hindred by his Nobility who were too much addicted to Luxury He deceased in the Thirtieth year of his Reign Caratacus the Eighteenth King METELLANVS dying without Issue the Kingdom was conferred on Caratacus Son of Cadallanus a young Man of the Royal Blood Assoon as he entred upon the Kingdom he quieted the People of the Aebudae Islands who had raised Commotions upon the Death of their last King but not without great Trouble Yet here I cannot easily beleive what our Writers following Orosius Eutropius and Bede do say viz. That the Orcades were subdued by Claudius Caesar in his Reign Not that I think it a very hard thing for him to attempt one by one a few Islands scatter'd up and down in the Stormy Sea and having but a few and those too unarmed Inhabitants to defend them and seeing they could not mutually help another to take them all in nor that I think it incredible That a Navy might be sent by Claudius on that Expedition he being a Man that sought for War and Victory all the World over But because Tacitus affirms that before the coming of Iulius Agricola into Britain that part thereof was utterly unknown to the Romans Caratacus Reigned Twenty years Corbredus the Nineteenth King CORBREDVS his Brother Succeeded him He also subdued the Islanders in many Expeditions a People that almost in every Inter-Regnum did affect Innovation and raise up new Tumults He also quite suppress'd the Banditti which most infested the Commonalty Having settled Peace he return'd to Albium and making his Progress over all Scotland he repaired the Places injured by War and departed this Life in the Eighteenth year of his Reign Dardanus the Twentieth King THE Convention of Estates set up Dardannus the Nephew of Metellanus in his stead passing by the Son of Corbredus because of his young and tender years No Man before him entred upon the Government of whom greater Expectations were conceived and no Man did more egregiously deceive the Peoples Hopes Before he undertook the chief Magistracy he gave great Proof of his Liberality Temperance and Fortitude So that in the beginning of his Reign he was an indifferent Good and Tolerable King but he had scarce sat Three years on the Throne before he ran head-long into all sorts of Wickedness The Sober and Prudent Counsellors of his Father he banish'd from his Court because they were against his lewd Practices Only Flatterers and such as could invent new Pleasures were his Bosom Friends He caused Cardorus his own Kinsman to be put to Death because he reproved him for his Extravagance in Lawless Pleasures and yet he had been Lord Chief Justice and Chancellor too under
a bloody Fight was begun betwixt them The Victory was a great while hovering and uncertain at last all the valiant Men of the Caledonians being slain the rest having their Courage cooled were forced to retreat to their Fastnesses After this Battel there was no doubt at all but that Agrippa would have subdued all Britain by the force of his conquering Arms if he had not been called home by Domitian not for the Honour of his Victories as was pretended but for his Destruction and Death After his departure Sedition arose in the Roman Camp and the Scots and Picts being glad of the occasion and somewhat encouraged thereby began to creep out of their lurking Places and perceiving that the Romans had not a General nor the same Camp-Discipline as before they sent Envoys up and down to try the Inclination not only of their own Country-men but of the Brittons also Thus in the first place being imboldned by some small successful Skirmishes they began to take heart and to assault Garisons and at last with a formed Army they resolved to venture the hazard of a pitched Field By this means The Romans were expelled out of their Territories and were forced with doubtful success to contend with the Britains for their ancient Province Galdus having obtained respite from War made his Progress all over the several Countries of the Land and resetled the old Owners in their Habitations which had been almost destroyed by the War As for the Places which were wholly void he sent his Soldiers to inhabit them And having restrained the frequent Robberies which were wont to be committed he composed the differences which began to arise betwixt Him and the Picts At length in great Glory and Endearment both with Friends and Foes he deceased in the 35th Year of his Reign Luctacus the Twenty Second King SO good a Father was succeeded by Luctacus as bad a Son who despising the Counsel of his Nobles gave up himself wholly to Drinking and Whoring No nearness of Alliance no Reverence of the Laws no respect of Nobility or of Conjugal Relation did restrain him from his vile lewdness with those Women which he had a Mind to Moreover He was inhumanly Cruel and also unsatiably Covetous The Soldiers and youthful Fry which is still more inclinable to the worse did easily degenerate into the Manners of their King So that at last when he had defiled all with Whoredom Rapines and Slaughters and no one Man durst oppose his exorbitant Power An Assembly of the States being called together and speaking freely concerning the State of the Kingdom he Commanded the Nobles as Seditious Persons to be led out to Execution but by the concourse of the intervening Multitude both He and also the loathed Ministers of his Lust and Lewdness were slain when he had scarce finished the Third Year of his Reign For the Honour had to his Father his Body was allowed to be Buried amongst the Sepulchres of his Ancestors but the Bodies of his Associats were cast out as unworthy of any Burial at all Mogaldus the Twenty Third King AFter him Mogaldus was elected King the Nephew of Galdus by his Daughter In the beginning of his Reign he equalled the best of Kings but growing older he was tainted with Vices and easily degenerated into the Manners of his Uncle When he first entred on the Government that he might with greater Facility cure the vitious Practices committed by the former King which did even contaminate the Publick Manners he made Peace with his Neighbors he restored the Ancient Ceremonies in Religion which had been carelesly neglected He banished all Pimps of Lust and Debauchery from Court and acted all things by the Advice of the Estates according to the Ancient Custom by which Deportment he procured to himself Love at home and Reverence abroad Having setled Matters at home he turned his Mind to Warlike Affairs and drove out the Romans from the Borders of his Kingdom and by his Auxiliaries assisted the Picts against the Injuries of the Romans Yea in some prosperous Battels he so weakned the Roman Power amongst the Britains that They also were erected to some hopes of recovering their Liberty and thereupon took up Arms in many places And their hopes were encreased because the Emperor Adrian had called back Severus a fierce and skilful Warrior out of Britanny into Syria to quell the Seditions of the Iews so that Adrian himself the Tumults more and more increasing was inforced to pass over from Gallia into Britain But he being a greater Lover of Peace than War desired rather to maintain the Bounds of his Empire than to enlarge them Whereupon when he came to York and found the Country beyond it to be harassed by the War he resolved to take a particular View of the Devastation and so marched his Army to the River Tine where being informed by the old Soldiers who had followed Agricola almost to the utmost Bounds of Britanny That there would be more Pains than Profit in Conquering the rest of the Island he built a Wall and Trench for the space of Eighty Miles between the Firths of the Rivers Tine and Esk and so excluded the Scots and Pâ—cts from their Provincials and having setled the State of the Province be returned back from whence he came Here I cannot but take notice that seeing there yet remain divers Marks of this Wall in many places it is a wonder to me that Bede did wholly omit to mention it especially since Aelius Spartianus hath taken notice of it in the Life of Adrian and also Herodian in the Life of Severus I cannot persuade my self That Bede could be so mistaken to think as many yet do That that Wall was not made by Adrian but by Severus This by the by Hereupon the Roman Province was quieted the Excursions of their Neighbors were prevented and Peace was observed between them for a great while The Britains did easily embrace it and the Scots and Picts had thereby opportunity to divide the Neighboring Lands as a Prey amongst themselves But that Peace besides the prejudice it did to the Body by weakening its Vigor through Sloth and Idleness did also enervate the Mind by the Baits of Pleasure which then began to tickle it For hereby Mogaldus till then Unconquered in War forgetting the Glory of his Ancestors ran headlong into all kind of Vice and besides other pernicious and foul Miscarriages prejudicial to the Publick he made a most unjust Law That the States of such as were condemned should be forfeited to his Exchequer no part thereof being allotted to their Wives or Children This Law is yet observed and pleaded for by the Officers of the King's Revenue who are willing to gratifie his Lust though they then did and yet do know that it is an unjust and inhuman Institution Mogaldus having thus made himself obnoxious and hateful to the Nobles and Commons too being unable to resist their Combinations
