Between Barra and Vyist lie these small Islands following Orbansa Ovia or Eoy Hakerset Garulinga Flada Buiia the greater and Buiia the less Haia Heldisay Gega Linga Fara Fuda Heath Island From these towards the North lies Vyist Thirty Miles long and Six broad The Tide flowing into this Island in two places represents the appearance of Three Islands but when it Ebbs it again coalesces into One In it are many Lakes of fresh Water the biggest of which is Three Miles long The Sea wearing away the Land hath made it self a passage into this Lough neither can it be excluded by the Inhabitants no not by a Jitty or Bank of Sixty Foot high but that it insinuates it self between the Stones not well compacted together and there often leaves some small Sea-Fish behind There is a Fish taken in it in other respects like a Salmon save that his Belly is white and his Back black and he is without Scales like to Salmon Moreover there are in it abundance of Loughs of fresh Water It hath Caves in it covered with Heath which are lurking places for Robbers There are Five Parish-Churches in it for the performance of Holy Duties Eight Miles from thence towards the East lies Helscher Vetularum so called as I suppose because it belongs to the Nuns of the Island of Icolumkill A little further towards the North appears Havelschyer to which at certain seasons of the year many Sea-Calves or Seals do resort and are there taken About Sixty Miles beyond that to the North-West stands Hirta very fruitful in Corn Cattle and especially in Sheep which are here fatter than in any other of the Islands The Inhabitants are ignorant of all Arts and especially of Religion After the Summer solstice the Lord of the Island sends thither his Proctor or Steward to gather up his Rent or Tribute and with him he sends a Priest to Baptize all the Children which were born the year before but if the Priest come not then every Man baptizeth his own Children they pay to their Lord a certain number of Sea-Calves and of Muttons dried in the Sun and also of Sea-Fowl The whole Island doth not exceed a Mile in length and it is almost of equal bredth neither can any part of it be seen from any neighbouring Island besides Three Mountains which are on the Shore and these cannot be discerned neither but from the highest places of other Islands In those Mountains there are Sheep exceeding beautiful but by reason of the Violence and Rapidness of the Sea-Current and Tide they can scarce become at by any Body But to return to Vyist on the North Promontory thereof there is situate the Isle Valay a Mile broad and two Mile long Between that Promontory and the Isle Harrick these Islands are interjacent small indeed but not unfruitful viz. Soa Stromoy Pabaia Bernera Erisay Keligera Saga the less Saga the greater Hermodra Scarvay Gria Linga Gillan Hea Hoia Ferelaia Soa the lesser Soa the greater Isa Senna the less Senna the great Tarransa Slegana Tâ—ema and above Harick Scarpa and due West there are Seven Islands at Fifty Miles distance above Lewis which some call Flavanae others the Sacred or Sanctuary Islands they arise up into Grassy Mountains but are void of all human Culture neither are there in them any four-footed Beasts but only wild Sheep which the Hunters catch but eat them not when they have done For they esteem the Fat more palatable than the Flesh for the Flesh is so unpleasant that no Man will eat it unless enforced by extremity of Hunger Furthermore almost in the same Tract nearer to the North lie Garvellan i. e. the Craggy Island Lamba Flada and Kellasa the two Berneraes the great and the small Kirta Buiia the little Buiia the great Vexa Pabaia and Sigrama the great or Cunicularia so called from its plenty of Conies Sigrama the less and the Island of Pygmies in this last there is a Chapel where the bordering People do believe that Pygmies were heretofore buried for many Strangers digging deep into the Earth have found and yet do find little and round Heads and the small Bones of other parts of human Bodies nothing derogating from the ancient Reports concerning Pygmies In that Shore of the Island Lewis which looks toward the South-East Two Bays of the Sea do break into the Land one of which they call the South the other the North Lough both of them do yield abundance of Fish to those which take pains to catch them and that during the whole year From the same shore of Lewis more to the South stands Fable Isle then Adams Isle then the Isle of Lambs as also Huilin Viccoil Havera Laxa Erin the Isle of â—columkill Toray Iâ—â—ert Scalpa Fladâ— and Shevy At the East side of this Island there is a subterraneous passage Arched at Top longer than a Man can shoot an Arrow into Under which Vault small Ships use to shelter themselves making to it by Sails or Oars to avoid the Violence of the Tide which rages at the Neighbouring Promontory with a huge Noise to the extreme Terrour and Danger of the Mariners More to the East lies an Island which they call Schan Castle a place naturally fortified abounding with Corn and Fish and also affording sufficient Provision to the Inhabitants by Eggs of Sea-Fowl which there make their Nests At the Shore where Loch-Brien or Broom opens to the Land lies the Isle En which is almost all covered with Woods and good for nothing but to harbour Thieves in to rob Passengers More to the North is the Island Gruinorta being also full of Woods possessed by Robbers and Pyrates And looking towards the same Coast is an Island named the Island of Cleirach which beside Pasturage abounds with the Eggs of Sea-Fowl Next to that is Afulla and then Harary the Greater then Harary the Less and nigh it the Island of Horses or Naâ—stich and near that again the Isle Mertaâ—ka These Eight Islands are situate before the Mouth of the Bay which is vulgarly called Lough-Broom or Brian At some distance from these Islands which lie before Lough-Broom Harrick and Lewis run toward the North They are Sixty Miles in length and Sixteen in bredth These make but one Island for they are not distinguished by the Arms of the Sea that slow into it but by the Meers of the Land and the Possessions of their several Lairds But that part which is exposed to the South is wont to be called Harray In it there was a Monastery called Roadilla built by Maccloyd of Harray The Soil is fruitful of Corn but it yields its increase rather by digging than plowing The Pastures in it are very fit for Sheep especially one very high Mountain which is green with Grass even to the very Top. Donald Monro a Learned and Pious Man relates That when
