barnacls questioned with diuers persons about the same I haue red also whatsoeuer is written by forren authors touching the generation of that foule sought out some places where I haue béene assured to sée great numbers of them but in vaine Wherefore I vtterlie despaired to obteine my purpose till this present yeare of Grace 1584. and moneth of Maie wherein going to the court at Gréenewich from London by bote I saw sundrie ships lieng in the Thames newlie come home either from Barbarie or the Canarie Iles for I doo not well remember now from which of these places on whose sides I perceiued an infinit sort of shels to hang so thicke as could be one by another Drawing néere also I tooke off ten or twelue of the greatest of them afterward hauing opened them I saw the proportion of a foule in one of them more perfectlie than in all the rest sauing that the head was not yet formed bicause the fresh water had killed them all as I take it and thereby hindered their perfection Certeinelie the feathers of the taile hoong out of the shell at least two inches the wings almost perfect touching forme were garded with two shels or shéeldes proportioned like the selfe wings and likewise the brestbone had hir couerture also of like shellie substance and altogither resembling the figure which Lobell and Pena doo giue foorth in their description of this foule so that I am now fullie persuaded that it is either the barnacle that is ingendred after one maner in these shels or some other sea-foule to vs as yet vnknowen For by the feathers appearing and forme so apparant it cannot be denied but that some bird or other must proceed of this substance which by falling from the sides of the ships in long voiages may come to some perfection But now it is time for me to returne againe vnto my former purpose There hath sometime beene and yet is a bishop of this I le who at the first was called Episcopus Sodorensis when the iurisdiction of all the Hebrides belonged vnto him Whereas now he that is bishop there is but a bishops shadow for albeit that he beare the name of bishop of Man yet haue the earles of Darbie as it is supposed the cheefe profit of his sée sauing that they allow him a little somewhat for a flourish notwithstanding that they be his patrons and haue his nomination vnto that liuing The first bishop of this I le was called Wimundus or Raymundus and surnamed Monachus Sauinensis who by reason of his extreame and tyrannicall crueltie toward the Ilanders had first his sight taken from him then was sent into exile After him succéeded another moonke in king Stephens daies called Iohn and after him one Marcus c other after other in succession the sée it selfe being now also subiect to the archbishop of Yorke for spirituall iurisdiction In time of Henrie the second this Iland also had a king whose name was Cuthred vnto whome Vinianus the cardinall came as legate 1177. and wherin Houeden erreth not In the yeare also 1228. one Reginald was viceroy or petie king of Man afterward murthered by his subiects Then Olauus after him Hosbach the sonne of Osmond Hacon 1290. who being slaine Olauus and Gotredus parted this kingdome of Sodora in such wise that this had all the rest of the Iles the other onelie the I le of Man at the first but after the slaughter of Gotredus Olauus held all after whom Olauus his sonne succeeded Then Harald sonne to Olauus who being entered in Maie and drowned vpon the coastes of Ireland his brother Reginald reigned twentie and seuen daies and then was killed the first of Iune whereby Olauus aliàs Harald sonne to Gotred ruled in the I le one yeare Next vnto him succéeded Magnus the second sonne of Olauus and last of all Iuarus who held it so long as the Norwaies were lords thereof But being once come into the hands of the Scots one Godred Mac Mares was made lieutenant then Alane thirdlie Maurice Okarefer and fourthlie one of the kings chapleines c. I would gladlie haue set downe the whole catalog of all the viceroyes and lieutenants but sith I can neither come by their names nor successions I surcesse to speake any more of them and also of the I le it selfe whereof this may suffice After we haue in this wise described the I le of Man with hir commodities we returned eastwards backe againe vnto the point of Ramshed where we found to the number of six Ilets of one sort and other whereof the first greatest and most southwesterlie is named the Wauay It runneth out in length as we gessed about fiue miles and more from the southeast into the northwest betwéene which and the maine land lie two little ones whose names are Oldborrow and Fowlney The fourth is called the Fouldra and being situate southeast of the first it hath a prettie pile or blockhouse therin which the inhabitants name the pile of Fouldra By east thereof in like sort lie the Fola and the Roa plots of no great compasse and yet of all these six the first and Fouldra are the fairest and most fruitfull From hence we went by Rauenglasse point where lieth an Iland of the same denomination as Reginald Wolfe hath noted in his great card not yet finished nor likelie to be published He noteth also two other Ilets betwéene the same and the maine land but Leland speaketh nothing of them to my remembrance neither any other card as yet set foorth of England and thus much of the Ilands that lie vpon our shore in this part of my voiage Hauing so exactlie as to me is possible set downe the names and positions of such Iles as are to be found vpon the coast of the Quéenes Maiesties dominions now it resteth that we procéed orderlie with those that are séene to lie vpon the coast of Scotland that is to saie in the Irish the Deucalidonian the Germans seas which I will performe in such order as I may sith I cannot do so much therin as I would Some therefore doo comprehend and diuide all the Iles that lie about the north coast of this I le now called Scotland into thrée parts sauing that they are either occidentals the west Iles aliàs the Orchades Zelandine or the Shetlands They place the first betwéene Ireland and the Orchades so that they are extended from Man and the point of Cantire almost vnto the Orchades in the Deucalidonian sea and after some are called the Hebrides In this part the old writers in déed placed the Hebrides or Hemodes which diuers call the Hebudes and the Acmodes albeit the writers varie in their numbers some speaking of 30 Hebudes and seuen Hemodes some of fiue Ebudes as Solinus and such as follow his authoritie Howbeit the late Scottish writers doo product a summe of more than 300 of these Ilands in all which
anie giants were and whether they inhabited in this I le or not 6 Of the languages spoken in this Iland 7 Into how manie kingdoms this Iland hath beene diuided 8 The names of such kings and princes as haue reigned in this Iland 9 Of the ancient religion vsed in Albion 10 Of such Ilands as are to be seene vpon the coasts of Britaine 11 Of riuers and first of the Thames and such riuers as fall into it 12 Of such streames as fall into the sea betweene the Thames and the mouth of Sauerne 13 The description of the Sauerne and such waters as discharge themselues into the same 14 Of such waters as fall into the sea in compasse of the Iland betweene the Sauerne and the Humber 15 The description of the Humber or Isis and such water-courses as doo increase hir chanell 16 Of such fals of waters as ioine with the sea betweene Humber and the Thames 17 Of such ports and creeks as our sea-faring-men doo note for their benefit vpon the coasts of England 18 Of the aire soile and commodities of this Iland 19 Of the foure high waies sometime made in Britaine by the princes of this Iland 20 Of the generall constitution of the bodies of the Britons 21 How Britaine at the first grew to be diuided into three portions 22 After what maner the souereigntie of this I le dooth remaine to the princes of Lhoegres or kings of England 23 Of the wall sometime builded for a partition betweene England and the Picts and Scots 24 Of the maruels of England REGVM ANGLIAE SERIES catalogus COnquestor Rufus prior Henricus Stephanúsque Alter Henricus Leonino corde Richardus Rex Ioannes Henricus tertius inde Eduardus primus Gnatúsque Nepósque sequuntur His infoelicem Richardum iunge secundum Henricus quartus soboles Gandaui Ioannis Praecedit Gnato quinto sextóque Nepoti Eduardus quartus quintus homicida Richardus Septimi Henricus octauus clara propago Eduardus sextus regina Maria Philippus Elisabeth longos regnet victura per annos Seráque promisso foelix potiatur olympo CARMEN CHRONOLOGICON Thomae Newtoni Cestreshyrij GRamine fluminibus grege principe fruge metallis Lacte feris armis vrbibus arte foris Quae viget ac floret generosa Britannia quaeque Obruta puluereo squalluit ante situ Exerit ecce caput genuinum nacta nitorem Et rutilum emittit cum grauitate iubar Et quod blaesa hominum mutilarat tempore lingua Illud habet rectum pumice tersa nouo Loydus in hac pridem gnauus prolusit arena Lelandus Prisius Stous Holinshedius Lambardus Morus Camdenus Thinnius Hallus Vocalis Grafton Foxius Harrisonus Hardingus Gildas Staniherstus Beda Neuillus Doctáque Flemingi lima poliuit opus Nec te cane senex magne ô Parkere silebo Cui decus attulerat pontificalis apex Omnibus his meritò est laus debita optima merces Quòd patriae accendant lumina clara suae Longa dies opus hoc peperit longaeua senectus Et libri authores perbeet atque librum ⧠An Historicall description of the Iland of Britaine with a briefe rehersall of the nature and qualities of the people of England and such commodities as are to be found in the same Comprehended in three bookes and written by W. H. Of the diuision of the whole earth Chapter 1. WE read that the earth hath beene diuided into thrée parts euen sithens the generall floud And the common opinion is that Noah limited and bestowed it vpon his three sons Iaphet Cham and Sem preserued with him in the Arke giuing vnto each of them such portions thereof as to him séemed good and neuerthelesse reteining the souereigntie of the whole still vnto himselfe albeit as yet it be left vncertaine how those seuerall parts were bounded and from whome they tooke such names as in our times are attributed to each of them Certes the words Asia Europa and Africa are denominations giuen but of late to speake of vnto them and it is to be doubted whether sithens the time of Noah the sea hath in sundrie places wonne or lost added or diminished to and from each of them or whether Europa and Lybia were but one portion and the same westerlie regions of late discouered and now called America was the third part counting Asia for the second or the selfe region of the Atlantides which Plato and others for want of traffike thither in their times supposed to be dissolued and sunke into the sea as by their writings appeereth Not long before my time we reckoned Asia Europa and Africa for a full and perfect diuision of the whole earth which are parcels onelie of that huge Iland that lieth east of the Atlantike sea and whereof the first is diuided from the second by Tanais which riseth in the rocks of Caucasus and hideth it selfe in the Meotine moores and the Ocean sea and the last from them both by the Mediterrane and red sea otherwise called Mare Erythraeum But now all men especially the learned begin to doubt of the soundnes of that partition bicause a no lesse part than the greatest of the thrée ioined with those Ilands and maine which lie vnder the north and Southpoles if not double in quantitie vnto the same are found out and discouered by the diligence of our trauellers Hereby it appeereth that either the earth was not exactlie diuided in time past by antiquitie or els that the true diuision thereof came not to the hands and notice of their posteritie so that our ancestors haue hitherto as it were laboured in the Cimmerian darkenesse and were vtterlie ignorant of the truth of that whereabout they indeuoured to shew their trauels and knowledge in their writings Some peece of this confusion also is to be found amongst the ancient and Romane writers who notwithstanding their large conquests did sticke in the same mire with their successors not being able as appeereth by their treatises to deliuer and set downe the veritie For Salust in his booke De bello Iugurthino cannot tell whether Africa be parcell of Asia or not And with the same scruple Varro in his booke De lingua Lat. is not a litle incumbred who in the end concludeth that the whole earth is diuided into Asia and Europa so that Africa is excluded and driuen out of his place Silius also writeth of Africa as one not yet resolued wherevnto to leane that it is Aut ingens Asiae latus aut pars tertia rerum Wherein Lucane lib. 9. sheweth himselfe to be far of another iudgement in that he ascribeth it to Europa saieng after this maner Tertia pars rerum Lybia si credere famae Cuncta velis si ventos coelúmque sequaris Pars erit Europae nec enim plus littora Nili Quà m Scythicus Tanais primis à gradibus absunt Whereby I saie we may well vnderstand that in the time of Augustus Tiberius Claudius Nero the Romanes