made many of them Denizons of their City That though they had almost Conquered the whole World yet never any People or Nation were wholly eradicated by Them That he himself having slain their King with the flower of his Army had so quelled them that now they were no longer to be feared but rather pitied by their Enemies he further urged That his hatred of the Picts was as great as Theirs but if they considered the matter well it would be a joyfuller Spectacle to behold the Miseries of them being alive than the Graves of them being Slain yea that it was a more grievous Punishment to live a dying Life than by once Dying to put an end to all Miseries This was the Sum of the Discourse which he made not so much out of any Affection to the Scots as out of Hatred of the Picts Cruelty Moreover he had an Eye to the future as judging it extreamly hazardous to the Roman Province if the Force of the Picts upon the Extirpation of the Scots should be doubled But the Picts did so ply him with Complaints Supplications and Guifts that at length they obtained an Edict from him That all the Scots should depart out of Britain by a certain day and he that was found there after the time limited should be put to Death Their Country was divided betwixt the Picts and Britains Thus the surviving Scots as every Mans Fortune led him were scattered over Ireland the Aebudae Islands through Scandia and the Cimbrick Chersonesus and were in all places kindly received by the Inhabitants But the Picts though they made publick Profession of the Christian Religion yet did not forbear to commit Injuries against Priests and Monks which in that Age were had in great esteem So that those poor Ecclesiasticks were dispersed into all the Countries round about and many of them came into Icolumbkill one of the Aebudae Isles where being gathered together in a Monastery they transmitted an high Opinion of their Piety and Holiness to Posterity The rest of the Scots being thus afflicted by Wars exiled from their Countries and in despair of returning thither again The Inhabitants of the Hebrides being of a fierce and unquiet Nature idle poor abounding in Men yet wanting Necessaries thought That they ought to attempt something of themselves and so gathering a Navy of Birlins and small Ships together under Gillo their Commander they landed in the County of Argyle Having made their Descent there and dispersing themselves scatteredly amongst a Country almost wholly destitute of Inhabitants to fetch in Booty they were circumvented by the Picts who were sent to assist the Inhabitants and placed in Garison there and being kept from their Ships were slain every Man Their Navy was taken and reserved for Service against the Islanders And not long after they which fled to Ireland partly out of Remembrance of their Ancient Alliance and partly out of Commiseration of their Fortune did easily incite a Nation naturally inclined to War and Plunder to afford them Aid to recover their Country and Antient Patrimony Ten Thousand Auxiliaries were allowed them who landing in that part of Scotland which is opposite to Ireland struck a great terrour to the People over all the Country Being encouraged by their first happy Success when they were consulting how to carry on the War the Albian Scots well knowing the strength of the Romans and how much they exceeded other Nations in their skill about Military Affairs persuaded them to be contented with their present Victory and to return home with their Booty not staying till the whole force of Britain was gathered together to assault them And seeing that the Forces of all Ireland if they had been there could not withstand the Roman Army which by its Conduct and Valour had almost subdued the whole World therefore they were to deal with them not by open Force but by Subtilty That they were to watch opportunities and seeing they could not match their Enemies in Number Force or Warlike Skill that therefore they should weary them out with Toil and Labour And that This was the only Method for the managing the War with them The Irish-Scots on the other side did blame those of Albium whose former Valour was now so Languid That though they were the Off-Spring of those who had almost overthrown whole Armies of the Romans yet that they could not now look them in the Face Yea there were some of the Albine-Scots themselves of the same Opinion alleging That this Method of War propounded by their Country-Men was very vain and frivolous serving only to vex the Enemy but not to recover their own Country and that therefore they ought to follow their good Fortune and not to think of returning till she made way for them And if they would act thus then no doubt but God who had blessed them with such prosperous beginnings would by their Arms lessen the power of the Enemie either by raising up new Tumults amongst the Britains or by calling off the Roman Legions to a War nearer home That the Occasion now offered was not to be neglected lest hereafter it might be sought for in Vain This Opinion prevailed and so they joyfully returned to their Prey Thus whilst in hopes to recover what they had lost they indulged their own Will rather rashly than prudently being immediately overpowred by greater Forces they lost the best part of their Men. This Slaughter being made known in Ireland cut off all hopes of return from the Scots and made the Irish fear lest they also should not retain their Liberty long so that after many Consultations they could find no way more adviseable than that the Irish Scots should send Ambassadors into Britain to make Peace with the Romans upon the best Conditions they could procure Upon their arrival Maximus first of all did severely rebuke them in that without any Provocation they had causelesly excited the Roman Arms against them The Ambassadors in excuse laid the blame on the rude Rabble and so they obtained Pardon The Peace was made on these Conditions That the Hibernians after that day should never entertain or shelter any Enemies of the Romans That they should forbear to offer any Injury to their Allies and That they should manage their Government with a friendly Respect to the Romans The Hibernians having thus obtained better Terms than they expected returned joyfully home That which inclined Maximus to make this easie Pacification was not his fear of the Hibernians for he did not much value all the disturbance they could give him but because his Mind being intent upon hopes of greater matters he was willing to leave all Britain not only quiet and free from War but also affectionate and under an obligation to him For when he perceived after the Defeat and Slaughter of so many of their Armies that the Forces of the Roman Empire were shattered and weakned by their Civil Wars and that the Emperors were not
Kirkpatrick one his Kinsman the other his old Friend perceiving by his Countenance that he was troubled asked him the Cause he told them in breif the whole Business adding withal That he thought he had killed Cumins What says Lindsay will you leave a Matter of that Consequence upon an I thought and assoon as he had spoke the Word he ran into the Church and dispatched him quite and also his Kinsman Robert Cumins who endeavoured to save him This Murder was committed in the Year 1305. on the Fourth of the Ides of February About the same time also Wallis was betrayed in the County of Glascow where he then hid himself by his own Familiar Friend Iohn Menteith whom the English had Corrupted with Money and so was sent to London where by Edwards Command he was wofully Butchered and his Limbs for the terrour of others Hanged up in the most noted Places of London and Scotland Such an End had this Person the famousest Man of his Time who deserved to be compared with the most Renowned Captains of Ancient Times both for his Greatness of Mind in undertaking Dangers and for his Wisdom and Valour in overcoming Them For Love to his Country he was Second to none who when others were Slaves he alone was Free neither could be induced by Rewards or Threats to forsake the Publick Cause which he had once undertaken His Death was the more to be Lamented because he was not conquered by his Enemy but betrayed by his Friend who had little Reason so to do Bruce The Ninety Seventh King BRVCE stayed so long till he had obtained Pardon from the Pope for killing a Man in Holy Church and then in April following Anno Domini 1306. he went to Scone and was Crowned King The first thing he did knowing that he had to do with a Powerful Enemy was to levy all the Force he could make but in regard the whole Family of the Cumins's whose Greatness was never equalled by any in Scotland either before or since was against him and also the Minds of many were offended with him for his former assisting of the English and moreover most of the Scots were out of Fear willing to be quiet under the English Power yet he adventured with a small Army to try his Fortune at Methven where he was overthrown by Ailmer Edwards General but with little Slaughter because his Men seeing their own weakness fled away entire almost at the first Charge this was done on the 13th of the Calends of August And not long after coming to Athol and designing for Argyle his design was discovered by the Cumins's and he was forced in his very march at a place called Dalree i. e. Kings-land to try his Fortune in a Battel where he was overthrown also but lost few in regard every one fled several ways as they thought fit After that time he had but Two or Three in his Company for he thought himself more secure with a few and thus he wandred up and down in secret places living