therefore they are of the English Nobility for seruice preferred before the English Yet of late heere they haue vsed themselues to dwell in cities to learn occupations to trade as merchants to go to plough and to do any maner of businesse good for the common-wealth as well as the English nay in this thing they excell them that there is no man so poore amongst them but for a while will set his sonnes to schole to learne to write and read and those whom they find to be apt they send to the Vniuersities cause them for the most part to giue their minds to the study of the ciuill law Heere hence it is that the greater part of those which in this kingdome doe professe the Ciuill or Canon law are Welshmen borne You shall find also very few of the common and meaner sort of people but can read and write his owne language and after their fashion play vpon the Welsh harpe Now also they haue the Bible and common praier booke printed in their owne tongue a language as we said vsed of their ancestors and wholly different from the English And as in old time long since being a people as Tacitus reporteth impatient of the least wrongs that might be offered they were alwaies together by the eares and cutting one anothers throates so now for feare of law to which they are more obedient then any other nation they will wrangle and contend one with another as long as they are worth a groate These few obseruations we haue gleaned out of Lhoyd to whom we send the Reader that desireth more of the particulars of this country Syluester Gerrard a Welshman hath described VVales in a seuerall treatise Read also the Iournall of VVales Moreouer VVilliam of Newbery in the 5. chap. of his 2. booke hath many things of the nature of this country maners of the people To these you may adioine Polyd. Virg. those things which Robert Caenalis hath written in the summe of his 2. booke de re Gallica This Cymri or as the English call it VVales belongeth that we may heere by the way say something of this by an ancient decree to the King of Englands eldest sonne or daughter if he faile to the Kings heire I meane who is to succeed next after him and he is called assoone as he is born The Prince of VVales and that in the same sense as in Spaine and Portugall they call the Kings heire The Prince and in France The Dolphin Ieffrey of Monmouth writeth that in these parts of VVales neere the riuer of Seuern there is a poole which the country people call Linligune This saith he when the sea floweth into it enterteineth the waters like a bottomlesse gulfe and so drinketh vp the waues that it is neuer full nor euer runneth ouer But when the sea ebbeth the waters which before it had swallowed do swell like a mountaine which then do dash and run ouer the banks At which time if all the people of that shire should stand any thing neere the poole with their faces toward it so that the water shall but dash into their clothes and apparell they shall hard be able to auoid the danger but that they shal be drawne into the poole But if ones backe shal be toward it there is no danger at all although he should stand vpon the very edge of the same This is the story I haue nam'd the authour let him approue the truth of the same Of Mona the iland vpon the shore of this country thou hast the opinion of Humfrey Lhoyd in his epistle which we haue adioined to the end of this booke Of this also Iohn Leland in his Genethliacon of Edward Prince of VVales thus writeth This Iland saith hee being conquered by the English changed the name and was called Anglesey that is the iland of Englishmen Polydore Virgill a man of great reading and good iudgement in many matters is of another opinion Hee laboureth with all his forces to proue Menauia to be Mona If the name which yet it retaineth If the citie Caernaruon which is ouer against it vpon the maine do take his denomination from hence and is called Aruon for Ar-mon If that same very short cut ouer of which the Roman writers do speake If the nesse or promontorie Pen-mon that is as the word signifieth The head of Mon If the huge bodies of trees and rootes couered ouer with sand which daily are digged out of the shore of Tir-mon If the firre-trees of maruailous length which in squally grounds are heere and there found within the earth in this Iland do not sufficiently proue that that was anciently called Mona which now we call Anglesey I know not what to say more then that I haue read this in the 14. booke of Cornelius Tacitus his Annales Excisique luci saeuis superstitionibus sacri c. Felling the woods consecrated to superstitious seruices c. The same Leland in another place hath these verses of this Iland Insula Romanis Mona non incognita bellis Quondam terra ferax nemorum nunc indiga siluae Sed Venetis tantum cereali munere praestans Mater vt à vulgo Cambrorum iure vocetur c. Tyr-môn in former times thus witnesse writers old was full of stately woods but now li'th bleake and cold The soile is passing good of corne it yeeld'th