Toliapis other Athanatos bicause serpents are supposed not to liue in the same howbeit sith it is not enuironed with the sea it is not to be dealt withall as an Iland in this place albeit I will not let to borow of my determination and describe it as I go bicause it is so fruitfull Beda noteth it in times past to haue conteined 600. families which are all one with Hidelands Ploughlands Carrucates or Temewares He addeth also that it is diuided from our continent by the riuer called Wantsume which is about thrée furlongs broad and to be passed ouer in two places onelie But whereas Polydore saieth the Thanet is nine miles in length not much lesse in bredth it is now reckoned that it hath not much aboue seauen miles from Nordtmuth to Sandwich and foure in bredth from the Stoure to Margate or from the south to the north the circuit of the whole being 17. or 18. as Leland also noteth This Iland hath no wood growing in it except it be forced and yet otherwise it is verie fruitfull and beside that it wanteth few other commodities the finest chalke is said to be found there Herein also did Augustine the moonke first arriue when he came to conuert the Saxons and afterward in processe of time sundry religious houses were erected there as in a soile much bettered as the supersticious supposed by the steps of that holy man such as came ouer with him There are at this time 10. parish churches at the least in the I le of Thanet as S. Nicholas Birchington S. Iohns Wood or Woodchurch S. Peters S. Laurence Mownton or Monkeron Minster S. Gyles and all Saincts whereof M. Lambert hath written at large in his description of Kent and placed the same in the Lath of sainct Augustine and hundred of Kingslow as may easilie be séene to him that will peruse it Sometime Rutupium or as Beda calleth it Reptacester stood also in this Iland but now thorough alteration of the chanell of the Dour it is shut quite out and annexed to the maine It is called in these daies Richborow and as it should seeme builded vpon an indifferent soile or high ground The large brickes also yet to be seene there in the ruinous walles declare either the Romane or the old British workemanship But as time decaieth all things so Rutupium named Ruptimuth is now become desolate and out of the dust thereof Sandwich producted which standeth a full mile from the place where Reptacester stood The old writers affirme how Arthur Mordred fought one notable battell here wherin Gwallon or Gawan was slaine at which time the said rebell came against his souereigne with 70000. Picts Scots Irish Norwegiens c and with Ethelbert the first christian king of Kent did hold his palace in this towne and yet none of his coine hath hitherto beene found there as is dailie that of the Romanes whereof manie péeces of siluer and gold so well as of brasse copper and other mettall haue often beene shewed vnto me It should appéere in like sort that of this place all the whole coast of Kent therabout was called Littus Rutupinum which some doo not a little confirme by these words of Lucane to be read in his sixt booke soone after the beginning Aut vaga cum Tethis Rutupinà que littora feruent Vnda Calidonios fallit turbata Britannos Or when the wandering seas and Kentish coasts doo worke And Calidons of British bloud the troubled waues beguile Meaning in like sort by the latter the coast néere Andredeswald which in time past was called Littus Calidonium of that wood or forrest as Leland also confirmeth But as it is not my mind to deale anie thing curiouslie in these by-matters so in returning againe to my purpose and taking my iourney toward the Wight I must needs passe by Selesey which sometime as it should séeme hath béene a noble Iland but now in maner a Byland or Peninsula wherin the chéefe sée of the bishop of Chichester was holden by the space of thrée hundred twentie nine yeares and vnder twentie bishops Next vnto this we come vnto those that lie betweene the Wight and the maine land of which the most easterlie is called Thorne and to saie truth the verie least of all that are to be found in that knot Being past the Thorne we touched vpon the Haling which is bigger than the Thorne and wherein one towne is situat of the same denomination beside another whose name I remember not By west also of the Haling lieth the Port the greatest of the three alreadie mentioned and in this standeth Portsmouth and Ringstéed whereof also our Leland saieth thus Port Ile is cut from the shore by an arme of the maine hauen which breaketh out about thrée miles aboue Portsmouth and goeth vp two miles or more by morish ground to a place called Portbridge which is two miles from Portsmouth Then breaketh there out another créeke from the maine sea about Auant hauen which gulleth vp almost to Portbridge and thence is the ground disseuered so that Portsmouth standeth in a corner of this I le which Iland is in length six miles and three miles in bredth verie good for grasse and corne not without some wood and here and there inclosure Beside this there is also another Iland north northwest of Port I le which is now so worne and washed awaie with the working of the sea that at the spring tides it is wholie couered with water and thereby made vnprofitable Finallie being past all these and in compassing this gulfe we come by an other which lieth north of Hirst castell southeast of Kaie hauen whereof I find nothing worthie to be noted sauing that it wanteth wood as Ptolomie affirmeth in his Geographicall tables of all those Ilands which enuiron our Albion The Wight is called in Latine Vectis but in the British speach Guidh that is to saie Eefe or easie to be séene or as D. Caius saith separate bicause that by a breach of the sea it was once diuided from the maine as Sicilia was also from Italie Anglesei from Wales Foulenesse from Essex Quinborow from Kent It lieth distant from the south shore of Britaine where it is fardest off by fiue miles a halfe but where it commeth neerest not passing a thousand paces and this at the cut ouer betwéene Hirst castell and a place called Whetwell chine as the inhabitants doo report It conteineth in length twentie miles and in bredth ten it hath also the north pole eleuated by 50. degrées and 27. minutes and is onelie 18. degrees in distance and 50. od minuts from the west point as experience hath confirmed contrarie to the description of Ptolomie and such as folow his assertions in the same In forme it representeth almost an eg and so well is it inhabited with meere English at this present that there are thirtie six townes villages and castels to be found
sometime belonged to the Scots sometime to the Norwegians and sometime to the Danes The first of these is our Manaw of which I haue before intreated next vnto this is Alisa a desert I le yet replenished with conies soland foule and a fit harbor for fishermen that in time of the yeare lie vpon the coast thereof for herings Next vnto this is the Arran a verie hillie and craggie soile yet verie plentifull of fish all about the coast and wherein is a verie good hauen ouer against the mouth whereof lieth the Moll which is also no small defense to such seafaring men as seeke harbor in that part Then came we by the Fladwa or Pladwa no lesse fruitfull and stored with conies than the Bota Bura or Botha or eight miles long foure miles broad a low ground but yet verie batable and wherein is good store of short and indifferent pasture it hath also a towne there called Rosse and a castell named the Camps There is also another called the Marnech an Iland of a mile in length and halfe a mile in breadth low ground also but yet verie fertile In the mouth likewise of the Glot lieth the more Cumber and the lesse not farre in sunder one from another and both fruitfull inough the one for corne and the other for Platyceraton The Auon another Iland lieth about a mile from Cantire and is verie commodious to ships wherof it is called Auon that is to saie Portuosa or full of harbor and therefore the Danes had in time past great vse of it Then haue we the Raclind the Kyntar the Cray the Gegaw six miles in length and a mile and a halfe in breadth the Dera full of déere and not otherwise vnfruitfull and therefore some thinke that it was called the I le of déere in old time Scarba foure miles in length and one in breadth verie little inhabited and thereinto the sea betwéene that and the I le of déere is so swift and violent that except it be at certeine times it is not easilie nauigable Being past these we come to certeine Ilands of no great fame which lie scattered here and there as Bellach Gyrastell Longaie both the Fiolas the thrée Yarues Culbrenin Duncomell Lupar Belnaua Wikerua Calfile Luing Sele I le Sound of which the last thrée are fruitfull and belong to the earle of Argile Then haue we the Slate so called of the tiles that are made therin The Nagsey Isdalf and the Sken which later is also called Thian of a wicked herbe growing there greatlie hurtfull and in colour not much vnlike the lillie sauing that it is of a more wan and féeble colour Vderga kings Ile Duffa or blacke I le Kirke I le and Triarach There is also the I le Ard Humble I le Greene I le and Heth I le Arbor I le Gote I le Conies I le alias idle I le Abrid Ile or bird I le and Lismor wherein the bishop of Argill sometime held his palace being eight miles in length and two miles in breadth and not without some mines also of good mettall There is also the Ile Ouilia Siuna Trect Shepey Fladaw Stone I le Gresse great I le Ardis Musadell Berner sometime called the holie sanctuarie Vghe I le Molochasgyr and Drinacha now ouergrowne with bushes elders and vtterlie spoiled by the ruines of such great houses as haue heretofore béene found therin There is in like sort the Wijc the Ranse and the Caruer In this tract also there are yet thrée to intreat of as Ila Mula and Iona of which the first is one of the most that hath not béene least accounted of It is not much aboue 24 miles in length and in breadth 16 reaching from the south into the north and yet it is an excéeding rich plot of ground verie plentious of corne cattell déere and also lead and other mettals which were easie to be obteined if either the people were industrious or the soile yéeldable of wood to fine and trie out the same In this Iland also there is a lake of swéet water called the Laie and also a baie wherein are sundrie Ilands and therevnto another lake of fresh water wherein the Falangam Ile is situate wherein the souereigne of all the Iles sometime dwelled Néere vnto this is the round I le so called of the consultations there had for there was a court sometime holden wherein 14 of the principall inhabitants did minister iustice vnto the rest and had the whole disposition of things committed vnto them which might rule vnto the benefit of those Ilands There is also the Stoneheape an other Iland so called of the heape of stones that is therein On the south side also of Ila we find moreouer the Colurne Mulmor Osrin Brigidan Corkerke Humble I le Imersga Bethy Texa Shepeie Naosig Rinard Cane Tharscher Aknor Gret I le Man I le S. Iohns Ile and Stackbed On the west side thereof also lieth Ouersey whereby runneth a perilous sea and not nauigable but at certeine houres Merchant I le Vsabrast Tanask Neff Wauer I le Oruans Hog I le and Colauanso Mula is a right noble I le 24 miles in length and so manie in bredth rough of soile yet fruitfull enough beside woods deere good harbrough for ships replenished with diuers and sundrie townes and castels Ouer against Columkill also it hath two riuers which yeld verie great store of salmons and other riuellets now altogither vnfruitfull beside two lakes in each of which is an Iland and likewise in euerie of these Ilands a castell The sea beating vpon this I le maketh foure notable baies wherein great plentie and verie good herrings are taken It hath also in the northwest side Columbria or the I le of doues on the southeast Era both verie commodious for fishing cattell and corne Moreouer this is woorth the noting in this I le aboue all the rest that it hath a plesant spring arising two miles in distance from the shore wherein are certeine little egs found much like vnto indifferent pearles both for colour and brightnesse and thereto full of thicke humour which egs being carried by violence of the fresh water vnto the salt are there within the space of twelue houres conuerted into great shels which I take to be mother pearle except I be deceiued Iona was sometime called Columkill in fame and estimation nothing inferiour to anie of the other although in length it excéed little aboue two miles and in breadth one Certes it is verie fruitfull of all such commodities as that climat wherein it standeth dooth yeeld and beareth the name of Columbus the abbat of whome I haue spoken more at large in my Chronologie There were somtimes also two monasteries therein one of moonks builded by Fergus another of nuns and a parish church beside many chappels builded by the Scotish kings and such princes as gouerned in the Iles. And when the English had once gotten possession