mostly a Foresters Life and in despair of any Aid if he had a mind again to try his Fortune For the Vulgar upon his double Discomfiture drew thence discouraging Omens and so they all left him only Two of his old Friends Malcolm Earl of Lennox and Gilbert Hay never forsook him but remained constant to him in all Misfortunes The English not yet satiated with his Miseries send about through all Parts of the Kingdom to apprehend his Allies and Kindred and besides they Commanded all the Wives and Children of those who were banished to depart the Kingdom at a time prefixed The Wife of Robert himself was taken by William Earl of Ross and sent into England and Neile his Brother with his Wife and Children came into the Hands and Power of the English his Castle of Kildrummy being betrayed by the Governor thereof to them Moreover his Brethren Thomas and Alexander endeavouring to pass out of Galway to Carick were taken at the Loch Ryan which Ptolemy calls the Bay Rerigonius and sent into England These Three were put to Death in several Places the rest of the Brucian Party were diligently sought after and put also to Death and their Estates Confiscate The King himself with one or two and sometimes alone wandred up and down through uncouth Places daily yea hourly changing his Recesses and yet even thus not thinking himself safe enough from the Cruelty of his Enemies and the Perfidiousness of his Subjects he passed over to another Friend of his into the Aebudae where he lurked for some Months And in regard he did no where appear he was thought to be Dead and so they left searching for him This Report as it made for his Safety so if it had continued long it would have taken away all Hopes from his Friends of his ever obtaining and recovering the Kingdom Whereupon he judged it fit to attempt something and receiving a small Force from his Friends where he had hid himself he sailed over into Carick and by Means of his sudden coming he there surprized a Castle which was his own Inheritance but Garisoned by a strong party of English whom he put all to the Sword and lest his Passage might be stopped by the Enemy he passed over by the Bay of Clyde and came to the strong Castle of Ennerness situate on a pretty high Hill by the River Ness which as being in a remote Country and negligently Guarded he also happily took The Report hereof being divulged occasioned great Thoughts of Heart all over Scotland For besides his Old Friends who came to him from all Places out of their Lurking Holes the Pride of the English had raised him up many New ones for They thinking that he had been dead began to Lord it more imperiously and cruelly than ever they had done before So that his Forces being considerably encreased and that with very good Soldiers whom either Labour had hardned or Despair urged to the most desperate Attempts he took all the Castles in the North of Scotland and demolished them as they were taken partly That he might not weaken his Forces by dividing them into Garisons and partly That the Enemy might have no Harbour there Thus overcoming all as he went he came into the very Heart of the Kingdom Iohn Cumins Earl of Bachan being informed thereof gathered together a suddain Company of Scots and English even as many as were able to bear Arms when he was come to the Forest through which the River Esk falls down into the Plains of Mern he overtook him at a Place called Glenesk Bruce perceiving that the Narrowness of the Passages was advantageous for his Men stood ready to Fight expecting his Enemy Cumins drew out his Army in length imagining that Bruce would be astonished at the sight of such a Multitude But when he saw that he stirred not from the Place and being also Conscious of the Weakness
to bear the Government of a Stranger he return'd back and provided a stately Fleet with great Cost yet no great Benefit because it was against Men who were very well provided both with Land and Sea-Forces At length he set upon their numerous Fleet returning from Dantzic which he took and pillaged and slew the Mariners and burnt the Ships so that he repaid the Enemy for the Loss he receiv'd from them many times over yea he so subdued the Fierceness of their Minds that they desired a Truce for an Hundred Years and obtain'd it He also caus'd a Breed of brave Mares to be brought from as far as Hungary into Scotland whose Race continu'd there for many Years after These Rich Earls Dying without Issue Buchan and Marr their Patrimonial â—nheritances descended Rightfully to the King And moreover he alone injoy'd all the Possessions of the Three Brothers Sons to King Robert the 2d by his last Wife but not without the Grudges of the Nobility who had been accustomed to Largesses that he alone should enjoy all the Prey without sharing any Part of it amongst them Further they conceiv'd another and fresher Cause of Offence That the King had revok'd some Grants made by Robert and Murdo the last Regents as unjust Amongst those Grants There were Two noted ones George Dunbar who was Declared a Publick Enemy was afterwards recall'd by Robert and part of his Estate restor'd to him His Son George succeeded him therein to the Joy of many who were well pleas'd that so Ancient and Noble a Family which had so often deserv'd well of their Country were restor'd to their Ancient Dignity But the King who look'd narrowly and perhaps too pryingly into his Revenue was of Opinion that the Power to restore Incapacities to recal Exiles and to give back their Goods forfeited for Treason and so brought into the King's Exchequer was too great for One that was but a Guardian of another Man's Kingdom and chosen but as a Tutor only to Claim and Use especially since Largesses made in the Minority of Princes by the Old Laws of Scotland might be recalled if not confirm'd by their respective Kings when they came to be of Age. And therefore Iames that he might reduce the Merch-men into his Power without noise in regard they were a Martial People and Borderers upon England detains George with him and sends Letters to the Governour of the Castle of Dunbar Commanding him on receipt thereof he should immediately Surrender it up to William Douglas Earl of Angus and Alexander Hepborn of Hales whom he had sent to receive it Hereupon George complain'd that he was wrongfully dispossest of his Ancient Patrimony for anothers Fault and such a Fault too as was forgiven by him who then had the Supreme Power The King to pacifie him and to proclaim his Clemency amongst the Vulgar bestowed Buchan upon him This Fact of the King 's was variously spoken of as every ones Humour and Disposition led him And moreover there was also another Action which much hastned his End the Beginning whereof is to be fetcht a little higher I said before that King Robert the 2d had Three Sons by his Concubine he had also Two by his Wife Eufemia Walter Earl of Athole and David Earl of Stratherne yet when their Mother the Queen was Dead he Married the Concubine afore-spoken of that so he might by that Marriage Legitimate the Children he had by her and leave them Heirs to the Crown and accordingly at his Death he left the Kingdom to the Eldest of them To the 2d he gave great Wealth and the Regency also The 3d. was made Earl of several Counties In this Matter tho' his other Wif's Children thought themselves wrong'd yet being younger and not so powerful as they they smothered their Anger for the present And besides their Power was somewhat abated by the Death of the Earl of Strathern who left but only one Daughter behind him afterwards Marry'd to Patrick Graham a Noble young Man and one of a potent Family in that Age on whom he begat Meliss Graham His Parents liv'd not long after and the Child after a few Years being yet a Stripling was sent as an Hostage into England till the Money for the King's Ransom was paid But the Earl of Athole tho' every way too weak for the adverse Faction yet never gave over his Project to cut off his Kindred nor cast away his Hopes to recover the Kingdom and because he was inferior in open Force he craftily fomented their Divisions and Discords and invidiously made use of their Dangers to promote his own Ends so that by his Advice that large Family was reduc'd to a few For many were of Opinion that he gave the Counsel to take off David King Robert's Son and Iames had not escap'd him neither unless he had past a good part of his Life in England far from home for he gave Advice to the Earl of Fife that seeing his Brother was a Drone he Himself should seize on the Kingdom When the King lost all his Children and was obnoxious to his Brothers Will and not long after dyed of Grief himself There was only the Regent of the Kingdom with his Children that hindred his hopes in regard he was an active Man of great Wealth Power and Authority and moreover very Popular and full of Children These Considerations did somewhat retard his Counsels but when Robert Dyed of a Natural Death and his Son Iohn was slain in the Battel of Vernevil then he resum'd his former Project with greater earnestness and bent all his Mind and Endeavour how to free Iames and set him at variance with Murdo and his Children And seeing they could not all of them stand safe together which soever of them fell he foresaw that his Hope would be advanced one step higher to the Kingdom And when Iames was returned into his Country he turn'd every Stone to hasten Murdo's Destruction he suborn'd Men fit for the turn to forge Crimes against him and he himself sate Judge upon Him and his Sons And when they were cut off there was only Iames left and one little Son a Child not yet 6 Years old And if he were slain by the Conspiracy of the Nobles he did not doubt but himself who was then the only remaining Branch of the Royal Stock should be advanc'd to the Throne Athole was in these Thoughts Night and Day yet he conceal'd his Secret Purposes and made a great shew of Loyalty to the King in helping to rid his Allies out of the way for that was his only Contrivance that by the Offences of Others he might increase his own Power and diminish his Enemies In the mean time Meliss Graham who as I said before was given in Hostage to the English was depriv'd of Strathern because the King making a diligent Enquiry into his Revenue found that 't was given to his Grandfather by the Mothers-side upon condition That if