such store That Welsh-mens nurse it 's call'd as we haue shew'd before c. CAMBRIAE TYPVS Auctore HVMFRE DO LHVYDO Denbigiense Cambrobritano Aliquod Regionum huius tractus synonyma prout Latinè Britannicè Anglicè etiemnum appellanture Cambria L. Cambrÿ B. Wales A. Venedotia L. Gwÿnedhia B. Northwales A. Demetia L. Dÿfet B. Westwales A. Ceretica L. Ceredigion B. Cardigan A. Pouisia L. Powijs B. Dehenbart B. Sutwales A. IRELAND IRELAND which the Greekes and Latines call HIBERNIA others IVERMA and IERNA the Irish themselues call Eryn From hence strangers taking it from the mouth of the English which pronounce e the second vowell with the same sound that other nations do sound i the third vowell haue made as it seemeth Irynlandt compounded as is apparent of the Irish Erin and the Saxon or Dutch Landt which afterward was contracted for more commodity of speach and roundnesse of pronunciation into Irland from whence the Latines framed IRLANDIA The first inhabitants which seated themselues in this Iland came hither as may be easily demonstrated from Brittaine or England not from Spaine as some most absurdly haue written For the abridgement of Strabo doth flatly call these ilanders Britaine 's and Diodorus Siculus saith that Irin is a part of Britaine wherefore it was iustly of all old writers called INSVLA BRITANNIA One of the Brittish iles About the yeare of CHRIST 400. in the daies of Honorius and Arcadius the Emperours at what time the Roman Empire began to decline the Scottes a second nation entered Ireland and planted themselues as Orosius writeth in the North parts whereupon it was
iland MONA the ancient seat of the DRVIDES TO satisfie your request concerning the Name and situation of the I le MONA most learned Ortell and to set downe in writing what I haue obserued of that argument in the reading of ancient and moderne authours what I haue found by experience and trauell and what I haue gathered by the knowledge of the British tongue which to this day is spoken vulgarly by the inhabitants of this iland were but so much as I confesse is due to your kinde loue and manifold courtesies whereby you haue many wayes eternally bound me vnto you Notwithstanding in so doing I am sure to be seuerely censured of many condemned of some and generally to be subiect and opposed to the obloquy and scandalous speeches of the baser sort such I mean as haue no maner of learning or sound iudgement For a preiudicate opinion though neuer so false and absurd nay euen the grossest errors if they be once receiued and setled in the heart will hardly euer be remoued especially being patronaged and defended by the authority of Polydore Virgil a graue learned man and one that for those times was accounted very eloquent But by their leaue I may say That this man hath stuffed his Histories with many manifest errours mille mendis mendacijs with a thousand faults and falshoods which he fell into not only for that he wanted the knowledge of the British tongue which now the English after the maner of the Germans call Welsh that is Strange or Barbarous without which euen the very name of the iland can by no meanes be truely vnderstood But also either for that he neuer read the best of our Authours or els for that he bearing a proud splene and malice against the Britons whom the best and most honorable of all the Romane Emperours did loue and greatly esteeme little weighed their authority and haughtilie attributing too much to his owne neglected the better and followed the steps poore blinde man of one William Little little in name and little in estimation and credit as blinde a foole as himselfe But let this brasen faced diminisher of the Britons honour burst himselfe if he will and do what he can to the vttermost of his might and malice so long as Diodorus Siculus Dion Cassius twise Consul of Rome Herodian Plutarch Pausanias Ptolemey and Strabo are extant amongst the Greekes Caesars Commentaries Tacitus his Annals Eutropius Suetonius Orosius Aelius Spartianus Iulius Capitolinus Aelius Lampridius Flauius Vopiscus Aurelius Victor Ammianus Marcellinus Sextus Rufus The Panegyricks of Mamertinus and others Pliny Antonine Mela and Solinus amongst the Latines beside the Annals of the three Gildases Ninnius and diuers other very learned men written many hundred yeres since in the British tongue who before the comming of the English which our countreymen to this day call by their ancient name Saxons haue learnedly penned the histories of this their natiue countrey and beside Asserius Obbern Felix Monumetensis Henricus Huntingtonensis Malmesburiensis Annouillanus Iscanus Neccham Gyraldus Parisiensis Trenetus and infinite others which since those Saxons conquered that part of the iland which they call England but we reteining the old name Lhoëgria haue done the like Let I say this proud Italian burst himselfe and let him snarle at the worthy acts of the Britons while so many and such ancient authours do liue to sound the trumpe of their