the Sea It was unknown to the Ancient Greeks and Romans And their Posterity did doubt whether it were a Continent or an Island and many Writers who were ignorant of the Truth as having not seen it themselves nor had any Information from the Inhabitants but spoke only by Conjectures in their Records as their Leisures and Humours were some counted it One some the Other But in process of time when Agricola was Chief Commander and afterwards in the time of Severus the Emperor it was clearly found out to be an Island Caesar when he had setled things in France and subdued the Morini desired to pass over thither and accordingly he transported his Foot where it was most convenient but he Landed not where he ought to Land For the Fame of his coming being noised abroad all the Britains had prepossessed the passages of the Continent But he sailing beyond a Prominent Rock made his descent elsewhere and repulsing those who first hindred his Landing he put his Men on Shore before many of the Britains could unite to impede him and afterwards he repelled their Aids too which came in conquered their Garisons and mastered the Island Yet not many of the Barbarians were slain for they fighting on Horseback and out of Chariots did easily avoid the Romans who had then no Horse Forces But being amazed at those things which were related concerning them out of the Continent and that they were so bold as to transport themselves and make their descent into their Island they sent some of the Nation of the Morini their Friends and Allies in Embassy to Caesar. First of all Caesar demandded Hostages and they promised it But afterward perceiving that the Naval Force of the Romans both those near at hand and farther off were shattered by Tempest they changed their Minds yet they did not openly set upon them for their Camp was well guarded but having surprized some of them who were sent in a peaceable manner to provide things necessary they put them almost all to the Sword excepting some whom Caesar speedily sending forth other Forces relieved and presently they make an onset on his Camp but were shamefully repulsed without effecting any thing yet they came not to Terms with Caesar till they had been often worsted by him and on the other side Caesar had no great mind to make a League with them But the Winter being now at hand and his Forces not then sufficient to carry on the War many of those which he brought over being dead or slain and besides the Gauls in his absence were attempting alterations he clapt up a Peace with them in a manner against his Will demanding many Hostages but receiving a few only Thus was he waâ—ted back into the Continent where he quelled the Mutineers and settled Affairs neither reaped he any publick or private advantage from Britain worth his Labour but that he had assaulted it by Arms. For this very reason he was much pleased in himself and his Friends did mightily extol him at Rome For when they saw that Places before unknown were now brought to light and being before never heard of were now discovered they embraced their Hopes as if they had been Enjoyments and antedating their success they rejoyced as if they had already obtained their desired Conquest and therefore they decreed Supplications to the Gods for Twenty days Out of the First Chapter of the first Book of Bede THe Islanders do profess one and the same Theology and that in Five Tongues viz. Of the Angles Brittons Scots Picts and Latins which by the Meditation of the Scriptures is made common to all the rest But in the first place the Brittons only inhabited the Island from whom it took its Name who coming over into Britain as it is reported from the Armorick Tract seized upon the Southern parts thereof And they having possessed a great part of the Island beginning from the South it happened that the Nation of the Picts venturing to Sea with a few Gallies as is reported from Scythia made their Descent in Ireland the Winds hurrying them beyond all the Coasts of Britain and having Landed there and peirced even to the Northern parts thereof where finding the Nation of the Scots they desired part of their Allotment for their Habitation but could not obtain it Out of the Fifth Chapter of the first Book of the same Author SEverus an African born at Lebeda near Tripoli the Fourteenth from Augustus Caesar obtained the Empire which he held Seventeen years He being of a fierce Disposition as always vexed with continual Wars governed the Common-Wealth with great Valour indeed but with equal Toil. And being a Conqueror in the Civil Wars which were very greivous in his Time he was enforced to pass over into Britain upon the Revolt of almost all his Allies where after many great and cruel Battels he gained part of the Island and divided it from the Un-conquered part not with a Wall as some think but with a Trench only For a Wall is made of Stones but a Trench wherewith Camps are Fortified to repel the force of Enemies is made of Turf cut out of the Earth yet as a Wall it is built high above the