of the I le of Manaw a bishops see was erected in the old monasterie of Columbus whereby the iurisdiction of those Iles was still mainteined and continued Certes there remaine yet in this Iland the old burials apperteinâ—ng to the most noble families that had dwelled in the west Iles but thrée aboue other are accompted the most notable which haue little houses builded vpon them That in the middest hath a stone whereon is written Tumuli regum Scotiae The burials of the kings of Scotland for as they saie fourtie eight of them were there interred Another is intituled with these words The burials of the kings of Ireland bicause foure of them lie in that place The third hath these words written thereon The graues of the kings of Norwaie for there eight of them were buried also and all through a fond suspicion conceiued of the merits of Columbus Howbeit in processe of time when Malcolme Cammor had erected his abbeie at Donfermeling he gaue occasion to manie of his successors to be interred there About this Iland there lie six other Iles dispersed small in quantitie but not altogither barren sometimes giuen by the kings of Scotland and lords of the Iles vnto the abbeie of saint Columbus of which the Soa albeit that it yeeld competent pasturage for shéepe yet is it more commodious by such egs as the great plentie of wildfoule there breeding doo laie within the same Then is there the I le of Shrewes or of women as the more sober heads doo call it Also Rudan next vnto that the Rering There is also the Shen halfe a mile from Mula whose bankes doo swarme with conies it hath also a parish church but most of the inhabitants doo liue and dwell in Mula There is also the Eorse or the Arse and all these belong vnto saint Columbus abbeie Two miles from Arse is the Olue an Iland fiue miles in length and sufficientlie stored with corne and grasse not without a good hauen for ships to lie and harbor in There is also the Colfans an Iland fruitfull inough and full of cornell trées There is not far off also the Gomater Stafa the two Kerneburgs and the Mosse I le in the old Brittish speech called Monad that is to saie Mosse The soile of it is verie blacke bicause of the corruption putrefaction of such woods as haue rotted thereon wherevpon also no small plentie of mosse is bred and ingendered The people in like maner make their fire of the said earth which is fullie so good as our English turffe There is also the Long six miles further toward the west Tirreie which is eight miles in length and thrée in breadth of all other one of the most plentifull for all kinds of commodities for it beareth corne cattell fish and seafowle aboundantlie It hath also a well of fresh water a castell and a verie good hauen for great vessels to lie at safegard in Two miles from this also is the Gun and the Coll two miles also from the Gun Then passed we by the Calfe a verie wooddie Iland the foure gréene Iles the two glasse or skie Ilands the Ardan the I le of woolfes then the great Iland which reacheth from the east into the west is sixteene miles in length and six in breadth full of mounteins and swelling woods and for asmuch as it is not much inhabited the seafoules laie great plentie of egs there whereof such as will may gather what number them listeth Upon the high cliffes and rocks also the Soland géefe are taken verie plentifullie Beyond this about foure miles also is the Ile of horsses and a little from that the hog Iland which is not altogither vnfruitfull There is a falcon which of custome bréedeth there and therevnto it is not without a conuenient hauen Not farre off also is the Canna and the Egga little Iles but the later full of Soland géefe Likewise the Sobratill more apt to hunt in than méet for anie other commoditie that is to be reaped thereby After this we come to the Skie the greatest Ile about all Scotland for it is two and fortie miles long and somewhere eight in some places twelue miles broad it is moreouer verie hillie which hilles are therevnto loaden with great store of wood as the woods are with pasture the fields with corne and cattell and besides all other commodities with no small heards of mares whereby they raise great aduantage and commoditie It hath fiue riuers verie much abounding with salmons and other fresh streams not altogither void of that prouision It is inuironed also with manie baies wherein great plentie of herrings is taken in time of the yéere It hath also a noble poole of fresh water fiue castels and sundrie townes as Aie S. Iohns Dunwegen S. Nicholas c. The old Scots called it Skianacha that is Winged but now named Skie There lie certeine small Ilands about this also as Rausa a batable soile for corne gras Conie Iland full of woods and conies Paba a theeuish Iland in whose woods théeues do lurke to rob such as passe by them Scalpe I le which is full of deere Crowling wherein is verie good harbour for ships Rarsa full of béechen woods and stags being in length seuen miles and two in breadth The Ron a woodie Ile and full of heath yet hath it a good hauen which hath a little Iland called Gerloch on the mouth thereof and therein lurke manie théeues There is not farre off from this Ron to wit about six miles also the Flad the Tiulmen Oransa Buie the lesse and Buie the more and fiue other little trifling Iles of whose names I haue no notice After these we come vnto the Ise a pretie fertile Iland to the Oue to the Askoome to the Lindill And foure score miles from the Skie towards the west to the Ling the Gigarmen the Berner the Magle the Pable the Flab the Scarpe the Sander the Uateras which later hath a noble hauen for great ships beside sundrie other commodities and these nine last rehearsed are vnder the dominion of the bishop of the Iles. After this we come to the Bar an Iland seauen miles in length not vnfruitfull for grasse and corne but the chiefe commoditie thereof lieth by taking of herrings which are there to be had abundantlie In one baie of this Iland there lieth an Islet and therein standeth a strong castell In the north part hereof also is an hill which beareth good grasse from the foot to the top and out of that riseth a spring which running to the sea doth carrie withall a kind of creature not yet perfectlie formed which some do liken vnto cockels and vpon the shore where the water falleth into the sea they take vp a kind of shelfish when the water is gone which they suppose to be ingendred or increased after this manner Betwéene the Barre and the Uisse lie also these Ilands Orbaus Oue
also neat and gotes whereby they abound in white meat as butter and cheese wherein next vnto fish the chéefe part of their sustenance dooth consist There is also a bishop of the Orchades who hath his see in Pomona the chéefe of all the Ilands wherein also are two strong castels and such hath béene the superstition of the people here that there is almost no one of them that hath not one church at the least dedicated to the mother of Christ. Finallie there is little vse of physicke in these quarters lesse store of éeles and least of frogs As for the horsses that are bred amongst them they are commonlie not much greater than asses and yet to labour and trauell a man shall find verie few else-where able to come neere much lesse to match with them in holding out their iournies The seas about these Ilands are verie tempestuous not onelie through strong winds and the influences of the heauens and stars but by the contrarie méetings and workings of the west ocean which rageth so vehementlie in the streicts that no vessell is able to passe in safetie amongst them Some of these Ilands also are so small and low that all the commoditie which is to be reaped by anie of them is scarselie sufficient to susteine one or two men and some of them so barren and full of rocks that they are nothing else but mosse or bare shingle Wherefore onelie thirteene of them are inhabited and made account of the rest being left vnto their sheepe and cattell Of all these Ilands also Pomona is the greatest and therfore called the continent which conteineth thirtie miles in length and is well replenished with people for it hath twelue parish churches and one towne which the Danes sometime lords of that Iland called Cracouia but now it hight Kirkwa There are also two pretie holds one belonging to the king the other to the bishop and also a beautifull church and much building betweene the two holds and about this church which being taken as it were for two townes the one is called the kings and the other the bishops towne All the whole Iland is full of cliffes and promontories whereby no small number of baies and some hauens are producted There is also tin and lead to be found in six of these Iles so good and plentifullie as anie where else in Britaine It lieth foure twentie miles from Cathnesse being separated from the same by the Pictish sea wherein also lie certeine Ilands as Stroma foure miles from Cathnesse which albeit that it be but foure miles from Cathnesse is not reputed for anie of the Orchades Going therefore from hence northward we come to the first I le of the Orchades called south Rauals which is sixtéene miles from Dunghilsbie aliàs Dunachisbie that in two houres space such is the swiftnesse of the sea in that tract This I le is fiue miles long and hath a faire port called saint Margarets hauen Then passe we by two desert Iles which lie towards the east wherein nothing is found but cattell some call them the holmes bicause they lie low and are good for nothing but grasse On the northside lieth the Bur and two other holmes betweene the same Pomona From Bur toward the west lie thrée Iles Snu Flat and Far and beyond them Hoie and Uall which some accompt for two and other but for one bicause that in March and September the flats that lie betwéene them doo séeme to ioine them togither after the tide is gone This neuerthelesse is certeine that in this single or double I le which is ten miles in length the highest hilles are to be séene that are in all the Orchades And as they lie eight miles from Rauals so are they two miles from Pomona from saint Donats in Scotland full twentie miles And on the north side of it lieth the Brainse in a narrow streict as Buchanan dooth remember And these are the Iles which lie betweene Pomona and Cathnesse As for the west side of the continent I find that it lieth open to the sea without either shelues Ilands or rocks appéering néere vnto it but on the east side thereof Cobesa dooth in maner ouershadow it Siapiusa also an I le of six miles long lieth within two miles of Cracouia Toward the east on the west side of Pomona lieth the Rouse of six miles in length and by east of that the Eglisa wherin as they saie their patrone S. Magnus lieth interred From hense southward lie the Uera Gersa and not far off the Uester which is fourescore miles from Hethland Papa Stronza which is also eightie miles from Hethland as the Uester In the middest also of this tract lieth Far or Fara which is to saie faire I le in old English faire eie and within sight so well of Hethland as the Orchades by reason of three insuperable rocks which are apparant in the same a verie poore Iland and yet yearelie robbed of such commodities as it hath by such Flemish and English fishermen as passe by the coasts thereof in time of the yeare to catch fish for the prouision of their countries Next vnto this is the greatest of all the Hethlands an Iland called the Maine sixtie miles in length and sixteene in bredth full of rocks and whose coasts are onelie inhabited the innermost parts being lest vnto the foules of the aire bicause of the barrennesse and vnfruitfulnesse of the soile yet of late some haue indeuoured to impeople it but with no successe correspondent to their desire Wherefore they returned to their former trades making their chéefe commoditie and yearelie gaine by fish as aforetime Ten miles from this toward the north lieth the Zeale twentie miles in length eight in bredth and so wild that it will suffer no creature to liue thereof that is not bred therein Betwéene this Iland also and the Maine are other smaller Ilands to be found as the Ling Orne Big and Sanferre And from hense nine miles northward Usta twentie miles long six in bredth plaine pleasant but inuironed with a swift and terrible sea Betwéene this also and the Zeale are the Uie the Ure and the Ling also towards the west the two Skenes Chalseie Nordwade Brase and Mowse on the west side lie the west Skenes Rottia Papa the lesse Wunned Papa the more Ualla Tondra Burra Haura the more Haura the lesse in maner so manie holmes dispersed heere and there whereof I haue no notice Some call these the Shetland and some the Shotland Iles. Buchanan nameth them in the third member of his diuision Zelandise and toward the end of his first booke seemeth to auouch that they liue in maner as doo the inhabitants of the Orchades although not in so ciuill wise nor in such large measure and aboundance of diet in their houses He addeth moreouer that their apparrell is after the Germaine cut comelie but not so chargeable and costlie and how they raise their gaine by skins of