honour no impudent lying fellow shall euer be able with his calumnies to obscure the bright lusture of the Britons glory to impeach the honourable fame of their renowmed deeds spread abroad by such worthy men or to fasten the least infamy vpon them But now it is time to come to our proposed argument and to speake more particularly of MONA which Polydore Virgil taking vpon him more than he well might hath depriued of the ancient name and leauing it namelesse hath giuen both it and Menauia to the I le of Man as may thus be proued both out of the Greeke Latine and British writers as also out of the language which here to this day is spoken by the inhabitants It is apparent out of Caesar Tacitus and others that MONA was an iland very neere to the coast of Britaine betweene it and Ireland In which Sea there are but two beside the Hebrides that are of any note and bignesse Therefore it must needs follow that one of those two is that MONA which is so often mentioned in ancient histories Wherefore I thinke it not amisse to set downe before your eyes the position of them both and how they do lie from the coast of England other ilands round about them that by that meanes that which followeth may the better be vnderstood The first of these which Polydore calleth ANGLESEY is very neere to that part of Britaine which we call Cumry and the English Wales from which it is seuered by a very narrow frith or bay of the sea the countrey people call it Menai which ouer-against the middest of the iland is hardly a mile ouer Vpon the East side of this I le there is a very strong castle and a prety fine citie called Beaumarish Bellum mariscum both built by Edward the First King of England On the other side of the iland opposite to this city there is a maruellous conuenient place to take shipping for Ireland and therefore it is much for that purpose resorted vnto and frequented by the English They call it Holy-head but of the Welsh men it is called Caërgybi that is Gubchester or The citie of Kybi In this iland is Aberfraw which within these three or foure hundred yeeres was the chiefe seat where ordinarily the King of Northwales Gwynedia or as some barbarously write it Venedocia did reside and keepe his Court This iland for the bignesse of it mainteineth and breedeth much cattell and sheepe It yeerely yeeldeth such plentie of wheat that in respect of that fertility it is commonly called The mother of Wales They haue little wood here growing yet euery day the bodies of huge trees with their roots and sirre trees of a woonderfull length and bignesse are heere by the inhabitants found and digged out of the earth in diuers places in low grounds and champion fields The people speake the Welsh tongue and for the most part they do not vnderstand one word of English notwithstanding they haue for these three hūdred yeeres and more beene subiect as the rest of Wales hath beene to the Kings and Crowne of England But now let vs come to the other iland to which also Polydore Virgil hath not long since without any ground or good authoritie giuen the name of MONA That standeth in the middest of the maine sea distant from the neerest place of England at the least fiue and twentie miles It is almost as bigge as that other but it is farre more barren and waste and those men that are borne and bred there are weake and nothing so fit for
fifth Section of the third Climate of his Geographicall garden imprinted in the Arabicke language at Rome in the yeare of our Lord 1592. The place saith he where Lot with his family dwelt the stinking sea and Zegor euen vp as high as Basan and Tiberias was called the Vale for that it was a plaine or bottome between two hils so low that all the other waters of this part of Soria do fall into it and are gathered thither And a little beneath in the same place he addeth All the brookes and springs do meet and stay in the lake of Zegor otherwise called the lake of Sodom and Gomorrha two cities where Lot and his family dwelt which God did cause to sinke and conuerted their place into a stinking lake otherwise named The Dead lake for that there is in it nothing that hath breath or life neither fish nor worme or any such thing as vsually is wont to liue or keepe in standing or running waters the water of this lake is hot and of a filthy stinking sauour yet vpon it are little boates in which they passe from place to place in these quarters and carry their prouision The length of this lake is 60. miles the breadth not aboue 12. miles Moreouer Aben Isaac who in like maner wrote in the Arabicke tongue a treatise of Geography certaine fragments of which I haue by me for which I am beholding as also for many other fauours to Master Edward Wright that learned Mathematician and singular louer of all maner literature thus speaketh of this place The sea Alzengie saith he is a very bad and dangerous sea for there is no liuing creature can liue in it by reason of the vnwholesomnesse and thicknesse of his waters which happeneth