Ground so that there is a Ditch before it out of which the Turfs are digged and heaved up above which Pallisadoes made of strong Wood are prefixed and hung out Wherefore Severus drew a great Ditch and a firm Graff or Work fortified with many Towers above from Sea to Sea and then he died at York Out of his Twelfth Chapter of the same Book AFterwards Britain being despoiled of all her Armed Souldiery and of her chief florid Youth which were carried away Captive by the severity of Tyrants and never returned again was laid open to be preyed upon and plundred as being wholly ignorant of the Art of War At last it was suddenly harassed by Two Transmarine Nations the Scots from the South and the Picts from the North under whose yoke she groaned many years I call them Transmarine Nations not because they had their Habitations out of Britain but because they were remote from the Allotment of the Britains two Creeks of the Sea running betwixt them one of them from the East Sea and the other from the West running far into Land though they reach not one to the other The Oriental one hath in the midst of it the City Guidi The Occidental one above it i. e. on the right Hand of it hath the City Alcluyth which in their Tongue signifieth a Rock for Cluyth is situate by a River of the same Name By reason of the Incursions of these Nations the Brittons send Ambassadors to Rome with complaining Missives craving Aid of them with mournful Supplications and promising perpetual Subjection to them if they would drive away those Enemies that were at their very Doors hereupon an Armed Legion was designed for their Assistance which being transported into the Island and
for it reaches from the German quite home to the Caledonian Sea Where it is Mountainous 't is barren and untilled but the Plains thereof scarce yield to any part of Scotland for Fruitfulness It hath also many pleasant Valleys in it which are Watered with Rivers full of Fish together with several Lochs well-stored with Fish But the greatest of them all is Loch-Loubrun From the Deucaledonian Sea the Shore grows somewhat narrower and turns back towards the north-North-East From the opposite Shore the German Sea making its way between the Clefts of high Rocks within Land expands it self into a spacious Bay which affords a safe Harbour and Road for Ships against all Storms for the Passage into it is not dangerous and when you are once entred even the greatest Ships that are may be secure from all Injury of Wind and Weather At the farthest point of Ross towards the North lies Navern so called from the River Navern which the Vulgar following the Propriety of their Country Speech call Strath-Navern Ross bounds it on the South The Deucaledonian Sea washeth it West and North And on the East it reaches to Caithness Sutherland is so interjected between the three last mentioned Provinces that it borders on them All and in some Quarter or other touches them all For on the West of it lies Strath-Navern On the South and East Ross And on the North Caithness The Inhabitants thereof according to the Nature of the Soil are more given to Pasturage than Tillage I know no remarkable thing in it save only that it hath some Mountains of White Marble a rare Miracle in so cold a Country which yet are of little or no use to the Inhabitants because That luxuriant Humour which affects Curiosity hath not yet reached to this Place Caithness is the last Province of Scotland towards the North in which Coast Strath-Navern also meets It. These Two Counties do contract the Bredth of Scotland into a narrow Front In that Front there are Three high Promontories The highest of them all is in Strath-Navern which Ptolomy calls Orca or Tarvedrum now Farrow-Head The other Two are in Caithness but not so high as the former i. e. Vervedrum now called Hoia i. e. Strathy-Head and Betubium Dunsbey-Head falsly called by Hector Boetius Dume some call it Duncans-Bei from which word some Letters being substracted the word Duns-Bei seems to be derived At the Foot of the Hill there is a small Bay which little Vessels coming from the Orcades use as an Haven or Port. For a Bay of the Sea is there called Bei And this Creek or Bay being called by the Neighboring Inhabitants the Bei of Duncan or Donach from both those words conjoyned the Country Language hath formed Dunis-Bei In this Tract Ptolomy places the Cornavii or Caithness-men some Footsteps of which Name do yet remain for they commonly call the Castle of the Earls of Caithness Gernico for those whom Ptolomy and other Foreiners call Cornavii the Britains call Kernici And seeing he places the Cornavii not in this Tract only but even in a far distant part of the Island viz. Cornwal in England they who retain the old British Speech do yet call the same persons Kernici And perhaps 't is no absurd conjecture to imagine that the Cornovalli are so called for Kernicovalli i. e. the Kernic-Gauls yea in the very midst of the Island some footsteps thô obscure ones of the Name seem to have remained For Bede writes that the beginning of the Wall of Severus was not far distant from the Monastery of Kebercurnig whereas there is now no sign of a Monastery in those parts but there remains not far from thence the halfe-ruined Castle of the Duglasses called Abrecorn Whether both of those words or only one of them be corrupted from Kernicus I leave to the Reader to judge It remains now that I speak somthing concerning the Islands of Scotland which Part of the British History is involved with abundance of mistakes But omitting the Ancients who have delivered nothing certain on this Subject I shall only insist on what the Writers of our times have more truly and plainly acquainted us with Of all the Islands which do as it were begirt Scotland they make three Classes or Ranks The