betwéene Chester and Darbishires Going also toward Goitehall it méeteth with a faire brooke increased by sundrie waters called Goite whereof I find this short and briefe description The Goite riseth not far from the Shire méere hill wherein the Doue and the Dane haue their originall that parteth Darbishire and Chestershire in sunder and thence commeth downe to Goite houses Ouerton Taxhall Shawcrosse and at Weibridge taketh in the Frith and beneath Berdhall the Set that riseth aboue Thersethall and runneth by Ouerset After this confluence also the Merseie goeth to Goite hall at Stockford or Stopford towne méeteth with the Tame which diuideth Chestershire and Lancastershire in sunder and whose head is in the verie edge of Yorkeshire from whence it goeth southward to Sadleworth Firth then to Mukelhirst Stalie hall Ashdon Underline Dunkenfield Denton Reddish and so at Stockford into the Merseie streame which passeth foorth in like sort to Diddesbirie receiuing a brooke by the waie that commeth from Lime parke by Brumhall parke and Chedle From Diddesbirie it procéedeth to Norden Ashton Aiston Flixston where it receiueth the Irwell a notable water and therefore his description is not to be omitted before I doo go forward anie further with the Merseie although it be not nauigable by reason of sundrie rockes and shalowes that lie dispersed in the same It riseth aboue Bacop and goeth thence to Rosendale and in the waie to Aitenfield it taketh in a water from Haselden After this confluence it goeth to Newhall Brandlesham Brurie and aboue Ratcliffe ioineth with the Rache water a faire streame and to be described when I haue finished the Irwell as also the next vnto it beneath Ratcliffe bicause I would not haue so manie ends at once in hand wherewith to trouble my readers Being therfore past these two our Irwell goeth on to Clifton Hollond Edgecroft Strengwaies and to Manchester where it vniteth it selfe with the Yrke that runneth thereinto by Roiton Midleton Heaton hill and Blackeleie Beneath Manchester also it méeteth with the Medlocke that commeth thither from the northeast side of Oldham and betwéene Claiton and Garret Halles and so betwéene two parkes falling into it about Holne Thence our Irwell going forward to Woodsall Whicleswtâ—c Ecles Barton and Deuelhom it falleth néere vnto Flixton into the water of Merseie where I will staie a while withall till I haue brought the other vnto some passe of which I spake before The Rache Rach or Rish consisteth of sundrie waters whereof ech one in maner hath a proper name but the greatest of all is Rache it selfe which riseth among the blacke stonie hils from whence it goeth to Littlebrough and being past Clegge receiueth the Beile that commeth thither by Milneraw chappell After this confluence also it méeteth with a rill néere vnto Rachedale and soone after with the Sprotton water and then the Sudleie brooke whereby his chanell is not a little increased which goeth from thence to Grisehirst and so into the Irewell before it come at Ratcliffe The second streame is called Bradsha It riseth of two heds aboue Tureton church whence it runneth to Bradsha and yer long taking in the Walmesleie becke they go in one chanell till they come beneath Bolton in the More From hence receiuing a water that commeth from the roots of Rauenpike hill by the way it goeth by Deane and Bolton in the More and so into Bradsha water which taketh his waie to Leuermore Farnworth Leuerlesse and finallie into the Irwell which I before described and whereof I find these two verses to be added at the last Irke Irwell Medlocke and Tame When they meet with the Merseie do loose their name Now therefore to resume our Merseie you shall vnderstand that after his confluence with the Irwell he runneth to Partington and not farre from thence interteineth the Gles or Glesbrooke water increased with sundrie armes wherof one commeth from Lodward another from aboue Houghton the third from Hulton parke and the fourth from Shakerleie and being all vnited néere vnto Leigh the confluence goeth to Holcroft and aboue Holling gréene into the swift Merseie After this increase the said streame in like sort runneth to Rigston there admitteth the Bollein or Bolling brooke water into his societie which rising néere the Chamber in Maxwell forrest goeth to Ridge Sutton Bollington Prestbirie and Newton where it taketh in a water comming from about Pot Chappell which runneth from thence by Adlington Woodford Wimesleie Ringeie and Ashleie there receiuing the Birkin brooke that commeth from betwéene Allerton and Marchall by Mawberleie and soone after the Marus or Mar that commeth thereinto from Mar towne by Rawstorne and after these confluences goeth on to Downham and ouer against Rixton beneath Crosford bridge into the Merseie water which procéeding on admitteth not another that méeteth with all néere Lim before it go to Thelwall Thence also it goeth by Bruche and so to Warrington a little beneath crossing a brooke that commeth from Par by Browseie Bradleie and Saukeie on the one side and another on the other that commeth thither from Gropenhall and with these it runneth on to nether Walton Acton grange and so to Penkith where it interteineth the Bold and soone after the Grundich water on the other side that passeth by Preston and Daresbirie Finallie our Merseie going by Moulton it falleth into Lirepoole or as it was called of old Liuerpoole hauen when it is past Runcorne And thus much of the Merseie comparable vnto the Wiuer and of no lesse fame than most riuers of this Iland Being past these two we come next of all to the Tarbocke water that falleth into the sea at Harbocke without finding anie mo till we be past all Wirall out of Lirepoole hauen and from the blacke rockes that lie vpon the north point of the aforesaid Iland Then come we to the Altmouth whose fresh rising not far into the land commeth to Feston and soone after receiuing another on the right hand that passeth into it by Aughton it is increased no more before it come at the sea Neither find I anie other falles till I méet with the mouth of the Yarrow and Duglesse which haue their recourse to the sea in one chanell as I take it The Duglesse commeth from by west of Rauenspike hill and yer long runneth by Andertonford to Worthington and so taking in two or thrée rilles by the waie to Wigen where it receiueth two waters in one chanell of which one commeth in south from Brin parke the other from northeast Being past this it receiueth one on the north side from Standish and another by south from Hollond and then goeth on toward Rufford chappell taking the Taud withall that descendeth from aboue Skelmersdale towne and goeth through Lathan parke belonging as I heare vnto the earle of Derbie It méeteth also
neither regarding either maners or obedience doo oftentimes come to confusion which if anie correction or discipline had béene vsed toward them in youth might haue prooued good members of their common-wealth countrie by their good seruice and industrie I could make report likewise of the naturall vices and vertues of all those that are borne within this Iland but as the full tractation herof craueth a better head than mine to set foorth the same so will I giue place to other men that list to take it in hand Thus much therefore of the constitutions of our bodies and so much may suffice How Britaine at the first grew to be diuided into three portions Cap. 21. AFter the comming of Brutus into this Iland which was as you haue read in the foresaid treatise about the yeare of the world 2850 or 1217 before the incarnation of Christ although Goropius after his maner doo vtterlie denie our historie in this behalfe he made a generall surueis of the whole Iland from side to side by such means to view and search out not onelie the limits and bounds of his dominions but also what commodities this new atchiued conquest might yéeld vnto his people Ferthermore finding out at the last also a conuenable place wherin to erect a citie he began there euen the verie same which at this daie is called London naming it Trenouanton in remembrance of old Troie from whence his ancestors proceeded and for which the Romans pronounced afterward Trinobantum although the Welshmen doo call it still Trenewith This citie was builded as some write much about the tenth yeare of his reigne so that he liued not aboue fiftéene yeares after he had finished the same But of the rest of his other acts attempted and doone before or after the erection of this citie I find no certeine report more than that when he had reigned in this Iland after his arriuall by the space of foure and twentie yeares he finished his daies at Trenouanton aforesaid being in his yoong and florishing age where his carcase was honourablie interred As for the maner of his death I find as yet no mention thereof among such writers as are extant I meane whether it grew vnto him by defect of nature or force of gréeuous wounds receiued in his warres against such as withstood him from time to time in this Iland and therefore I can saie nothing of that matter Herein onelie all agree that during the time of his languishing paines he made a disposition of his whole kingdome diuiding it into three parts or portions according to the number of his sonnes then liuing whereof the eldest excéeded not eight and twentie yeares of age as my coniecturs giueth me To the eldest therefore whose name was Locrine he gaue the greatest and best region of all the rest which of him to this daie is called Lhoegres among the Britons but in our language England of such English Saxons as made conquest of the same This portion also is included on the south with the British sea on the est with the Germane Ocean on the north with the Humber and on the west with the Irish sea and the riuers Dee and Sauerne whereof in the generall description of this Iland I haue spoken more at large To Camber his second sonne he assigned all that lieth beyond the Sauerne and Dee toward the west which parcell in these daies conteineth Southwales and Northwales with sundrie Ilands adiacent to the same the whole being in maner cut off and separated from England or Lhoegria by the said streams wherby it séemeth also a peninsula or by-by-land if you respect the small hillie portion of ground that lieth indifferentlie betweene their maine courses or such branches at the least as run and fall into them The Welshmen or Britons call it by the ancient name still vnto this day but we Englishmen terme it Wales which denomination we haue from the Saxons who in time past did vse the word Walsh in such sort as we doo Strange for as we call all those strangers that are not of our nation so did they name them Walsh which were not of their countrie The third and last part of the Iland he allotted vnto Albanact his yoongest sonne for he had but three ill all as I haue said before whose portion séemed for circuit to be more large than that of Camber and in maner equall in greatnesse with the dominions of Locrinus But if you haue regard to the seuerall commodities that are to be reaped by each you shall find them to be not much discrepant or differing one from another for what soeuer the first second haue in plentie of corne fine grasse and large cattell this latter wanteth not in excéeding store of fish rich mettall quarries of stone and abundance of wild foule so that in mine opinion there could not be a more equall partition then this made by Brute and after the aforesaid maner This later parcell at the first tooke the name of Albanactus who called it Albania But now a small portion onelie of the region being vnder the regiment of a duke reteineth the said denomination the rest being called Scotland of certeine Scots that came ouer from Ireland to inhabit in those quarters It is diuided from Lhoegres also by the Solue and the Firth yet some doo note the Humber so that Albania as Brute left it conteined all the north part of the Iland that is to be found beyond the aforesaid streame vnto the point of Cathnesse To conclude Brute hauing diuided his kingdome after this maner and therein contenting himselfe as it were with the generall title of the whole it was not long after yer he ended his life and being solemnelie interred at his new citie by his thrée children they parted each from other and tooke possession of their prouinces But Scotland after two yeares fell againe into the hands of Locrinus as to the chiefe lord by the death of his brother Albanact who was slaine by Humber king of the Scithians and left none issue behind him to succéed him in that kingdome After what maner the souereigntie of this I le dooth remaine to the princes of Lhoegres or kings of England Chap. 22. IT is possible that some of the Scotish nation reading the former chapter will take offense with me for meaning that the principalitie of the north parts of this I le hath alwais belonged to the kings of Lhoegres For whose more ample satisfaction in this behalfe I will here set downe a discourse thereof at large written by diuerse and now finallie brought into one treatise sufficient as I thinke to satisfie the reasonable although not halfe enough peraduenture to content a wrangling mind sith there is or at the leastwise hath beene nothing more odious among some than to heare that the king of England hath ought to doo in Scotland How their historiographers haue attempted to shape manie coloured