received and admitted to the Kings Table but in the midst of the Feast some Armed Men beset him being Weaponless and put a Bulls Head upon him which in those Times was a Messenger and Sign of Death When the young Man saw that he was troubled and sought to arise but the Armed Men laid hold on and carry'd him to a Court near the Castle where by the loss of his Head he paid for the Intemperance of his Youth David his Brother and Malcolm Fleming whom next to his Brother he trusted most of all were also put to Death with him 'T is said that the King who was now fully entring on his being of Age wept for his Death and that the Chancellor did greatly Rebuke him for his unseasonable Tears at the Destruction of an Enemy whereas the Publick Peace was never like to be settled as long as he was alive William dying thus without Children Iames Sirnamed Crassus or the Gross from his Disposition succeeded him in the Earldom for 't was a Male-Feo as Lawyers speak the rest of his Patrimony which was very great fell to his only Sister Beatrix a very beautiful Person in her Days This Iames the Gross though he were no bad Man yet was no less suspected by the King and hated by the Commons than the former Earl because though he did not maintain Robbers as the former Earl had done yet he was not very Zealous in subduing them but he was substracted from this Envy by his Death which happen'd Two Years after William the Eldest of his Seven Sons Succeeded him he being Emulous of the ancient Power of the Family that he might restore it unto its Pristine Splendor resolv'd to Marry his Uncles Daughter who was the Heiress of many Countries Many of his Kindred did not approve of the Match partly because 't was an unusual and by consequence an unlawful thing and partly because by the Accession of so much Wealth he would be envy'd by the People and also formidable to the King For a Rumor was spread abroad and that not without ground that the King himself would do his utmost to hinder the Match This made William to hasten the Consummation of the Marriage even in the time when Marriages were forbidden that he might prevent the Kings endeavours to the contrary Thus having obtained great Wealth he grew insolent and envy follow'd his Insolence in regard Troops of Robbers did swarm every where whose Captains were thought to be no Strangers to Douglas his Design Amongst them there was one George Gorm of Athole who pillag'd all the Country about him and set upon William Ruthven Sheriff of Perth because he was leading a Thief of Athole to the Gallows and fought with him as it were in a set Battel At last Gorm the Captain and 30 of his Followers were slain and the rest sled to the Mountains This Bustling Fight was in the year of Christ 1443. A few days after the Castle of Dunbarton impregnable by Force was twice taken in a little time Robert Semple was Commander of the Lower Castle and Patrick Galbreth of the Higher and their Government was so divided that each had a peculiar entrance into his own Part. These Two were not free from Factions amongst themselves For Patrick was thought secretly to favour the Douglasses whereupon Semple perceiving that his Part was but negligently guarded seiz'd upon him and commanded him to remove his Goods The day after Patrick entred with four Companions attending him without Arms to fetch out his Goods where first he light upon the Porter alone and then catching up Arms drave him and the rest out of the Upper Castle and thus sending for Aid out of the Neighbouring Town he beat them out of the Lower Castle also and so reduc'd the whole Fort into his own hands About that time there were very many Murders committed upon the inferior Sort which were partly perpetrated by the Douglassians and partly charg'd upon them by their Enemies The King was now of Age and manag'd the Government himself so that Douglas being unable to stand against the Envy of the Nobles and the Complaints of the Commons too resolves to become a New Man to satisfie the People and by all means possible to atone the Heart of the King which was alienated from him and in order thereunto he came with a great Train to Sterlin And when he had Intelligence by some Courtiers whom he had greas'd in the Fist and made his Own that the Kings Anger was appeas'd towards him then and not before he came into his Presence and threw down his Life and Fortune and all his Concerns at his Feet and to his Dispose he partly excused the Crimes of his former Life and paâ—â—ly because That seemed the readier way to Reconciliation he ingenuously confest Them withal affirming that whatever Fortune he should have hereafter he would ascribe it solely to the Clemency of the King not to his Own Innocency but if the King were pleas'd to receive Satisfaction from him by his Services and Obsequiousness he would do his utmost endeavour for the future that no Man should be more Loyal and observant of his Duty than himself and that in restraining and punishing all those exorbitant Offences which his Enemies cast upon him none should be more sharp and severe than he in regard he was descended from that Family which was not raised by oppâ—â—â—sing the Poor but by defending the Commons of Scotland by theâ—â— Arms By this Oration of the Earls and the secret Commendation of the Courtiers the King was so chang'd that he forgave him all the Crimes of his former Life and received him into the Number of his Privadoes and communicated all his secret Designs to him And indeed the Earl in a very little time had so obliged the King to him by his Obsequious Carriage and had won so much on his Ministers by his Liberality yea had so ingratiated himself into all Men by his modest and courteous Condescension that the ordinary sort of People conceiv'd great Hope of his gentle and pliable Deportment but the Wiser were somewhat afraid whither so sudden a change of Manners would tend And especially Alexander Levingston and William Creighton imagining that all his Counsels would tend to their Destruction having laid down their publick Offices in the Government went away severally Alexander to his own Estate and William into the Castle of Edinburgh there to watch and observe where the Simulation of Douglas would terminate and end Neither did their preconceiv'd Opinion deceive such Wise Men as they were For Douglas having gotten the King alone and destitute of graver Counsel and who was somewhat unwary too by reason of the Greenness of his years thought now that he had a fit Opportunity to revenge the Deaths of his Kinsmen and so easily persuaded the King to send for William Creighton and Alexander Levingston with his two Sons Alexander and Iames to
with Auxiliaries from France and that all Europe did conspire for the Defence of their ancient Rites and Religion and if they acted contrary they would betray theiâ— Country and thereby the Ruin of their ancient Families would be imminent and at hand They also desired them in so dangerous a time not to forsake their Country for if That were safe they might hope for more Kindred and Children but if That were overthrown then all was gone Moreover they discoursed much concerning the inexpiable Hatred betwixt the Nations and of the Cruelty of the King into whose Hands they were to come thus blending Truths and Falshoods together Moreover they alleged the Decree of the Council of Constance That all Pacts Contracts Promises and Oaths made with Hereticks ought to be rescinded and made void The greatest part of those who were concerned in this matter were willing to hearken to any colourable pretence for their Fault only there was One of them who for no pecuniary Consideration whatever could be persuaded no nor by any Threats deterred from keeping his Word and that was Gilbert Kennedy Earl of Cassils he had left two of his Brothers Hostages in England and he openly profess'd that neither for Fear nor Favour he would redeem his own Life with the Loss of his Brothers but whatever came of it he would surrender himself back a Prisoner and so against the Will of many he undertook his Journy straight to London Henry very much commended the resolute Faithfulness of the Young-Man and to the intent that all might know he had an Esteem for Vertue he richly rewarded him and sent him back with his two Brothers into Scotland But Henry's Mind was not more pacified towards Gilbert than his Anger was implacable against the rest of the Scots and thereupon he laid an Embargo upon the Scots Ships in all English Ports and Harbours of which there were a great Number as I said before and so presently denounced War His Threatnings were great as against the Violators not only of Leagues but even of the Law of