Western the Orcades and the Zealandish or Shetland Islands Those are called the Western Isles which lve between Scotland and Ireland on the West of Scotland in the Deucaledonian Sea and do reach almost to the Isles of Orkney or Orcades They who have written of the British Affairs either now or in the Age before us call them Hebrides a new Name of which there are no Footsteps or any Original in Ancient Writers For in that Tract of the Sea some Authors place the Aebudae or Aemodae but with such inconstancy amongst themselves that they scarce ever agree in their Number Situation or Names Strabo to begin with the most Ancient may be the better excused because he followed uncertain Report That part of the World being not fully discovered in his time Mela reckons the Aemodae to be Seaven Martianus Capella makes the Acmodae to be as many Ptolomy and Solinus count the Aebudae Five Pliny numbers the Acmodae to be Seaven and the Aebudae Thirty I for my part think it fit to retain the Names most used by the Ancients and therefore I call all the Western Isles Aebudae and I purpose to describe the Site Nature and Commodities of every one of them as out of Later so out of Surer Authors In performing this Task I will principally follow Donald Monro a Pious and Diligent Person who himself Travelled over all those Islands and viewed them Ocularly They lye dispersed in the Deucaledonian Sea being above Three hundred and odd in number The Kings of Scotland were Masters of them time out of mind until Donald the Brother of Malcolm the Third yielded up the possession of them to the Kings of Norway that by his Aid he might forcibly seize upon the Crown of Scotland to which he had no Right The Danes and Norwegians enjoyed them about One hundred and sixty years until being overcome in a great Battel they were outed of them by Alexander the Third King of Scotland These Islanders either confiding in their strength or else egg'd on and induced by Sedition have some time endeavoured to vindicate their Liberty and to set up Kings of their own For of late Iohn of the Family of the Donalds as well as others before him usurped the Name of King In their Diet Habit and the whole Administration of their Domestick Affairs they use the Ancient Parsimony Hunting and Fishing afford them Food They boil their Flesh in Water poured either into the Paunch or into the Skin of the Beasts they kill and in Hunting they sometime eat raw Flesh when the Blood is squeezed out The Broth of boiled
Flesh-meat is their Drink They sometimes drink Whey very greedily in their Feasts after it hath been kept in proper Vessels for some years That kind of Drink they call Blandium But for the most part of them they drink Water They make their Bread of Oats and Barley for they have no other Grain growing in those parts which is not unpleasant to the Taste and by frequent use they are very expert at making and moulding of it In the Morning they eat a little of it and so go a Hunting or if they have any other work to do they are content with that light Breakfast and Fast till the Evening They use party-coloured Garments and especially strip'd Plads Of all Colours they love the Purple and the Blew most Their Ancestors wear Party-coloured Plads variously striped which custom some of them do still retain But now-a-days many of them wear their Apparel of a dark brown colour almost like Heath that so lying in the Heath-bushes they might not in the day-time be discovered by their Cloaths Being rather loosly happ'd than closely covered with this sort of Blanketing they endure the fiercest weather even in the open Air and sometime they sleep in them thô cover'd all over with Snow In their Houses they also lye on the Ground only they lay under them Fern or Heath which they place with their roots downward and their brush upwards so prettily that their Beds are almost as soft as a Featherbed but far more wholsom For Heath being endued with a Natural power of exiccation doth exhaust superfluous Humors and restores vigor to the Nerves after it hath freed them from such noxious Guests so that they who lye down in the Evening weary and faint in the Morning rise up nimble and spritely They are all of them very regardless of their Bed-Ticks and Coverlets yea they affect an uncouth slovinglyness therein for if any occasion or necessity cause them to Travel into other parts when they go to Bed they throw the Bed and Blankets of their Hosts on the ground and wrap themselves up in their own Garments so betaking themselves to their Rest the Reason they give is lest such barbarous effeminateness for so they call it should taint and corrupt their Native and inbred hardiness In War they cover their Bodies with Iron Helmets and a Coat of Mail made of Iron Rings reaching almost down to their Anckles Their Weapons are Bows and Arrows for the most part hooked the Iron barbs standing out on both sides which cannot be drawn out of the Body they pierce unless the Orifice of the wound be made very wide Some of them Fight with broad Swords and Poleaxes Instead of a Trumpet they use a Bag-Pipe They are much given to Musick but on Instruments of a peculiar kind called Clarsbachs of which some have Strings made of Brass-Wire others of Guts which they strike either with their long Nails or with a Quill Their only ambition is to deck their Fiddles with very much Silver and Jewels The meaner sort instead of Jewels use Chrystal They sing Songs not unelegant containing commonly the Elogies of Valiant Men and their Bards ordinarily handle no other Argument Their Language is some what like the old Gawlish These Islands of Scotland which use the Antient Tongue and are called the Western or Aebudae Isles are thus usually reckoned The first of them is Maâ—a by some falsly called Mona but by the ancient