were not yet resolued of the diuision of the earth For my part as I indeuour not to remooue the credit of that which antiquitie hath deliuered and yet loth to continue and maintaine any corruption that may be redressed so I thinke good to giue foorth a new diuision more probable better agreeing with a truth And therefore I diuide the whole into fiue seuerall parcels reteining the common diuision in the first three as before and vnto the fourth allowing not onelie all that portion that lieth by north of the Magellan streicts and those Hyperborean Ilands which lie west of the line of longitude of late discouered by Frobisher and called by hir Maiestie Meta incognita but likewise so manie Ilands as are within 180. degrées Westwards from our beginning or common line of longitude whereby they are parted from those which by this diuision are allotted vnto Asia and the portion it selfe made equipollent with the same for greatnes far excéeding either Europa or Africa if it be not fullie so much in quantitie as they both vnited and laid togither The fift last part is the Antartike portion with hir Ilands annexed that region I meane which lieth vnder the South pole cut off from America or the fourth part by the Magellan streiâ—ts from Africa by the sea which passeth by the Cape of good hope a countrie no lesse large for limits and bounds than Africa or America and therefore right worthie to be called the fift howsoeuer it shall please the curious to mislike of this diuision This also I will adde that albeit the continent hereof doo not extend it selfe vnto the verie Antartike point but lieth as it were a long table betwéene two seas of which the later is vnder the South poole and as I may call it a maine sea vnder the aforesaid pricke yet is it not without sundrie Ilands also adioining vnto it and the inner most sea not destitute of manie as by experience hath béene of late confirmed Furthermore whereas our describers of the earth haue made it such in their descriptions as hath reached litle or nothing into the peaceable sea without the Antartike circle it is now found by Theuet and others that it extendeth it selfe northwards into that trace by no small number of leagues euen in maner to the Equator in so much that the westerlie part thereof from America is supposed to reach northward so far from the Antartike article as Africa dooth southwards from the tropike of Cancer which is no small portion of ground I maruell why not obserued by such as heretofore haue written of the same But they excuse themselues by the ingratitude of the Portingals and Spaniards who haue of purpose concealed manie things found out in their trauell least they should séeme to open a gap by dooing otherwise for strangers to enter into their conquests As for those Ilands also which lie in the peaceable sea scattered here and there as Iaua the greater the lesser Sumatra Iapan Burneo c with a number of other I refer them still vnto Asia as before so as they be without the compasse of 90. degrées eastward from the line of longitude not aboue 180. as I doo the I le of S. Laurence and a number of other vnto Africa within the said proportion wishing so little alteration as I may and yet not yéelding vnto any confusion whereby the truth of the diuision should hereafter be impeached And whereas by Virgil speaking of our Iland saith Et penitùs toto diuisos orbe Britannos And some other authors not vnwoorthie to be read and perused it is not certeine vnto which portion of the earth our Ilands and Thule with sundrie the like scattered in the north seas should be ascribed bicause they excluded them as you sée from the rest of the whole earth I haue thought good for facilitie sake of diuision to refer them all which lie within the first minute of longitude set downe by Ptolome to Europa and that as reason requireth so that the aforesaid line shall henceforth be their Meta partition from such as are to be ascribed to America albeit they come verie neere vnto the aforesaid portion may otherwise without preiudice be numbred with the same It may be that some will thinke this my dealing either to be superfiuous or to procéed from I wot not what foolish curiositie for the world is now growne to be very apt and readie to iudge the hardest of euerie attempt But forsomuch as my purpose is to leaue a plaine report of such matter as I doo write of and deliuer such things as I intreat of in distinct and vpright order though method now and then doo faile I will go forward with my indeuour referring the examination of my dooings to the indifferent and learned eare without regard what the other doo conceiue and imagine of me In the meane season therefore it shall suffice to say at this time that Albion as the mother and the rest of the Ilands as hir daughters lieng east of the line of longitude be still ascribed vnto Europa wherevnto some good authours heretofore in their writings their owne proper or naturall situations also haue not amisse referred them Of the position circuit forme and quantitie of the I le of Britaine Cap. 2. BRitannia or Britain as we now terme it in our English toong or Brutania as some pronounce it by reason of the letter y in the first syllable of the word as antiquitie did sometime deliuer it is an Ile lieng in the Ocean sea directlie ouer against that part of France which conteineth Picardie Normandie and thereto the greatest part of little Britaine which later region was called in time past Armorica of the situation thereof vpon the sea coast vntill such time as a companie of Britons either led ouer by some of the Romane Emperours or flieng thither from the tyrannie of such as oppressed them here in this Iland did setle themselues there and called it Britaine after the name of their owne countrie from whence they aduentured thither It hath Ireland vpon the west side on the north the maine sea euen to Thule and the Hyperboreans and on the east side also the Germane Ocean by which we passe dailie through the trade of merchandize not onlie into the low countries of Belgie now miserablie afflicted betwéene the Spanish power and popish inquisition as spice betwéene the morter and the pestell but also into Germanie Friezeland Denmarke and Norwaie carrieng from hence thither and bringing from thence hither all such necessarie commodities as the seuerall countries doo yéeld through which meanes and besides common amitie conserued traffike is mainteined and the necessitie of each partie abundantlie reléeued It conteineth in longitude taken by the middest of the region 19. degrees exactlie and in latitude 53. degrées and thirtie min. after the opinions of those that haue diligentlie obserued the same in our daies
4. AS few or no nations can iustlie boast themselues to haue continued sithence their countrie was first replenished without any mixture more or lesse of forreine inhabitants no more can this our Iland whose manifold commodities haue oft allured sundrie princes and famous capteines of the world to conquer and subdue the same vnto their owne subiection Manie sorts of people therfore haue come in hither and settled themselues here in this I le and first of all other a parcell of the linage and posteritie of Iaphet brought in by Samothes in the 1910. after the creation of Adam Howbeit in processe of time and after they had indifferentlie replenished and furnished this Iland with people which was doone in the space of 335. yeares Albion the giant afore mentioned repaired hither with a companie of his owne race procéeding from Cham and not onelie annexed the same to his owne dominion but brought all such in like sort as he found here of the line of Iaphet into miserable seruitude and most extreame thraldome After him also and within lesse than sixe hundred and two yeares came Brute the sonne of Syluius with a great traine of the posteritie of the dispersed Troians in 324. ships who rendering the like courtesie vnto the Chemminits as they had doone before vnto the séed of Iaphet brought them also wholie vnder his rule and gouernance and dispossessing the peeres inferior owners of their lands and possessions he diuided the countrie among such princes and capteines as he in his arriuall here had led out of Grecia with him From hencefoorth I doo not find any sound report of other nation whatsoeuer that should aduenture hither to dwell and alter the state of the land vntill the Romane emperours subdued it to their dominion sauing of a few Galles and those peraduenture of Belgie who first comming ouer to rob and pilfer vpon the coasts did afterward plant themselues for altogither neere vnto the shore and there builded sundrie cities and townes which they named after those of the maine from whence they came vnto vs. And this is not onelie to be gathered out of Cesar where he writeth of Britaine of set purpose but also else-where as in his second booke a litle after the beginning for speaking of Deuiaticus king of the Swessions liuing in his time he affirmeth him not onelie to be the mightiest prince of all the Galles but also to hold vnder his subiection the I le of Britaine of which his sonne Galba was afterward dispossessed But after the comming of the Romans it is hard to say with how manie sorts of people we were dailie pestered almost in euerie steed For as they planted their forworne legions in the most fertile places of the realme and where they might best lie for the safegard of their conquests so their armies did commonlie consist of manie sorts of people and were as I may call them a confused mixture of all other countries and nations then liuing in the world Howbeit I thinke it best bicause they did all beare the title of Romans to reteine onelie that name for them all albeit they were wofull ghests to this our Iland sith that with them came all maner of vice and vicious liuing all riot and excesse of behauiour into our countrie which their legions brought hither from each corner of their dominions for there was no prouince vnder them from whence they had not seruitours How and when the Scots a people mixed of the Scithian and Spanish blood should arriue here out of Ireland when the Picts should come vnto vs out of Sarmatia or from further toward the north the Scithian Hyperboreans as yet it is vncerteine For though the Scotish histories doo carrie great countenance of their antiquitie in this Iland yet to saie fréelie what I thinke I iudge them rather to haue stolne in hither within the space of 100. yeares before Christ than to haue continued here so long as they themselues pretend if my coniecture be any thing Yet I denie not but that as the Picts were long planted in this Iland before the Scots aduentured to settle themselues also in Britaine so the Scots did often aduenture hither to rob and steale out of Ireland and were finallie called in by the Meats or Picts as the Romans named them because they painted their bodies to helpe them against the Britains after the which they so planted themselues in these parts that vnto our time that portion of the land cannot he cleansed of them I find also that as these Scots were reputed for the most Scithian-like and barbarous nation and longest without letters so they vsed commonlie to steale ouer into Britaine in leather skewes and began to helpe the Picts about or not long before the beginning of Cesars time For both Diodorus lib. 6. and Strabo lib. 4. doo seeme to speake of a parcell of the Irish nation that should inhabit Britaine in their time which were giuen to the eating of mans flesh and therefore called Anthropophagi Mamertinus in like sort dooth note the Redshanks and the Irish which are properlie the Scots to be the onelie enimies of our nation before the comming of Caesar as appeareth in his panegyricall oration so that hereby it is found that they are no new ghestes in Britaine Wherefore all the controuersie dooth rest in the time of their first attempt to inhabit in this Iland Certeinlie I maruell much whie they trauell not to come in with Cantaber and Partholonus but I see perfectlie that this shift should be too grosse for the maintenance of their desired antiquitie Now as concerning their name the Saxons translated the word Scotus for Irish whereby it appeareth that those Irish of whom Strabo and Diodorus doo speake are none other than those Scots of whom Ierome speaketh A duersus Iouinianum lib. 2. who vsed to féed on the buttocks of boies and womens paps as delicate dishes Aethicus writing of the I le of Man affirmeth it to be inhabited with Scots so well as Ireland euen in his time Which is another proofe that the Scots and Irish are all one people They were also called Scoti by the Romans bicause their Iland originall inhabitation thereof were vnknowne and they themselues an obscure nation in the sight of all the world Now as concerning the Picts whatsoeuer Ranulphus Hygden imagineth to the contrarie of their latter enterance it is easie to find by Herodian and Mamertinus of which the one calleth them Meates the other Redshankes and Pictones that they were setled in this I le long before the time of Seuerus yea of Caesar and comming of the Scots Which is proofe sufficient if no further authoritie remained extant for the same So that the controuersie lieth not in their comming also but in the true time of their repaire and aduenture into this Iland out of the Orchades out of which they gat ouer into the North parts of our countrie as the