Nations And yet though Scotland stood in so dangerous a State the Memory of Alliances the common Love to their Country and the respect of the publick Safety were so far laid aside that the Brands of Sedition were kindled more fiercely than ever For the Faction of the Cardinal and of the Queen Dowager who were all for the French sent over Ambassadors thither to tell them That unless they sent in Assistance the Matter was upon the very Point That England and Scotland would make a Coalition into one Government and how such a Conjunction would concern France the Experience of former Ages had shewn But they made it their chief Request to the French that they would send back Matthew Stuart Earl of Lennox into his own Country who did not only emulate the Family of the Hamiltons but was also their deadly Enemie being they had slain his Father at Linlithgoe This young Man was greatly beloved not only for his extraordinary Beauty and stately Garb in the very Flower of his Youth but chiefly upon the account of the memory of his Father who was so popular a Man and also because he was a single Man and the Extinction of such a noble Family now reduced to a few was in great Hazard besides he had many Clanships at home and had also Affinity with many other great Families Furthermore the former King had design'd him to be his next Heir and Successor if he himself died without Issue Male and he would have confirmed that his Intention by a Decree of the States who have the Sovereign Power to order such publick Affairs if his Life had been prolonged Yea there were some Flatterers which did elevate his generous Mind already rais'd up with the expectation of great things but not so well fortified against fraudulent Adulation to larger Hopes for besides the Supreme Rule for about twenty Years and the Domination over his old Enemies they promised him that he should marry the Queen Dowager and if the young Queen who had the Name only of Supreme Governess should miscarry then without doubt he would be the next King and not only so but also the lawful Heir of Iames Hamilton lately deceased seeing the Regent was a Bastard and was so far from any just expectation of the Kingdom that he could not lawfully claim the Inheritance of his own Family Besides they urged the Promises of the French King who gave hopes of great Assistance in due time When the plain-hearted and credulous young Man was thus persuaded he provided for his Voyage into Scotland Hamilton was not ignorant of any of these things and to the intent that he might gain an Accession of Strength to his own Party by the Advice of those Friends whom he most trusted he resolved to take away the young Queen from Linlithgo where she yet was under the Power of her Mother for if he once got Her then not only the Shadow of the Royal Name which is an attractive thing amongst the Vulgar would be of his Side but also he should have the Power to bestow her in Marriage and so make himself Arbiter of the Kingdom to transfer it whithersoever he pleased which if he could obtain then the King of England might be persuaded if need were to join with him This Design was much approved but as is usual in Civil Discords there are Spies on both sides who being informed thereof acquainted the Cardinal therewith He gathering together some of the Nobility whom he had corrupted with Mony came to Linlithgo and to the great Burden of the Inhabitants staid there some days as a Guard to the Queen In the mean time Lennox arrived out of France and was kindly received by the Regent each of them dissembling their Hate then he went to Linlithgo there he addressed the Cardinal and then went to his own House where in a Meeting of Friends he discours'd at large Why he came over at Whose Command by Whom sent for and upon What hopes That he was promised not only the chief Magistracy but also that the Heads of the Faction with the Queen Dowager's Consent had assured him that he should marry Her And that in order to the effecting thereof the King of France had encouraged him to expect Aid and Assistance from thence they all assented to his Speech and advised him not to be wanting to the Occasion which so freely had offer'd it self and thus with above four thousand Men he came to the Queen Hamilton who had levied and mustered his Men and with his Kinsmen about him was resolved to issue out of Edinburgh and break thorow to the Queen now perceiving that his Forces were too weak by the Advice of his Friends and out of his own Disposition also which was inclinable to Peace began to treat of an Accommodation whereupon some prudent Persons were chosen on both sides who met at the Town of
Authors of this project though they knew themselves that they were not believ'd yet were mightily pleas'd as secure of Mens opinions and knowing that none there present durst oppose them Upon this beginning the Court ran headlong into Wantonness and Luxury notwithstanding as yet Justice was equally administred and Offences punish'd for the chief management of Affairs was in Iames the Queen's Brother who for his Equity and Valor was dear to all He us'd as his chief Counsellor William Maitland a young Man of a great Judgment having already given large Experiments thereof and rais'd up higher Expectations for the future Their joint virtuous Counsels kept things quiet at Home and Abroad and 't was as well as good Men could wish As for the Factious they could rather fret than complain justly Amidst these things a Debate arose in the Court which held them play three whole Months They who had been Kings or Regents in former times had exhausted the publick Treasure which was never great in Scotland the Queen was immoderately expenceful The Estates of the Nobility and Commonalty in the late Tumults were mightily wasted so that now nothing remain'd to maintain Court-expences but the Ecclesiastical Revenues Whereupon the chief of the Clergy were sent for to Court and some of the prime Nobility were added to that Number that could either cajole them by Persuasion or compel them by Force After a long Dispute the Ecclesiasticks being overcome rather with the sense of their own Weakness than the weight of any Reason the Conclusion was That a 3 d part should be taken off from Ecclesiastical Revenues wherewith the Queen should maintain Orthodox Ministers and reserve the rest for her own use This Conclusion was pleasing to none The rich Ecclesiasticks grudg'd that any of their old Revenues should be par'd away and the Reform'd Ministers expected no good from the Queen yet indeed though a great shew was made she got no great matter by it For many of the old Possessors had their 3 ds forgiven many both Men and Women had the Wages for their houshold Service and Expence paid out of it for many Years many got Pensions and Supports for their old Age. That Winter the Queen created her Brother Iames Earl of Marr with the great assent of all good Men For giving Honour to Virtue all did praise Her that she allow'd some Grains to propinquity in Blood none did dispraise Her and many thought she had done well for the Publick in advancing a Person to Honour who was of an Illustrious Stock and had so highly deserved of his Country that so he might preside over publick Affairs with the greater Authority yea some thought that this Favour of the Queen 's was intended to reconcile him to Her who she knew was offended at the Carriage of the Court in his absence Besides he had a Wife provided for him Agnes Keith Daughter of the Earl of Merch at which Marriage there was such magnificent Feasting or rather such immoderate Luxury that the Minds of his Friends were grievously offended and his Enemies took occasion of exclaiming and envying and the more because he had been so temperate all the former part of his Life Not long after Murray was bestowed upon him instead of Marr which was found the ancient Right of Iohn Erskin Gordon being depriv'd first of Marr then of Murray over which Country he had been long Governour look'd upon himself as robb'd of his Patrimony and therefore levelled all his Designs at the Overthrow of his Corrival And besides he had many other Motives thereunto For being far the richest Man in all Scotland by reason of the Rewards his Ancestors had received for their Service to the Crown and also himself had augmented the Power of his Family by ill Arts. First he overthrew Iohn Forbes as I said before by false Witnesses Next when Iames Stuart Brother of Iames the Fifth died without Children he obtain'd of them who sat at Helm the Stewardship of Murray whereby he carried himself as Heir and arriv'd at such a pitch of Greatness that all his Neighbours laid down their Emulation and and rested quietly under his Authority I had almost said his Vassalages But whilst others submitted to him either for fear of Danger or Patience to bear the Yoak he was much troubled with the Disregard of one Man or as he called it Pride and that was of Iames Macintosh chief of a great Family amongst the old Scots he was born and brought up amongst the brute Highlanders us'd to the Prey but yet whether 't were by a secret instinct of Nature or else by good Instructors he arriv'd at that degree of Courtesy Modesty and decent Behaviour that he might vie with those who had the greatest care us'd in their virtuous Education Gordon suspected this young-Man's Power for he knew he could not use so good a Disposition as an Instrument for his wicked Purposes and therefore on a sudden he laid Hands on him and cast him into Prison but