Eubonia Paulus Orosius calls it Mevania or rather Menavia for in the old Language 't is called Manim The last Age call'd the Town in it Sodora in which the Bishop of the Islands had his See It is a Province almost equally distant from Ireland from Galloway in Scotland and from Cumberland in England It is Twenty four Miles long and Eight broad The next Isle arising in the Firth of Clyde is Alsa or Ailze an high and precipitous Rock excepting only one plain passage into it It is uninhabited almost all the year but only at certain Seasons a great number of Skiffs and Busses flock thither to Fish for Cod and Whiting It abounds with Conies and Sea-Fowl but especially with Soland-Geese It is almost equally distant from Carrick on the South-East from Ireland on the South-West and from Cantyre on the North-West The Isle of Arran is situate Twenty four Miles from Ailze inclining towards the North it is Twenty four Miles long and Sixteen broad 't is full of high Craggy Mountains so that only the Sea-Coasts thereof are inhabited where it is lowest the Sea breaks into it and makes a great Bay the entrance whereof is shut in by the Island Molas i. e. Lamlach or Lamlash So that by reason of the height of the Mountains which break the force of the Wind it is within a very safe Harbour for Shipping and there is such plentiful Fishing in those Waters which are perpetually Calm that if the Inhabitants catch more than what will serve them for one day they throw them again into the Sea as into a safe Trunk or a Fish-pond to be thence taken out at their pleasure Not far from Arrâ—n lies a small Island called Flada or Fladda which is full of Rabbets Boot Isle being Eight Mile long and Four broad is situate more inwardly in the Firth of Clyde and is Eight Miles distant from Arran aforesaid on the north-North-East On the North-West 't is distant from Argyle about half a Mile on the East from Cuningham Six Miles 'T is all in a manner low-Low-Land and so very convenient for Corn and Pasturage It hath but one Town in it bearing the Name of the Island and in it an old Castle Named Rothsey It hath also another Castle at the Bay called in the Country Language Cames or Keames Castle On the South-West thereof is the low Island Mernoch for the bigness thereof fruitful enough and well Cultivated it is a Mile long and half a Mile broad More inward in the Firth of Clyde are the two Cumbras the greater and the lesser at a small distance one from another the greater abounding with Corn the lesser with Fallow-Deer From the Promontory of Cantyre a little more than a Mile lies Avona now Sanda called Portuosa i. e. fit for a Port it got that Name from being a Road for Ships for when the Danes possessed those Islands their Fleets directed their Course thither for Shelter From the same Promontory to the South-West over against the Irish shoar stands Rahglin as also Four Miles from Cantyre is a small Island called Cara and not far there from Gaga Six Miles long and a Mile and a half broad The Island of Iura is distant Twelve Miles from Gaga being in length Twenty four Miles It 's Maritime parts are inhabited well enough but being Woody inwardly it abounds with several Sorts of Deer Some think it was anciently called Dera which in the
that plainly enough For besides the vain promises on both sides the Rythms say That the Island was not then inhabited but desolate but that it was inhabited before But where I pray then were those Portentous Figments of Gogmagog and Tentagol and other frightful Names of Men invented for Terrour shall I say or for Laughter rather What will become of those doughty Combates of Corineus and others the Companions of Brutus against not the Earth-born but Hell-born Giants Thus far concerning Brutus and his Oracle Though these be so great Fictions yet Posterity is so little ashamed of them that but a few years ago no mean Writer amongst them hath impudently feigned That the Trojans spake the British Language Homer and Dionysius Halicarnasseus do easily refel the vanity of this shameless Opinion For the one gives Greek Names to all the Trojans the other in a long and serious Disputation doth contend that the Trojans were Originally Greeks I pass by this consideration that when Brute arrived in England with no great Train how within the space of Twenty years he could establish Three Kingdoms and how they who all of them put together aâ— first could scarce make up the number of one mean Colony should in so short a time People an Island the biggest in the whole World and furnish it not only with Villages and Cities but set up in it Three large Kingdoms also yea who a while after it seems grew so numerous that Britain could not contain them but they were forced to Transport themselves into the large Country of Germany where overcoming the Inhabitants they compelled them to assume their own Name which was not a British but a Latin one and so from those Nineteen Brothers forsooth which indeed were not properly own Brothers as we say for almost each of them had a several Mother that the Country should be called Germany I have related this Fable as absurd as it is not to take the pains to refute it but to leave it to the Germans themselves for Sport and Ridicule This in General concerning the Fables of the Brittons But the intent of those who devised them seems not very obscure to me for that Monstrous Fiction of Devils lying with Virgins seems to tend hereto viz. That they might either prove an Alliance between their Brutus and two of the greatest Neighbouring Nations or else that they might vye with them in the Nobleness of their Original For the Gauls affirmed as Caesar hath it that they were descended from Father Pluto and so did the Germans according to Tacitus The cause of devising this Figment concerning Brutus