by reason that the sunne when it commeth ouer this sea draweth vp vnto it by the force of his heat the thinner and more subtill parts of the water which is in it and so doth leaue the thicke and more grosse parts behind which by that meanes also become very hot and salt so that no man may saile vpon this sea nor any beast or liuing creature liue neere it Item the sea Sauk as Aristotle speaketh of it which also is in these parts and doth reach vp as high as India and the parched Zone so I thinke the word Mantakah that is a girdle or belt which heere he vseth doth signifie that there is not in it any liuing creature at all of any sort whatsoeuer and therefore this sea is called The Dead sea because that whensoeuer any worme or such like falleth into it it mooueth no longer but swimmeth vpon the toppe of the water and when it is dead it putrifieth and then sinketh and falleth to the bottome yet when there falleth into it any stinking and corrupt thing it sinketh immediatly and swimmeth not vpon the water at all Thus farre out of Aben Isaac This sea is of Ptolemey called ASPHALTITES the lake Ashaltites of others Asphaltes of the bitumen which it doth yeeld in great plenty of the Iewes MARE PALAESTINORVM ORIENTALE SOLITVDINIS siue DESERTI the Sea of Palaestina the East Sea the Sea of the desert or wildernesse of the situation and position of it vnto the land of Iewry Item MARE SALIS the Salt-sea of the hot and fitish saltnesse of the same aboue other salt-waters which the Arabian iustifieth to be true Pausanias that ancient and famous historian of the Greekes and Iustine the abridger of the large volume of Trogus Pompeius call it MARE MORTVVM the Dead sea of the effect there is saith Iustine a lake in that country which by reason of his greatnesse and vnmoueablenesse of his waters is called the Dead sea for it is neither mooued with the wind the heauy and lumpish bitumen which swimmeth vpon the toppe of the water all the lake ouer resisting the violence of the greatest blasts neither is it saileable for that all things that are void of life do sinke to the bottome neither doth it sustaine any thing that is not besmered with bitumen to these both my Arabians do subscribe of Galen the Prince of Physitions it is called LACVS SODOMAEVS the Lake of Sodome for him Nubiensis doth stand who neuer nameth it Bahri a sea but Bahira a lake or standing poole yet contrariwise Isaac termeth it Bahri not Bahira and by this name it is generally knowen to all the Europeans Solinus calleth it TRISTEM SINVM the Sad-bay like as the gulfe of Milinde is of some named ASPERVM MARE the rough or boisterous sea like as Isaac my authour calleth this same lake Tzahhib the churlish and dangerous sea Iosephus in the tenth chapter of his first booke of the Antiquities of the Iewes saith that this place where now is the Dead-sea was before named the Vale of bitumen pits Strabo otherwise a most excellent Geographer and curious searcher out of the truth in these discourses falsly confoundeth this lake as I touched before with the Sirbon lake Why the Arabian should call it Zengie and Sawke I know not This we haue heere added partly out of the Geographicall treasury of Ortelius for the ease and benefite of the Reader least the diuersity of names might make him mistake the thing Hauing thus finished the Mappes of HOLY write It now remaineth that we do in like maner begin and go on forward with those of PROPHANE histories A draught and shadow of the ancient GEOGRAPHY THou hast gentle and curtuous Reader in this Mappe a draught a plot or patterne I might call it of the whole world but according to the description ruder Geography of the more ancient authours of those of middle age For this our globe of the earth was not then further knowen a wonderfull strange thing vntill in the daies of our fathers in the yeare 1492. Christofer Columbus a Genoway by the commandement of the king of Castile first discouered that part of the West which vnto this day had lien hid vnknowen After that the South part hitherto not heard of togther with the East part of Asia much spoken of but neuer before this time entered was descried by the Portugals That part which lieth toward the North we haue seen in this our age to haue been first found out by the English merchants and nauigatours a particular view and proofe of which thou maist see at large in that worthy worke of the English Nauigations composed with great industrie diligence and charge by my singular good friend Master Richard Hacluyt By him England still shall liue and the name of braue Englishmen shall neuer die The other countries which as yet do lie obscured within the frozen Zones and vnder both the Poles are left for succeding ages to find out Peraduenture ancient writers that liued many hundred yeares since haue named some country or some one place or other out of this our continent but they haue not written ought of the situation of the same as being indeed altogether vnknowen vnto them In