not able to find any Crime in him worthy of Death 't is reported he suborn'd some of his Friends to persuade him to submit himself and his Cause to him for That they told him was the only Way to be delivered honourably out of Prison and also to have the Friendship of so powerful a Man as Gordon Thus the simple and plain-hearted Man was cheated into his own Destruction yet Gordon being willing to avoid the Envy of his Death dealt with his Wife to bear the blame of it she being a Woman of a stern manly Courage presently undertook the Matter and in the absence of her Husband the poor innocent betrayed young-Man had his Head cut off His Neighbours were either so astonish'd at this Man's Punishment or else were so aton'd with Gifts that the whole Country beyond the Caledonians was under his Jurisdiction alone so that being a Man ambitious of Power and Glory he took it very ill that Iames Earl of Murray was set up as his Rival and being impatient of the present State of things he took all occasions to promote Disturbances and did daily calumniate his Proceedings in publick yea he gave a Book written with his own Hand to the Queen wherein he accused him to affect Tyranny but he back'd it with very slender Arguments On the other side of the Country and at the same time Iames Hepburn Earl of Bothwel being much in debt and very deboist was thereby excited to attempt against the said Earl of Murray for having spent his Youth wantonly amongst Whores and Bauds he was reduc'd to that pass as either to raise up a Civil War or else to support his Poverty by some audacious Fact When he had considered all ways to compass his Design of disturbing the Publick Peace he thought it his best course to set Murray and the Hamiltons together by the Ears his Hope seemed sure to destroy one of the Parties thereby no matter which First then
which Party was strongest and so were inclin'd to side with the most Powerful Their Faction was thought to be the strongest who either consented to the Murder or when the thing was done in obsequiousness to the Queen subscrib'd to that sceleratious Fact The chief of them came in to Hamilton and being very strong would receive neither Letters nor Messengers from the contrary Party in order to a Settlement neither did they spare to reproach them with all kind of calumniating Language and they were so much the more inrag'd because the greatest part of the Nobles who respected rather the Blasts of Fortune than the Equity of the Cause did not come in to the Vindicators for they that were not against them they concluded were for them Moreover they esteem'd it a piece of Vain-Glory that the Vindicators should enter before them into the Metropolis of the Kingdom and from thence send for them who were the greater Number and more powerful The other Party though they had not imperiously commanded them but only humbly desir'd yet to prescinde any Shew of imputable Arrogance they prevail'd with the Ministers of the Churches to write jointly to them all and severally to each in particular That in so dangerous a time they should not be wanting to the Publick Peace but setting aside private Animosities they should consult What was most expedient for the Publick Good These Letters did no more Good with the contrary Faction than Those of the Nobles before they all making the same Excuses as if it had been so agreed purposely between them Afterwards the Queen's Faction met together in diverse Places and finding no means to accomplish their Designs they all slipp'd off and dispers'd several ways In the Interim the Vindicators of the publick Parricide dealt with the Queen whom they could not separate from the Concerns of the Murderers to resign up her Government upon pretence of Sickness or any other specious Allegation and to commit the Care of her Son and the Administration of Publick Affairs to which of the Nobles she pleas'd At last with much ado she appointed as Governours to the Child Iames Earl of Murray if upon his Return home he did not refuse the Charge Iames Duke of Castle-herault Matthew Earl of Lennox Gilespy Earl of Argyle Iohn Earl of Athol Iames Earl of Morton Alexander Earl of Glencarn and Iohn Earl of Marr. Moreover they sent Proxies to see the King plac'd in his Royal Throne and so to enter on the Government either at Sterlin or any other Place if they thought fit These things were acted Iuly the 25 th in the Year of our Lord 1567. A little before Iames Earl of Murray hearing how Matters went at home returned through France and was pretty nobly entertain'd at Court yet so that Hamilton whose Faction the Guises knew were more intimately affected towards them was far better receiv'd which was occasion'd chiefly by the Guises who were averse to all Murray's Designs After he was dismiss'd the Archbishop of Glasgow who called himself the Queen of Scots Embassador told the Court That Iames though absent yet was the Chief of the Faction and as in former times all things were acted by his Influence so now he was sent for as an Head to the Body of them Hereupon some were sent after to bring him back but he being forewarned by his Friends had set Sail from the Haven of Deip where he was before the King's Letters came and arriving in England was honourably entertain'd by all Orders of Men and so sent home There he was receiv'd with the high Gratulation and Joy of all the People especially of the Vindicators and they all earnestly desir'd him to undertake the Government whilst the King his Sister's Son was yet a Child for he alone was able to manage that great Trust with the least Envy because of his Propinquity in Blood his known Valour in many Dangers his great Popularity grounded on his Deserts and moreover the Queen desir'd it too He tho knowing what they had spoke was true yet desir'd a few Days of Deliberation before he gave in his Answer In the mean time he writes earnestly to the Heads of the other Faction and chiefly to Argyle as being his Kinsman and one whom by reason of ancient Acquaintance he was loth to offend he told him in what posture things were and what the Infant-King's Party did desire of him and therefore he intreated him by their Nearness of Blood by their ancient Friendship and by the common Safety of their Country that he would give him opportunity to speak with him that so by his Assistance himself and their Country might be deliver'd out of the present Difficulties He also wrote to the rest according to every ones Place and Interest and in general he desir'd of them all that seeing Matters were in such Confusion there was no likelihood of a Settlement without a chief Magistrate That they should all agree to meet together as soon as might be in a Place they should judg most convenient and so by common Consent to settle Matters At length being not able to obtain a Meeting from the One Faction nor any longer delay of a Convention from the Other with the unanimous Consent of all there present he was elected REGENT IAMES the VIth the CVIIIth King ON the 29 th of August after an excellent Sermon made by Iohn Knox Iames the Sixth of that Name began his Reign Iames Earl of Morton and Alexander Hume took the Oath for him that he would observe the Laws they also promised in his Name that he would observe that Doctrine and those Rites of Religion which were then publickly taught and practised and oppose the contrary A few days after Hamilton's Partisans murmured That a few Persons and those none of the powerfullest neither had without their Consent and contrary to their Expectation grasp'd all things into their own Hands When they had tried all the Nobility one by one they found few of their Opinion besides those who first came in to them for many were rather Spectators than Actors of what was done At length they wrote to the Royalists That Argyle was ready to give a Meeting to confer with the Earl of Murray These Letters being directed to the Earl of Murray without any other Title of Honour were by the Council's Advice rejected and the Messenger dismissed in effect without an Answer But Argyle knowing what had offended in superscribing his Letters and trusting to the Faithfulness of the Regent with a few of the chief of his Faction came to Edinburgh where having receiv'd Satisfaction That 't was not out of any slighting of those Nobles that were absent but mere Necessity so requiring that had caused them to make such haste in setling a chief Magistrate A few Days after he came to the publick Convention of the Estates The Nineteenth BOOK WHEN the King was set up and the Power of the Regent almost