seems to be alike For seeing the Buthrotii in Epirus other People in Sicily The Romans Campanians and Sulmonenses in Italy The Arvâ—rni Hedui Sequani and last of all the Francs in Gaul did celebrate I know not what Trojans as their Founders The Writers of British Affairs also thought it very conducive to the advancement of the Nobility of their Nation if they derived its Original too from the very Archives of Antiquity and especially from the Trojans either because of the famousness of that City which was praised by almost all Nations or else by reason of its Alliance with so many Nations which are said to have started up as it were out of the same common Shipwrack of that one Town Neither did they think themselves guilty of any effrontery in the Falshood if they did somewhat participate of the feigned Nobility which upon the same account was common to so many Nations besides themselves Hence arose as I judge the Fiction of Brutus and other Fables of an older date as impudently devised as foolishly received it will perhaps be enough to shew the vanity of all those things to put the Reader in mind that they were unknown to Ancient Writers that when Learning flourished they dared not peep abroad that they were coyned in its decay recorded by unlearned Flatterers and entertain'd by ignorant and too credulous Persons who did not understand the Fraud of such Cheaters For such is the disposition of those Impostors who do not seek the publick good by a true History but some private advantage by Flattery that when they seem highly to Praise theâ— they most of all deride and jeer For what do they else who pretending to advance the Nobility of a People for its greater splendor do fetch it from the Skum and Riffraff of Nature And yet credulous shall I say or not rather sottish Persons do Pride themselves with a pretended Eminency of an Original which none of their Neighbours will envy them for They also who have wrote of Scotish Affairs have delivered down to us a more Creditable and Noble Origin as they think but no less Fabulous than That of the Britains For they have adopted Ancestors to us not from the Trojan Fugitives but from those Greek Hero's whose Posterity Conquered Troy For seeing in those Ancient times two Nations of the Greeks were most of all celebrated the Dores and the Iones and the Princes of the Dores were the Argivi and of the Iones the Athenians The Scots make one Gathelus to be the chief Founder of their Nation but whether he were the Son of Argus or of Cecrops that they leave in doubt and that they may not be inferior on this accompt to the eminency of the Romans they added to him a strong Band of Robbers with which he going into Egypt perform'd gallant Exploits and after the departure would you think it of Moses was made General of the Kings Forces in that Land And that afterwards with his Wife Scota the Daughter of the King of Egypt he sailed about the whole shore of Europe adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea and having passed through so many Countries which were desolate in that Age or else inhabited but by few and in few places as Greece Italy France not to mention the numerous Islands of the Mediterranean Sea some will have him to Land at the River Iberus but leaving that Country which he could not keep they draw him on further to Galaecia a Country much more Barren Some Land him at the Mouth of the River Durius being the first of all Men as I suppose who adventured into the Ocean with a Navy of Ships and that there he built a brave Town which is now called from his Name Portus Gatheli or Port a Port whence the whole Country which from Lusus and Lusa the Children of Bacchus was a long time called Lusitania began to be called Portugal and afterwards being forced to pass into Gallaecia he there built Brigantia now called Compostella also that Braga in Portugal was built by him at the Mouth of the River Munda These are the things which the Scots have fabulously wrote concerning the Original of their Nation In feigning of which how uncircumspect they were we may gather from hence that they did not give a
shew of whose Posterity there are yet Families remaining of good account both in Scotland and England But seeing Ludd hath such an intemperate Tongue that he cares not what he says provided he may abuse others I shall leave him and conclude this Book only giving him this Caution That Loripedem rectus derideat Aethiopem albus They that Faults in others blame Must not be guilty of the same The Third BOOK THô I have sufficiently demonstrated in the Two former Books how fabulous yea how portentous the Memoirs are which the Writers of the British Affairs have delivered concerning their Ancestors and have also shewn by plain and clear evidences that the Ancient Britains had their Original from the Gauls Yet because I perceive I have to do with Men that pertinaciously adhere to a manifest Falshood rather than with such as lapse by Rashness or Ignorance I thought it worth my labour if out of Writers of great Authority amongst all Learned Men I took off the edge of such Hair-brain'd Mens boldness and by that means supply'd Good Men and Lovers of Truth with sufficient Arms to restrain and curb their daring and affronting Impudence In the rank of such Classick Authors I judge Iulâ—us Caesar deserves the first Place both for his Diligence in searching his Certainty in knowing and Sincerity in declaring things to others He in the Fifth Book of his Commentaries concerning the Gallick War writing of Britain says thus The inner part of Britain is inhabited by such as they themselves record to be born in the Island and the Maritine Coasts by such as came out of Belgium either to make Incursions or Invasions and after the War was ended they continued in the Possessions they