since this I le was left desolate for when the inhabitants thereof returned from a feast holden in S. Maries Ile they were all drowned and not one person left aliue There are also two other small Ilands betwéene this and the Annot whereof I find nothing worthie relation for as both of them ioind togither are not comparable to the said Annot for greatnesse and circuit so they want both hogs and conies wherof Annot hath great plentie There is moreouer the Minwisand from whence we passe by the Smithy sound leauing thrée little Ilands on the left hand vnto the Suartigan Iland then to Rousuian Rousuiar and the Cregwin which seauen are for the most part replenished with conies onelie and wild garlike but void of wood other commodities sauing of a short kind of grasse or here there some firzes whereon their conies doo féed Leauing therefore these desert peeces we incline a little toward the northwest where we stumble or run vpon Moncarthat Inis Welseck Suethiall We came in like sort vnto Rat Iland wherein are so manie monstrous rats that if anie horsses or other beasts happen to come thither or be left there by negligence but one night they are sure to be deuoured eaten vp without all hope of recouerie There is moreouer the Anwall and the Brier Ilands in like sort void of all good furniture conies onelie excepted and the Brier wherein is a village castell and parish-church bringeth foorth no lesse store of hogs and wild foule than Rat Iland doth of rats whereof I greatlie maruell By north of the Brier lieth the Rusco which hath a Labell or Byland stretching out toward the southwest called Inis widdon This Rusco is verie neere so great as that of S. Maries It hath moreouer an hold and a parish within it beside great store of conies and wild foule whereof they make much gaine in due time of the yeare Next vnto this we come to the Round Iland which is about a mile ouer then to S. Lides Iland wherein is a parish-church dedicated to that Saint beside conies wood and wild foule of which two later there is some indifferent store the Notho the Auing one of them being situat by south of another and the Auing halfe a mile ouer which is a iust halfe lesse than the Notho and the Tyan which later is a great Iland furnished with a parish-church and no small plentie of conies as I heare After the Tyan we come to S. Martines Ile wherein is a faire towne the I le it selfe being next vnto the Rusco for greatnesse and verie well furnished with conies fresh springs Also betwixt this and S. Maries are ten other smaller which reach out of the northeast into the southwest as Knolworth Sniuilliuer Menwetham Vollis 1. Surwihe Vollis 2. Arthurs Iland Guiniliuer Nenech and Gothrois whose estates are diuers howbeit as no one of these is to be accounted great in comparison of the other so they all yéeld a short grasse méet for sheepe and conies as doo also the rest In the greater Iles likewise whose names are commonlie such as those of the townes or churches standing in the same there are as I here sundry lakes and those neuer without great plentie of wild foule so that the Iles of Sylley are supposed to be no lesse beneficiall to their lords than anie other what soeuer within the compasse of our Ile or neere vnto our coasts In some of them also are wild swine And as these Iles are supposed to be a notable safegard to the coast of Cornewall so in diuerse of them great store of tin is likewise to be found There is in like maner such plentie of fish taken among these same that beside the feeding of their swine withall a man shall haue more there for a penie than in London for ten grotes Howbeit their cheefe commoditie is made by Reigh which they drie cut in peeces and carie ouer into little Britaine where they exchange it there for salt canuas readie monie or other merchandize which they doo stand in need of A like trade haue some of them also with Buckhorne or dried whiting as I heare But sith the author of this report did not flatlie auouch it I passe ouer that fish as not in season of this time Thus haue we viewed the richest and most wealthie Iles of Sylley from whence we must direct our course eastwards vnto the mouth of the Sauerne and then go backe againe vnto the west point of Wales continuing still our voiage along vpon the west coast of Britaine till we come to the Soluey whereat the kingdomes part from which foorth on we must touch such Ilands as lie vpon the west and north shore till we be come againe vnto the Scotish sea and to our owne dominions From the point of Cornewall therefore or promontorie of Helenus so called as some thinke bicause Helenus the son of Priamus who arriued here with Brute lieth buried there except the sea haue washed awaie his sepulchre vntill we come vnto the mouth of Sauerne we haue none Ilands at all that I doo know or heare of but one litle Byland Cape or Peninsula which is not to be counted of in this place And yet sith I haue spoken of it you shall vnderstand that it is called Pendinas and beside that the compasse thereof is not aboue a mile this is to be remembred farder thereof how there standeth a Pharos or light therein for ships which saile by those coasts in the night There is also at the verie point of the said Pendinas a chappell of saint Nicholas beside the church of saint Ia an Irish woman saint It belonged of late to the Lord Brooke but now as I gesse the Lord Mountioy enioieth it There is also a blockhouse and a péere in the eastside thereof but the péere is sore choked with sand as is the whole shore furthermore from S. Ies vnto S. Carantokes insomuch that the greatest part of this Byland is now couered with sands which the sea casteth vp and this calamitie hath indured little aboue fiftie yeares as the inhabitants doo affirme There are also two rocks neere vnto Tredwy and another not farre from Tintagell all which many of the common sort doo repute and take for Iles wherefore as one desirous to note all I thinke it not best that these should be omitted but to proceed When we be come further I meane vnto the Sauerne mouth we meet the two Holmes of which one is called Stepholme and the other Flatholme of their formes béeing in déed parcels of ground and low soiles fit for little else than to beare grasse for cattell whereof they take those names For Holme is an old Saxon word applied to all such places Of these also Stepholme lieth south
I shuld bereaue another of that trauell Yet Plinie saith lib. 4. cap. 16. that it lieth not farre off from and ouer against the Silures which then dwelled vpon the west coast of our Iland and euen so farre as Dunbritton and beyond but to our Cair kybi The Britons named it Enylsnach or holie I le of the number of carcases of holie men which they affirme to haue beene buried there But herein I maruell not a little wherein women had offended that they might not come thither or at the least wise returne from thence without some notable reproch or shame vnto their bodies By south also of Hilarie point somewhat inclining toward the east lieth Inis Lygod a small thing God wot and therefore not worthie great remembrance neuertheles not to be omitted though nothing else inforced the memoriall thereof but onelie the number and certeine fale of such Iles as lie about our Iland I might also speake of the I le Mail Ronyad which lieth north west of Anglesei by sixe miles but bicause the true name hereof as of manie riuers and streames are to me vnknowne I am the more willing to passe them ouer in silence least I should be noted to be farther corrupter of such words as I haue no skill to deliuer and exhibit in their kind And now to conclude with the description of the whole Iland this I will ad moreouer vnto hir commodities that as there are the best milstones of white red blew and gréene gréets especiallie in Tindaithin so there is great gaines to be gotten by fishing round about this I le if the people there could vse the trade but they want both cunning and diligence to take that matter in hand And as for temporall regiment it apperteineth to the countie of Cairnaruon so in spirituall cases it belongeth to the bishoprike of Bangor This is finallie to be noted of Anglesei that sundrie earthen pots are often found there of dead mens bones conuerted into ashes set with the mouthes downeward contrarie to the vse of other nations which turned the brims vpwards whereof let this suffice Hauing thus described Anglesei it resteth to report furthermore how that in our circuit about the same we met with other little Ilets of which one lieth northwest thereof almost ouer against Butricke mouth or the fall of the water that passeth by Butricke The Britons called it Ynis Ader that is to say the I le of birds in old time but now it hight Ynis Moil or Ynis Rhomaid that is the I le of porpasses It hath to name likewise Ysterisd and Adros Being past this we came to the second lieng by north east ouer against the Hilarie point called Ynis Ligod that is to saie the I le of Mise and of these two this latter is the smallest neither of them both being of any greatnesse to speake of Ynis Seriall or Prestholme lieth ouer against Penmon or the point called the head of Mon where I found a towne as I told you of the same denomination Ptolomie nameth not this Iland whereof I maruell It is parcell of Flintshire and of the iurisdiction of S. Asaph and in fertilitie of soile and breed of cattell nothing inferiour vnto Anglesei hir mother although that for quantitie of ground it come infinitelie short thereof and be nothing comparable vnto it The last Iland vpon the cost of Wales hauing now left Anglesei is called Credine and although it lie not properlie within the compasse of my description yet I will not let to touch it by the waie sith the causey thither from Denbighland is commonlie ouerflowne It is partlie made an Iland by the Conwey and partlie by the sea But to proceed when we had viewed this place we passed foorth to S. Antonies Ile which is about two or thrée miles compasse or more a sandie soile but yet verie batable for sheepe and cattell it is well replenished also with fresh wels great plentie of wild foule conies and quarries of hard ruddie stone which is oft brought thence to Westchester where they make the foundations of their buildings withall There are also two parish churches in the same dedicated to S. Antonie and S. Iohn but the people are verie poore bicause they be so oft spoiled by pirats although the lord of the same be verie wealthie thorough the exchange made with them of his victuals for their wares whereof they make good peniworths as théeues commonlie doo of such preies as they get by like escheat notwithstanding their landing there is verie dangerous and onlie at one place Howbeit they are constreined to vse it and there to make their marts From hence we went on vntill we came to the cape of Ile Brée or Hilberie and point of Wyrale from whence is a common passage into Ireland of 18. or 20. houres sailing if the wether be not tedious This Iland at the full sea is a quarter of a mile from the land and the streame betwéene foure fadams déepe as ship-boies haue oft sounded but at a lowe water a man may go ouer thither on the sand The I le of it selfe is verie sandie a mile in compasse and well stored with conies thither also went a sort of supersticious fooles in times past in pilgrimage to our ladie of Hilberie by whose offerings a cell of monkes there which belonged to Chester was cherished and mainteined The next Iland vpon the coast of England is Man or Mona Caesaris which some name Mana or Manim but after Ptolomie Monaoida as some thinke though other ascribe that name to Anglesei which the Welshmen doo commonlie call Môn as they doo this Manaw It is supposed to be the first as Hirtha is the last of the Hebrides Hector Boetius noteth a difference betwéene them of 300. miles But Plinie saith that Mona is 200000. miles from Camaldunum lib. 2. cap. 75. It lieth also vnder 53. degrées of latitude and 30. minuts and hath in longitude 16. degrees and 40. minuts abutting on the north side vpon S. Ninians in Scotland Furnesfels on the east Prestholme and Anglesei on the south and Ulsther in Ireland on the west It is greater than Anglesei by a third and there are two riuers in the same whose heads doo ioine so néere that they doo seeme in maner to part the I le in twaine Some of the ancient writers as Ethicus c call it Eubonia and other following Orosius Meuana or Maeuania howbeit after Beda and the Scotish histories the Meuaniae are all those Iles aforesaid called the Hebrides Eubonides or Hebudes whereof William Malmesburie lib. 1. de regibus beside this our Mona will haue Anglesei also to be one Wherefore it séemeth hereby that a number of our late writers ascribing the said name vnto Mona onelie haue not beene a little deceiued Iornandes lib. de Getis speaketh of a second Meuansa Habet aliam Meuaniam saith he necnon Orchadas But