and the Barbarians were introduc'd into the pleasant Country about the Po whose Avarice and Cruelty spoil'd all Besides who is there of the Inhabitants of Great Britain that hath not heard of the Cruelty of Richard the 3 d King of England against his Brother's Children And with how much Blood was that Parricide expiated If Men that were otherwise prudent did not fear to commit such things against their nearest in Blood excited only by the desire of the Crown What can be expected from him whose Inconstancy is well known to all and whose ill management of the Government hath already cost us so much Blood Whose Family not content with the Murder of this King 's Great Grandfather did always work Treachery against his Grandfather by the Mother's side as long as he liv'd and as for his Grandfather by his Father's side when he could not kill him he drove him poor out of the Kingdom his Father he brought forth as a Sacrifice to be slain his Mother and the Kingdom when they could not enjoy it themselves they sold it to Strangers and after by the Providence of God she was deliver'd from that Bondage they cast her into those Straits wherein she now is What Judgment the Subjects made of these things may appear by this That Men seem'd to themselves deliver'd from the Prison of a most miserable Bondage and to tast the sweetness of Liberty when they sold the Government which they themselves were not able to manage to a Woman-Stranger Upon the hearing of this Oration the Queen told Hamilton That his Demand was unjust and That she would not assist him therein but That she was desir'd by the King's Embassadors not to suffer him to depart in regard he plotted nothing but Sedition till they likewise went themselves which she look'd upon as a just thing and therefore had promis'd them so to do and thereupon she charg'd him not to depart before that time Moreover the banish'd Queen encourag'd her Friends with the hopes of her speedy Return for some Letters of hers were intercepted wherein she advis'd them to seize upon as many Castles and fortified Places as they could and so to disperse the War abroad as far as ever they were able Neither need they fear the noise of a Truce or Accomodation for if Matters were ended that way all the Offences of former times would be cover'd and forgiven under the umbrage of Peace But if it should brake forth into open War the more Garisons they had the greater opportunity would be put into their Hands to hurt the Enemy When the Regent had settled Matters as well as he could in England and had leave to return some Letters were produc'd lately intercepted from the Queen of Scots wherein she complains That she was otherwise treated by the Queen of England than she her self first expected or as was promis'd her and that was done by some Courtiers who were the Cause That she was not sent back with an Army as she affirm'd the Queen of England had promis'd Her but she did hope shortly to obtain a good issue another Way for Messengers often had passed betwixt Her and Howard about a Marriage between them and therefore she wish'd them not to be discouraged but to increase the strength of their Party to make a general Disturbance and by all the Arts they could to hinder the Regent's return into Scotland These Letters being divulg'd did affect People severally The Queen of England took it ill That she was accus'd of breach of Promise as also That the Conditions of the Truce made by her means were not kept and therefore being very angry and inrag'd she remitted much of her ancient Favour to the Scot's Queen and was more inclin'd to Equity than before The English who wish'd well to the Regent were afraid that his Enemies would way-lay him to do him a mischief in his Journy for in the Countries which he was to pass thrô there were either for the most part Papists or else Thieves inhabiting the Borders of both Kingdoms who were all excited to hope for a sudden Change and 't was plain they were dealt with to intercept him in his Return and therefore abundance of the English Courtiers offer'd him their assistance to secure his Passage but he was contented only with his own Retinue and about the 13 th of Ianuary began his Journy But the Queen of England judging it to be for her own Credit and Honour that he should return in Safety had of her own accord written to the Commanders and the Warden of the Marches That when he came to places suspected or noted for Robbery They should take care that he might not be circumvented And they were very careful therein for strong Guards of Horse and Foot were plac'd about the Way so that he came safe to Berwick and the day after which was the 2 d of February he was conducted home to Edinburgh to the great joy of his Friends who in great Numbers were there Assembled His Enemies did hardly believe his coming at first because false Reports had been causelesly spread that he was shut up Prisoner in the Tower of London But when it was certainly known that he was at Edinburgh Those who had beset the High-ways to intercept Passengers let go their Prisoners and slipt away Home So that immediately from a turbulent Tempest there grew a great Calm A few Days after the Nobles of the King's Party had a great Meeting at Sterlin there the Transactions with the Queen of England were opened and highly approv'd by the consent of all there Present About the same time Iames Hamilton chief of his Family came out of England who by a new and unheard of Pretence and Arrogance was adopted as a Father by the Queen of Scots and made Lieutenant of the Kingdom He declar'd his Commission and forbad the People to obey any but Those substituted by him Whereupon the Royalists disburst Sums of Mony to raise Forces and to prepare to fight if need were And accordingly at an appointed Day they met at Glasgow but seeing the Country came not in to Hamilton according to his Expectation by the Mediation of his Friends Terms of Agreement were propounded whereupon Hamilton was commanded to come to Glasgow to acknowledg the King as chief Magistrate If he did That the rest would be easily accorded if he refus'd it was in vain for him to come He by the advice of his Friends that were with him being forsaken by his Clanships and terrifi'd by the near approach of his Enemies Army resolv'd to comply with Necessity and to promise all that was desir'd but when the Forces of the Royalists were disbanded then he would consult his Advantage at leisure When they came to Glasgow a Day was appointed wherein they and their Friends should profess their Allegiance to the King and so recover their old Estates and Honours In the mean time they were to remain
f. induce r. introduce P. 407. l. 28. f. Caledonia r. Dunkel P. 420. l. 22. f. Naâ—ts r. 〈◊〉 P. 4â—1 l. 44. f. Blankets r. Sheets P. 422 l. 27. â— Lewis the XI P. 424. l. 35. r. Go to the Kings 〈◊〉 In the Eight last Books P. 2. l. 7. f. infesting r. infested P. 3. l. 24. f. Grampias r. Grampius Ibid. l. 40. f. Edward r. Hâ—â—ry P. 6. l. â—â— f. Grâ—â—ina r. Graecina P. 8. l. 45. f. so the present r. for the present P. 9. l. 7. f. Their r. His. P. 11. marg f. 〈…〉 from Ib. l. 38. f. returnedâ— so returned P. 15. marg f. go Ierusalem r. go to Ierusalem P. 39. l. 6. f. 〈◊〉 r. as bâ—ing P. 40. marg f. raise r. raises P. 44. l. 46. r. Assembly P. 59. l. 19. f. Sunderland r. 〈◊〉 P. â—3 l. 2. f. King r. Regent P. 99. l. 49. r. Nones of November P. 104. l. 17. dele all P. 106. marg r. 〈◊〉 P. 108. l. 13. f. Minnans r. Minians Ib. l. 29. dele soâ—e P. 193. l. 40. f. Guest r. 〈◊〉 P. 19â— l. 23. r. as in many other Princâ—s so c. P. 254. marg f. St. Lewis r. Monsieur Lewis In the Alphabetical Table For Cassivelannus r. Cassivelaâ—nus For Gaxnico r. Garnico For Genrach r. Geâ—rach For Hypocâ—â—isâ—ical p. 6. r. Hypoâ—â—ristical P. 60. In Kirkwal for Pomonae r. Pomoâ—a The Authors design More Islands than one anciently called Britanny The situation of Britanny Albion and Ireland two of the biggest of them Albion It s length and breadth It was accounted Triangular by the Romans The Air. The Soil The Food of some of its Inhabitants in old time It s ancient Names Three according to some Prudania Prytaneia and Britannia 〈◊〉 or Lâ—â—yd and 〈◊〉 Two Wâ—iteâ—s 〈◊〉 British Antiquiâ—ieâ— in Hen. 8. and Queen Eliz. Reigns Prudania Lud or 〈◊〉 Authority disallâ—wed of and why 〈…〉 Words Lucretius 〈◊〉 Aristotle 〈◊〉 the Name oâ— Britain Propeâ—â—â—â—â— Eâ—iot's Authority disallow'd Prytaneia Stephanus Martian and Ptolomy Bards committed nothing to Writing (a) Ancient words cannot always be observed and Why (b) 't is hard to find the Origin of old Words (c) Which was unknown to the Ancients but later Inquiries have found it out (d) i. e. The Language of the Highlanders (e) The Letter W. hard to be pronounced but by those that Germanize * Pliny * Mâ—rini Mâ—remâ—râ—â—a Armâ—rici Oxonia and Roffa for Oxonfordia and Raufchestria i. e. Oâ—fâ—rd and Rochester (f) The Word Britannia hath divers Acceptations * The Walls of Adrian and Severus Bede Claudian William of Malmsbury and Geoffry of Monmouth Britannus and Britto Bâ—itton first 〈◊〉 by Martiâ—l Slop-Breecheâ— or Galagaskinâ— * Bishop of Tourâ— Brittons in France * Auson Epigr. 