had gained and were called by the Names of the Cities from whence they came The Country is very populous and well-stored with Houses much like those of the Gauls They have great store of Cattle they use Brass for Money or Iron rings weighed at a certain rate In its Mediterranean parts there is found great quantity of Tin and in the Mountainous parts Iron thâ— but in a small quantity their Brass is brought in by other Nations They have all sort of Trees that they have in Gallia excepting the Beech and the Firr Their Religion will not suffer them to eat either Hare Hen or Goose notwithstanding they have of them all as well for novelty as variety The Country is more temperate and not so cold as Gallia The Island lyeth Triangular whereof one side fronteth Gallia on which side That Angle wherein Kent stands points to the East where almost all Ships arrive from France And the lower Angle to the South This side containeth above 500 miles The other Angle lyeth toward Spain and the Western Coast in that Circuit where also Ireland lyeth which is an Island half as big as England as some think and as far distant from it as Gallia In the Midway between England and Ireland lyeth an Island called Man besides many other small Islands of which some write That in Winter time for 30 days together they have a continual Night whereof we learned nothing by inquiry only we found by certain measures of Water that the Nights in England were shorter than in the Continent The length of this side according to the opinion of the Inhabitants containeth 700 miles The Third side lyeth to the North and open Sea saving that this Angle doth somewhat point toward Germany This side is thought to contain 800 miles And so the whole Island containeth in circuit 2000 miles Of all the Inhabitants they of Kâ—nt are most courteous and civil all their Country bordering upon the Sea and little differing from the fashion of Gallia Most of the Inland People sow no Corn but live upon Milk and Flesh they are clothed with Skins and have their Faces painted with a blew colour to the end they may seem more terrible in Fight They wear the Hair of their Heads long having all other parts of their Body shaven except their Head and upper Lip Their Wives are common to Ten or Twelve especially Brethren with Brethren and Parents with Children but the Children that are born are accounted His unto whom the Mother was first given in Marriage And awhile after he says By these He understood that Verulam Cassivellanus's Town was not far off fortified with Woods and Bogs and well stored with Men and Cattle The Britains call that a Town when they fortifie Woody Fastnesses with a Ditch and a Rampire and so make it a place of Retreat when they stand in fear of incursions from their Enemies Thither Caesar marched with his Army and found it well fortified both by Art and Nature And as he assaulted it in Two several places the Enemy stood to it awhile but at last were not able to bear the brunt and fury of the Assailants but made their escape a back way out of the Town Thus he took it and found therein great store of Cattle and in the onset slew and took prisoners many of the Britains Tacitus in the Life of Julius Agricola THE Site of Britanny and the Inhabitants thereof thó they have been already described by sundry Writers I purpose here to declare not to compare with them in careful Ingenuity but because it was then first thorowly subdued so that such things as our Ancestors without perfect discovery have polished with Pen shall now be faithfully set down upon Knowledge Britanny of all the Islands known to the Romans the Greatest coasteth by East upon Germany by West towards Spain and it hath France on the South Northward no Land lying against it but only a vast and broad Sea beating about it The Figure and fashion of all Britanny by Livy of the Ancients and Fabius Rusticus of the Modern the most eloquent Authors is likened to a long Dish or two-edged Axe and so is that Part shapen indeed on this side Caledonia Whereupon the Fame went of the whole as it seemeth But there is beside a huge vast tract of Ground which runneth beyond unto the furthermost Point growing narrow and sharp like a Wedge This point of the utmost Sea the Roman Fleet then first of all Doubling discovered Britanny to be an Island and withal found out and subdued the Isles of Orkney before that time never known Thyle also was discovered at aloof which Snow hither and Winter had covered The Sea thereabout they affirm to be dull and heavy for the Oar and not to be raised as others are with Winds belike because Land and Mountains are â—are which minister Cause and Matter of Tempests and because a deep Mass of continual Sea is slower stirred to Rage To examine the Nature of the Ocean and Tides pertaineth not to this Work and many have done it before One thing I will add and may safely avouch that the Sea no where in the World rageth and ruleth more freely carrying by Violence so much River Water hither