which should be prima as yet I do not read except it should be Anglesei and then saith Malmesburie well In like sort Propertius speaketh of a Meuania which he called Nebulosa but he meaneth it euidentlie of a little towne in Umbria where he was borne lib. 4. eleg De vrbe Rom. Wherfore there néedeth no vse of his authoritie This in the meane time is euident out of Orosius lib 1. capite 2. that Scots dwelled somtime in this I le as also in Ireland which Ethicus also affirmeth of his owne time and finallie confirmeth that the Scots and Irish were sometime one people It hath in length 24. miles and 8. in bredth and is in maner of like distance from Galloway in Scotland Ireland and Cumberland in England as Buchanan reporteth In this Iland also were some time 1300. families of which 960. were in the west halfe and the rest in the other But now through ioining house to house land to land a common plague and canker which will eat vp all if prouision be not made in time to withstand this mischéefe that number is halfe diminished and yet many of the rich inhabiters want roome and wote not how and where to bestowe themselues to their quiet contentations Certes this impediment groweth not by reason that men were greater in bodie than they haue béene in time past but onelie for that their insatiable desire of inlarging their priuate possessions increaseth still vpon them and will doo more except they be restrained but to returne to our purpose It was once spoiled by the Scots in the time of king Athelstane chéeflie by Anlafus in his flight from the bloudie battell wherein Constantine king of Scotland was ouercome secondlie by the Scots 1388. after it came to the possession of the English for in the beginning the kings of Scotland had this Iland vnder their dominion almost from their first arriuall in this Iland and as Beda saith till Edwine king of the Northumbers wan it from them and vnited it to his kingdome After the time of Edwine the Scots gat the possession thereof againe and held it till the Danes Norwaies wan it from them who also kept it but with much trouble almost 370. yeares vnder the gouernance of their viceroies whome the kings of Norwaie inuested vnto that honor till Alexander the third king of that name in Scotland recouered it from them with all the rest of those Iles that lie vpon the west coast called also Sodorenses in the daies of Magnus king of Norwaie And sithens that time the Scotish princes haue not ceased to giue lawes to such as dwelled there but also from time to time appointed such bishops as should exercise ecclesiasticall iurisdiction in the same till it was won from them by our princes and so vnited vnto the realme of England Finallie how after sundrie sales bargains and contracts of matrimonie for I read that William Scroope the kings Uicechamberleine did buy this I le and crowne thereof of the lord William Montacute earle of Sarum it came vnto the ancestours of the earles of Darbie who haue béene commonlie said to be kings of Man the discourse folowing shall more at large declare Giraldus noteth a contention betwéene the kings of England Ireland for the right of this Iland but in the end when by a comprâ—mise the triall of the matter was referred to the liues or deaths of such venemous wormes as should be brought into the same and it was found that they died not at all as the like doo in Ireland sentence passed with the king of England so he reteined the Iland But howsoeuer this matter standeth and whether anie such thing was done at all or not sure it is that the people of the said Ile were much giuen to witchcraft and sorcerie which they learned of the Scots a nation greatlie bent to that horible practise in somuch that their women would oftentimes sell wind to the mariners inclosed vnder certeine knots of thred with this iniunction that they which bought the same should for a great gale vndoo manie and for the lesse a fewer or smaller number The stature of the men and also fertilitie of this Iland are much commended and for the latter supposed verie néere to be equall with that of Anglesei in all commodities There are also these townes therein as they come now to my remembrance Rushen Dunglasse Holme towne S. Brids Bala cury the bishops house S. Mich. S. Andrew kirk Christ kirk Louel S. Mathees kirk S. Anne Pala sala kirk S. Marie kirk Concane kirk Malu and Home But of all these Rushen with the castell is the strongest It is also in recompense of the common want of wood indued with sundrie pretie waters as first of al the Burne rising in the northside of Warehill botoms and branching out by southwest of kirk S. An it séemeth to cut off a great part of the eastside thereof from the residue of that Iland From those hils also but of the south halfe commeth the Holme and Holmey by a towne of the same name in the verie mouth whereof lieth the Pile afore mentioned They haue also the Bala passing by Bala cury on the westside and the Rame on the north whose fall is named Ramesei hauen as I doo read in Chronicles There are moreouer sundrie great hils therein as that wherevpon S. Mathees standeth in the northeast part of the I le a parcell whereof commeth flat south betwéene kirk Louell and kirk Marie yéelding out of their botoms the water Bala whereof I spake before Beside these and well toward the south part of the I le I find the Warehils which are extended almost from the west coast ouertwhart vnto the Burne streame It hath also sundrie hauens as Ramsei hauen by north Laxam hauen by east Port Iris by southwest Port Home and Port Michell by west In like sort there are diuers Ilets annexed to the same as the Calfe of man on the south the Pile on the west and finallie S. Michels Ile in the gulfe called Ranoths waie in the east Moreouer the sheepe of this countrie are excéeding huge well woolled and their tailes of such greatnesse as is almost incredible In like sort their hogs are in maner monstrous They haue furthermore great store of barnacles bréeding vpon their coasts but yet not so great store as in Ireland and those as there also of old ships ores masts peeces of rotten timber as they saie and such putrified pitched stuffe as by wrecke hath happened to corrupt vpon that shore Howbeit neither the inhabitants of this I le nor yet of Ireland can readilie saie whether they be fish or flesh for although the religious there vsed to eat them as fish yet elsewhere some haue beene troubled for eating of them in times prohibited for heretikes and lollards For my part I haue béene verie desirous to vnderstand the vttermost of the bréeding of
beasts as marterns sheepe oxen and gotes skins and therevnto a kind of cloth which they weaue and sell to the merchants of Norwaie togither with their butter fish either salted or dried and their traine oile and exercise their trade of fishing also in their vncerteine skewes which they fetch out of Norwaie Their speech is Gothish and such of them as by their dealing with forren merchants doo gather anie wealth that they will verie often bestow vpon the furniture of their houses Their weights measures are after the Germaine maner their countrie is verie healthie and so wholesome that of late a man was found which had maried a wife at one hundred yeares of age and was able to go out a fishing with his bote at one hundred and fortie and of late yéeres died of méere age without anie other disease Dronkennesse is not heard of among them and yet they meet and make good chéere verie often Neither doo I read of anie great vse of flesh or foule there although that some of their Ilands haue plentie of each Nor anie mention of corne growing in these parts and therefore in steed of bread they drie a kind of fish which they beat in morters to powder bake it in their ouens vntill it be hard and drie Their fuell also is of such bones as the fish yéeldeth that is taken on their coasts and yet they liue as themselues suppose in much felicitie thinking it a great péece of their happinesse to be so farre distant from the wicked auarice and cruell dealings of the more rich and ciuill part of the world Herein also they are like vnto the Hirthiens in that at one time of the yeare there commeth a priest vnto them out of the Orchades vnto which iurisdiction they doo belong who baptiseth all such children as haue béene borne among them since he last arriued and hauing afterward remained there for a two daies he taketh his tithes of them which they prouide and paie with great scrupulositie in fish for of other commodities paie they none and then returneth home againe not without boast of his troublesome voiage except he watch his time In these Iles also is great plentie of fine Amber to be had as Hector saith which is producted by the working of the sea vpon those coasts but more of this elsewhere This neuertheles is certeine that these Ilands with the Orchades were neuer perfectlie vnited to the crowne of Scotland till the mariage was made betwéene king Iames and the ladie Marie daughter to Christierne king of Denmarke 1468 which Christierne at the birth of their sonne Iames afterward king of Scotland and called Iames the fourth resigned all his right and title whatsoeuer either he or his ancestors either presently or hertofore had might haue had or herafrer may or should haue vnto the aforesaid péeres as appéereth by the charter From these Shetland Iles and vntill we come southwards to the Scarre which lieth in Buquhamnesse I find no mention of anie I le situat vpon that coast neither greatlie from thence vntill we come at the Forth that leadeth vp to Sterling neither thought we it safetie for vs to search so farre as Thule whence the most excellent brimstone commeth thereto what store of Ilands lie vnder the more northerlie climats whose secret situations though partlie seene in my time haue not yet bin perfectlie reueled or discouered by anie bicause of the great aboundance of huge Ilands of ice that mooueth to and fro vpon their shores and sundrie perilous gulfes and indraughts of water and for as much as their knowlege doth not concerne our purpose wherfore casting about we came at the last into the Firth or Forth which some call the Scotish sea wherein we passe by seuen or eight such as they be of which the first called the Maie the second Baas and Garwie the third doo séeme to be inhabited From these also holding on our course toward England we passe by another I le wherein Faux castell standeth and this so far as my skill serueth is the last Iland of the Scotish side in compassing whereof I am not able to discerne whether their flats and shallowes number of Ilands without name confusion of situation lacke of true description or mine owne ignorance hath troubled me most No meruell therefore that I haue béene so oft on ground among them But most ioifull am I that am come home againe although not by the Thames mouth into my natiue citie which taketh his name of Troie yet into the English dominion where good interteinement is much more franke and copious and better harborough wherein to rest my wearie bones and refresh at ease our wether beaten carcasses The first Iland therefore which commeth to our sight after we passed Berwike is that which was somtime called Lindesfarne but now Holie Iland and conteineth eight miles a place much honored among our monasticall writers bicause diuerse moonks and heremits did spend their times therein There was also the bishops see of Lindesfarne for a long season which afterward was translated to Chester in the stréet finallie to Duresine Dunelme or Durham It was first erected by Oswald wherein he placed Aidanus the learned Scotish moonke who came hither out of the I le called Hij whereof Beda speaking in the third chapter of his third booke noteth that although the said Hij belong to the kings of Northumberland by reason of situation néerenesse to the coast yet the Picts appointed the bishops of the same and gaue the I le with the see it selfe to such Scotish moonks as they liked bicause that by their preaching they first receiued the faith But to returne to Lindesfarne After Aidan departed this life Finanus finished and builded the whole church with sawed timber of oke after the maner of his countrie which when Theodorus the archbishop of Canturburie had dedicated Edbert the bishop did couer ouer with lead Next vnto this is the I le of Farne and herein is a place of defense so far as I remember and so great store of egs laid there by diuerse kinds of wildfoule in time of the yeare that a man shall hardlie run for a wager on the plaine ground without the breach of manie before his race be finished About Farne also lie certeine Iles greater than Farne it selfe but void of inhabitants and in these also is great store of puffins graie as duckes and without coloured fethers sauing that they haue a white ring round about their necks There is moreouer another bird which the people call saint Cuthberts foules a verie tame and gentle creature and easie to be taken After this we came to the Cocket Iland so called bicause it lieth ouer against the fall of Cocket water Herein is a veine of meane seacole which the people dig out of the shore at the low water and in this Iland dwelled one Henrie sometime a famous heremite who as his life declareth came