109. c. (g) This Epigram was made by the Poet against one Siâ—vius Sirnamed Bonus or Little-Britain in France 〈◊〉 whom he had a 〈◊〉 and it seems against the whole Nation of the Britains for his sake He takes an occasion to 〈◊〉 him from the Ambiguity of his Sirname Bonus which signifies also good in Latin and by the Figure Antiphrasis evil as here sometimes it is taken This Author makes it a Dâ—decastich whereas later Interpreters have divided it into Six Distichâ— but all of one Subject â—ccording to the Poets mind expressed in the First of them They are not here quoted for the Sarcasms conteined therein and therefore are not over-curiously Translated but only to shew that in this Poets time who lived under Gratian the Emperor about Anno Christi 390. Britto and Britannus were Terms Synonymus (h) The Printed Books read Britto homo which is scarce sense and therefore Vinecus hath amended it Britto bono and so I have Englished this last Distich (i) A People of Gallia-Belgica lying betwixt the River Lye and the Sâ—â—me in West-Flanders as some write not far from Bollogne Ypre and St. Omers Their chief City was called Teroven now but a small Village (k) Inhabitants of Artois (l) Inhabitants about Bollogne or betwixt Bollogne and Calais (m) More in old Celtick is the Sea (n) Inhabitants of Essex as Lud or rather of Suffâ—lk Norfolk Cambridge and Huntington as Camden and Leland (o) Calais aâ— some but Witsand â—by the Plandrians called Isten and Esseâ— a Port betwixt Calais and Bollognâ— in which some Footsteps of the word Iconi do appear as others (p) Near the Sea (r) People of Dowar as some of Brabant and Bosleduc as others and of Namur as divers say (s) People of Little-Britain in France to the West of Normandy (t) Dwellers near the Sea (q) The Dead Sea (u) Gascoigne or Guienne of which Bourdeaux is the chief City (w) Albion oâ— Albium the Ancient Name of this Islâ—nd (x) Albion the Fabulous Son of Neptune (y) As also Bâ—rgion (z) Liguria was anciently a Country lying betwixt the Po in Italy and the Rhosâ—â— in France (a) A Peopâ—e living in the Skirts of the Alps. (b) Album signifies High as well as White (c) Albinga under the Câ—â—â—eses (d) Ventimiglid belonging also to the Republick of Genoua (e) A People made up of Gauls and Illyrians whose Possessions reached down to the Adriatick Sea near Istria (f) Tilâ—â—r (g) Elbe (h) Cohan (i) Berg in the German Language signifies High (k) Bergomates a People of Bergamo in Italy now under the Venetian (l) Britain why called Albion (m) The Name Albion is still retained in part of Scotland (n) The Situation of the several Counties â—n Albion described by English Writers (o) Hector Boetius blamed (p) England how divided (q) Now only into two viz. North and South-Wales for Pembroke-Shiâ—e with part of its adjacent Counties heretofore called West-Walâ—s is now counted part of South-Wales (r) The Situation of Scotland and the several Counties thereof (s) Merch. (t) Tiviotdale or Tividale (u) Lyddisdail (x) Eusedail (y) Eskdail (z) Annandale (a) Forth or the Scotish Sea (b) Lauderdale and Twedale (c) Liddisdale Nithisdale and Clidesdale (d) Lothian whence so called (e) Edinburgh in Lothian (f) Clidsdale divided Kyle Galloway Abundance of Eels taken Mul of Galloway * Now Glenluce Rinns of Galloway Nonantum Carrick Kyle Air. Cuningham Renfrew White Carth. and Black Carth. Clydsdale Sterling Carron-water Duni pacis Emblems of Peâ—â—e A strange Edifice Guidi Adrian's Wall built before Severus's Maldon not in Scotland but in Essex Iulius Agricola Adrian's Wall where Severus's Wall now Grames Dike where Abernethy once the Royal Seâ—t of the Picts then St. Andrews Lennox Menteath Loch-Lomund Pollacks an unusual Fish Mount Grampius Loch-Ger Loch-Long Cowel Argyle Knapdale Loch-Finn Loch-Awe Cantyre A Narrow Neck of Land joyns Cantyre to Knapdale Birlings a small sort of Seâ—-Vessels Lorn or Laern (a) Granzeben or the Grampian-Hills run from Aberdeen in the North to Dunbarton in the West (b) Braid-Albin (c) Drum-Albin (e) Loch-Earn (f) Strath-Earn (g) Strat whaâ— (h) Menteath (i) Ocel-Hills (k) Clacman Culross and Kinross Stewarties (k) Clacman Culross
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oransa Na gunner (w) Paba * Scalpa Crouling * Scalpa Raarsa Rona * Gerloch Fladda Trâ—nta * Oransa (c) Vâ—â—a More (c) and Vâ—â—a Bâ—g. * Several small Islands (d) Watersa (e) Barra * A strange Spring carrying down shapeless Fish into the Sea (f) Cockles or Periwinkles * Divers small Islands (g) Vyist a great Island (h) A strange sort of Fish * Helscher Vetularum (i) Havelschyer * Hirta (k) A Custom of Baptizing once a Year (l) Large fair Sheep in Hirta (m) Valay * Soa and several smal Islands (n) Flavanae in which are wild Sheep * Garvillan and other little Islands (o) Island of Pygmees * Lewis c. (p) A Vault able to shelter Ships in a Storm * Schan-Castle (q) Loch-Brien or Broom * En. * Gruinorta or 〈◊〉 (r) Cleirach or 〈◊〉 Isle * Harary c. (s) Harray or Harrick and Lewis are but one Island of which Harray is the South part * Roadilla Monastery (t) Wild Sheep in Harray bâ—t no Foxes noâ— Wolves * Lewis is the North part of the Island (u) Whales taken in abundance about the Island Lewis * Rona with the Condition of its Inhabitants (w) Ronanus his strange Spade (x) Suilkyr * Or Berlins (y) A rare Bird called Colca * The Orcades (z) Goths a People oâ— Sarmaâ—â—a Europaea thence transplanted into Germany near the River Oder in Silâ—sia * Or Picts and Sea (a) The Britains praised God in Five Tongues (b) The Inhabitants of the Orcades Parsimonious and long liv'd * No venemous Creatture in the Orcades nor any Tree Magnus his Bouncing Cup or Wassail Bowl * A strange Test for a Bishop * The Sea very Tempestuous about the Orcâ—des and the reason why * Authors do not agree concerning the number of the Orcades * Pomona or the Mainland the greatest Island of the Orcades * Danes long Masters of the Orcades * Kirkwall the chiefeâ—t Town in Mainland * White and black Lead in Mainland * Pentland Firth divides Mainland from Caithness * Stromoy * South Ranalds-Oy the first Isle of the Orcades (a) Holme what * Bura c. (b) Hoia and Waes-Isle * Granisa (c) Coupins-Oy * Siapins-Oy (d) Rows-Oy * Eglis-Oy or Eglisa where St. Magnus was buried (e) Wyer-Oy Gress-Oy and Wester-Oy c. Fair Isle in the mid way between the Orcades and Schetland * Many outlandish Fishermen resort to Fair Isle (f) Schetland Isles the greatest of them called Mainland as well as the greatest of the Orcades (g) Yell. * The Names of some â—â—all Scâ—etland 〈◊〉 (h) Vuist or Vust Isle * Divers other small Islands (i) The Schetlanders manner of Life and Trade * Their Language (k) Their Innocent Mirth and Longaevity * One Lawrence a Schetlander Married at an Hundred years of Age and lived above an Hundred and Forty * The Origin of Letters (a) Turdetani a People dwelling in part of Portugal and in Algarbia and Medina Sidonia * Caesar. * Tacitus * Gildas lived 400 years after Tacitus * Germany received Letters last of all * Sanachies a sort of Chanters inferiour to Bards called by the Dynnywossals or Gentlemen of the Highlands Sanachies contracted from Seneciones * Strabo Ammianus Marcellinus and Luâ—an desscribe who the Bâ—rds weâ—e * Strabo Ammianus Marcellinus and Luâ—an desscribe who the Bâ—rds weâ—e * Great uncertainties amongst the ancient Writers of British Affairs and the Reasons why * Several Countries have changed their Names * Spain hath several Names Or Highlanders * The Fabulous Origin of the Britains * Diocletian a supposed King of Syria and Labana his Wife with their 33 Daughters * Albine * Brutus and his Knight-Errant Adventures * Brutus a Parricide * Brutus his Three Sons * An old Name for England * Vendelina * Germany whence so called according to old Story * Born in the same Country where they live Iohannes Annius * The Story of the 33 Sisters confuâ—ed * The Fable of Diocletian confuted * Brutus his Story refelled * Brâ—tus and Romulus compared * The Name of the True Brutus when it began and how * Faunus the Third King of the Aborigines to whom Saturn by whom he was entertained caused a Grove and Cave to be dedicated whence Oracles were given forth according to old Story (a) Cumaea so called from Cuma in the Gulph of Naples (b) Little Pieces of Oak-Wood-Lotteries marked with Letters or Words almost like Dice which when they were thrown the Priest gave his Response according to the Letter which was uppermost at Praeneste now Palestrina in Italy (c) Salii were Twelve Priests instituted by Numa Pompilius in Honour of Hercules or as some say of Mars And the Carmen Saliare which they sang was composed by the same Numa in an obsolete and almost unintelligible Language or Style (c) Salii were Twelve Priests instituted by Numa Pompilius in Honour of Hercules or as some say of Mars And the Carmen Saliare which they sang was composed by the same Numa in an obsolete and almost unintelligible Language or Style * Brutus's supposed Address to the Oracle with Diana's Answer thereunto (d) Homer * Dionysius Halicarnasseus (e) Buthrotii Inhabitants of Buthrotum new Butrinto a small Village in Epirus on the Sea coast not far from the Isle Corfu once a large Roman Colony * Arverni Inhabitants of Auvergne in the Dukedom of Burgundy their chief City is Clermont * Burgundians (f) People of the Franch Country (g) Francs Originally a People of Franconia in Germany who in the declining of the Roman Empire conquered Gallia and called it Frankinland now France they were composed of so many warlike Tribes that the Turks do call all the Western Christians Francs to this very day * Old Scotish Writers blamed (h) Dores and Iones who (h) Dores and Iones who (i) The Scots fabulous Original from one Gathelus a Grecian and Scota his Wife (k) Now Eâ—râ— a â—amoâ—â— River in Spain rising in the Mountains of Astâ—râ—â— and disinboguing it self into the Mediterranean in Catalâ—nâ—a (l) Gallaecia the Country about Compâ—stella in Spain * Durius oâ— Dâ—â—ro Duâ—â—o in Spanish arising in old Castâ— and after a course of 14â— Spanish Leagues falls into the Atlantick Ocean below Port a Port. (m) Lusitania and Portugaâ— the Original of those Names (m) Lusitania and Portugaâ— the Original of those Names * Palladium properly the Image of Pallas in Troy which as long as they kept in her Temple Troy could not be taken as the Tâ—ojans thought but when Vlyssâ—s stole it away then they were soon destroyed by the Greeks * The Ancient Gauls in Caesars time divided from the Belgâ—â—â—s by the River Sâ—â—n and from the Aqâ—itanians by the Garron from whom the old Grecians called the North-West part of Eâ—ropâ— Ceâ—to-Sâ—â—thia * From which no Issue could insue * Colonies of Gauls sent into Spain * Celtae and Celtiberâ— whence * Celtici Boetici * Celtici