present Duke of York and Vice-roy of the Kingdom of England Iames willingly assented to such large and alluring Promises and accordingly fixt a day for the Interview But there were two Factions which resolved to oppose his Journy for England First the Hamiltons who secretly laboured to keep the King from marrying that so they being the next Heirs he might have no Children to exclude them from the Succession And next the Priests also were mightily against it and their Pretences were seemingly just and honest as first the danger he would run if with a small Retinue he should put himself into the Power of his old Enemy for then he must comply with his Will though it were never so much against his Own They also recited the Examples of his Ancestors who either by their own Credulity or else by the Perfidiousness of the Enemy were drawn into a Nouse and from flattering Promises of Friendship had brought home nothing but Ignominy and Loss They also urg'd the unhappy Mistake of Iames the First who in a time of Truce landing as he thought in his Friends Country was there kept Prisoner eighteen Years and at last had such Conditions imposed upon him which he neither lawfully could nor ought to have accepted and then said they he was avariciously sold to his own Subjects Moreover first Malcolm after him his Brother William Kings of Scotland were brought on the Stage who were inticed to London by Henry the 2 d. and then carried over into France to make a shew of assisting in a War there against the French King their old Ally But say they if it be objected Henry the 8 th will do none of these things they answered first How shall we be assured of that next Is it not a point of high Imprudence to venture ones Fortune Life and Dignity which are now in ones own Power into the Hands of another Besides the Priests saw that all their Concerns were now at stake and therefore they must now or never stand up for them in order whereto they caused Iames Beton Arch-bishop of St. Andrews and George Creighton Bishop of Dunkelden two old decrepit Men to come to Court there to baul it out That Religion would be betrayed by this Meeting and Interview even That Religion said they which had been observed so many Ages by their Ancestors and which had all along preserved its Defenders till now The Ruin of which would be attended with the total Destruction of the Kingdom also to forsake that Religion upon every light Grounds especially in such a time wherein the whole World doth conspire together with Arms in their Hands for its Preservation could not be done without great Danger at present and Infamy for future yea it would be a thing of great Wickedness and Impiety also With these Engines they battered Iames's Mind which of it self was inclined enough to Superstition and moreover they corrupted those Courtiers who could do most with him desiring them in their Names to promise him a great Sum of Mony so that hereby they wholly turned away his Mind from the Thoughts of an Interview Henry took this Disappointment in great Disdain as indeed he had reason so to do and thus the Seeds of Dissension were again sown between the two Kings In the mean time the King was weary of his single Life and by reason of foreign Embassies and his Court-Distractions at home was variously agitated in his Thoughts all pretended the publick Good but some aimed at their own private Advantage under that Vail and though many persuaded him to an Affinity with Charles in regard of the flourishing Estate of the Empire at that time yet he rather inclined to an Alliance with France And therefore seeing the matter could not be ended by Embassadors he himself resolved to sail over into France and accordingly rigging out a small Navy the best he could fit in so short a time on the 26 th of Iuly he set Sail from Leith none knowing whither he would go many were of opinion that his Design was for England to visit his Uncle and to ask him pardon for disappointing the Interview agreed on the Year before But a Tempest arising and being also toss'd with contrary Winds the Pilot ask'd him what course he should steer If there be a necessity said he Land me any where but in England Then his Mind was understood He might have return'd home but he was willing rather to sail round Scotland and to try the Western Ocean there also he had very bad Weather and by the advice of a few of his Domesticks as he was asleep he was carried back again when he was awake he took the matter in such great Indignation that for ever after he bore an implacable Hatred against Iames Hamilton whom he also disgusted before upon the account of the killing the Earl of Lennox neither was he well pleased with the rest of the Authors of that Counsel ever after and there were some who in compliance with the King 's angry Humour buzz'd him in the Ears That the Hamiltons under a pretence of a serviceable Attendance and Duty had accompany'd him on purpose to undermine his Voyage However he put to Sea again with a great Train of Nobles September the 1 st and in ten days arrived at Diep in Normandy from thence that he might prevent the News of his Arrival he went disguis'd and in great speed to the Town of Vendosme where the Duke then was and saw his Daughter which pleased him not so that he presently made haste to Court he came unexpectedly upon Francis and the whole Court and yet was honourably receiv'd by him and on the 26 th of November almost against his Will he bestow'd in Marriage his Daughter Magdalene upon him For her Father as I related before judging his eldest Daughter by reason of her sickly temper unfit to bear Children offer'd him his youngest or any other Woman of the French Nobility for a Wife but Iames and Magdalene had contracted a Friendship by Messengers which was confirmed by the mutual Sight Meeting and Discourse one with another so that neither of them could be diverted from their purpose The Marriage was celebrated Ianuary the 1 st in the Year 1537 to the great Joy of all and they both arrived in Scotland the 28 th of May being attended by a French Navy She lived not long after but died of an Hectick Feaver Iuly the 7 th to the great Grief of all except the Priests for they feared that her Life would have put an end to their Luxury and Ambition because they knew she was educated under the Discipline of her Aunt the Queen of Navar. As for others they conceiv'd such a Grief for her Death that then as I think Mourning Garments began first to be used in Scotland which yet after forty Years do scarce continue to be worn though the publick Manners do decline and seem to require it