of the Danish race And from thence vntill we came vnto the coast of Norffolke I saw no more Ilands Being therfore past S. Edmunds point we found a litle I le ouer against the fall of the water that commeth from Holkham likewise another ouer against the Claie before we came at Waburne hope the third also in Yarmouth riuer ouer against Bradwell a towne in low or little England whereof also I must néeds saie somewhat bicause it is in maner an Iland and as I gesse either hath béene or may be one for the brodest place of the strict land that leadeth to the same is little aboue a quarter of a mile which against the raging waues of the sea can make but small resistance Little England or low England therefore is about eight miles in length and foure in bredth verie well replenished with townes as Fristan Burgh castell Olton Flixton Lestoft Gunton Blundston Corton Lownd Ashebie Hoxton Belton Bradwell and Gorleston and beside this it is verie fruitfull and indued with all commodities Going forward from hence by the Estonnesse almost an Iland I saw a small parcell cut from the maine in Oxford hauen the Langerstone in Orwell mouth two péeces or Islets at Cattiwade bridge and then casting about vnto the Colne we beheld Merseie which is a pretie Iland well furnished with wood It was sometime a great receptacle for the Danes when they inuaded England howbeit at this present it hath beside two decaied blockehouses two parish churches of which one is called east Merseie the other west Merseie and both vnder the archdeacon of Colchester as parcell of his iurisdiction Foulenesse is an I le void of wood and yet well replenished with verie good grasse for neat and sheepe whereof the inhabitants haue great plentie there is also a parish church and albeit that it stand somewhat distant from the shore yet at a dead low water a man may as they saie ride thereto if he be skilfull of the causie it is vnder the iurisdiction of London And at this present master William Tabor bacheler of diuinitie and archdeacon of Essex hath it vnder his iurisdiction regiment by the surrender of maister Iohn Walker doctor also of diuinitie who liued at such time as I first attempted to commit this booke to the impression In Maldon water are in like sort thrée Ilands inuironed all with salt streames as saint Osithes Northeie and another after a mersh that beareth no name so far as I remember On the right hand also as we went toward the sea againe we saw Ramseie I le or rather a Peninsula or Biland likewise the Reie in which is a chappell of saint Peter And then coasting vpon the mouth of the Bourne we saw the Wallot Ile and his mates whereof two lie by east Wallot and the fourth is Foulnesse except I be deceiued for here my memorie faileth me on the one side and information on the other I meane concerning the placing of Foulenesse But to procéed After this and being entered into the Thames mouth I find no Iland of anie name except you accompt Rochford hundred for one whereof I haue no mind to intreat more than of Crowland Mersland Elie and the rest that are framed by the ouze Andredeseie in Trent so called of a church there dedicated to saint Andrew and Auon two noble riuers hereafter to be described sith I touch onelie those that are inuironed with the sea or salt water round about as we may see in the Canwaie Iles which some call marshes onelie and liken them to an ipocras bag some to a vice scrue or wide sléeue bicause they are verie small at the east end and large at west The salt rilles also that crosse the same doo so separat the one of them from the other that they resemble the slope course of the cutting part of a scrue or gimlet in verie perfect maner if a man doo imagine himselfe to looke downe from the top of the mast vpon them Betwéene these moreouer and the Leigh towne lieth another litle Ile or Holme whose name is to me vnknowne Certes I would haue gone to land and viewed these parcels as they laie or at the least haue sailed round about them by the whole hauen which may easilie be doone at an high water but for as much as a perrie of wind scarse comparable to the makerell gale whereof Iohn Anele of Calis one of the best seamen that England euer bred for his skill in the narow seas was woont to talke caught hold of our sailes caried vs forth the right waie toward London I could not tarie to sée what things were hereabouts Thus much therefore of our Ilands so much may well suffice where more cannot be had The description of the Thames and such riuers as fall into the same Cap. 11. HAuing as you haue séene attempted to set downe a full discourse of all the Ilands that are situat vpon the coast of Britaine and finding the successe not correspondent to mine intent it hath caused me somewhat to restreine my purpose in this description also of our riuers For whereas I intended at the first to haue written at large of the number situation names quantities townes villages castels mounteines fresh waters plashes or lakes salt waters and other commodities of the aforesaid Iles mine expectation of information from all parts of England was so deceiued in the end that I was fame at last onelie to leane to that which I knew my selfe either by reading or such other helpe as I had alreadie purchased and gotten of the same And euen so it happeneth in this my tractation of waters of whose heads courses length bredth depth of chanell for burden ebs flowings and falles I had thought to haue made a perfect description vnder the report also of an imagined course taken by them all But now for want of instruction which hath béene largelie promised slacklie perfourmed and other sudden and iniurious deniall of helpe voluntarilie offered without occasion giuen on my part I must needs content my selfe with such obseruations as I haue either obteined by mine owne experience or gathered from time to time out of other mens writings whereby the full discourse of the whole is vtterlie cut off and in steed of the same a mangled rehearsall of the residue set downe and left in memorie Wherefore I beséech your honour to pardon this imperfection and rudenesse of my labour which notwithstanding is not altogither in vaine sith my errors maie prooue a spurre vnto the better skilled either to correct or inlarge where occasion serueth or at the leastwise to take in hand a more absolute péece of worke as better direction shall incourage them thereto The entrance and beginning of euerie thing is the hardest and he that beginneth well hath atchiued halfe his purpose The ice my lord is broken and from hencefoorth it will be more easie for
waie sundrie salt créekes as the maine chanell dooth from thence foorth vntill it passe the Sandie hauen the Dale rode whither a sillie fresh rill commeth of small value be come about againe to the large Ocean Hauing thus shewed the courses of those few fresh waters that come to Milford hauen we cast about by the Blockehouse and S. Annes chappell to Gateholme I le that lieth betwéene S. Annes and the Wilocke point directlie ouer against Stockeholme Iland that is situat further off into the sea toward the southwest and is full halfe so great as the Scalmeie that I elsewhere described Betwéene the Willocke point also and the Scalmeie directlie west is the Midland I le full so great as the Gateholme As for the two rocks that lie by north and south of the Scalmeie of which the one is called the Yardland stone the other Mewstone it shall not be greatlie requisit to stand on their discourses sith they are such as may hardlie be taken for Ilands and euen in like sort we may iudge of S. Brides Ile which is southwest of Calthrop rode likewise of the Gresholme whereof I find this short description The Gresholme lieth directlie west of Scalmeie from whence if you saile thither on the south side you must néeds passe by the Mewstone rocke if on the north of Scalmeie you must leaue the Yarland stone on your left hand Wherto if you note well the situation of these Ilands alreadie named and confer them with the Ramseie and S. Dauids land you shall find them to produce as it were two dangerous points including the Brid baie wherein notwithstanding the greatnesse are 1000 perils and no fresh brookes for me to deale withall Finallie hauing doubled the Willocke point we thought it not good altogether to leaue that baie vnsearched at lestwise to sée what Ilands might there be found long entred into the same we beheld one which the men of the countrie call S. Brides Iland a verie little place and situate néere the land before I came at Galtroie rode From thence we went about by the little hauen Doluach hauen Caruaie hauen Shirelace rocke Carnbuddie and Earnaie baies Portelais and so into the found betwéene Ramseie and the point In this sound likewise is a little I le almost annexed to the maine but in the middest thereof I meane of the sound is a rocke called the horsse a mile and more by north of Ribbie rocke that lieth south east of Ramseie and more infortunate than ten of Seians colts but thanked be God I neuer came on his backe Thence passing by S. Stephans and Whitesand baies we saluted the Bishop and his clerks as they went in procession on our left side being loth to take anie salted holie water at their hands and came at last to the point called S. Dauids head which Ptolomie calleth Octapitanum promontorium except I be deceiued But here gentle reader giue me leaue to staie a while and insert the words of Leland touching the land called S. Dewies or S. Dauids land whereof some men may peraduenture haue vse his words are these Being therefore past this hauen and point of Demetia in casting about the coast we come to S. Dewies or S. Dauids land which Ptolomie calleth Octapitanum promontorium I read to be separated from the rest of the countrie much after this maner although I grant that there may be and are diuerse other little creekes betwixt Newgale and S. Dauids head and betwixt S. Dauids and Fischard beside those that are héere mentioned out of a register of that house As we turne therefore from Milford S. Dauids land beginneth at Newgale a créeke serued with a backe fresh water Howbeit there is a baie before this creeke betwixt it and Milford From hence about foure miles is Saluach creeke otherwise called Sauerach whither some fresh water resorteth the mouth also thereof is a good rescue for balingers as it I meane the register saith Thence go we to Portelais three miles where is a little portlet whither the Alen that commeth through saint Dewies close dooth run It lieth a mile southwest from S. Dewies saint Stinans Chappell also is betwéene Portelais and Portmaw The next is Port Maw where I found a great estuarie into the land The Pendwie halfe a mile from that Lhand Uehan is thrée miles from Pendwie where is a salt créeke then to Tredine three miles where is another creeke to Langunda foure miles and another créeke is there in like sort where fishermen catch herrings Héere also the Gwerne riuer diuideth Penbidiane from Fischerdine Kemmeis land From Langunda to Fischard at the Gwerne mouth foure miles and here is a portlet or hauenet also for ships And thus much of S. Dauids land Besides this also Leland in a third booke talketh of lhinnes and pooles but for asmuch as my purpose is not to speake of lakes and lhinnes I passe them ouer as hasting to Teifie in Latine Tibius and after Ptolomie Tuerobius or Tiuirobius which is the next riuer that serueth for my purpose And yet not forgetting to touch the Gwerne for after we came from saint Dauids head we coasted along toward the southeast till wée came ouer against saint Catharins where going northwards by the bread hauen and the Strombles head we sailed thence northeast and by north to Langlas head then flat south by the Cow and Calfe two cruell rockes which we left on the left hand so coasted ouer to Abergwin or Fischard where we found a fresh water named Guin or Gwerne whose course is in maner directlie out of the east into the west from Uremie hils by pont Uaunt and Lanichair vntill it come within a mile of the foresaid towne It riseth flat north of the Perselie hill from whence it goeth by Pont vaine Lauerillidoch Lanchar Landilouair so to Abergwine or Abergwerne for I read both From Abergwine we cast about by Dinas head till we come to the fall of Neuerne where Newport standeth The head of this riuer is aboue Capell Nantgwin from whence it runneth by Whitchurch but yer it come at Kilgwin it taketh in a little water that riseth short of Wrenie vaure and thence go foorth as one vntill they come to Newport Cardigan hauen is the next fall that I did stumble on wherein lieth a litle Iland ouer against the north point Hereinto also commeth the Teifie a noble riuer which riseth in Lintinie and is fraught with delicate samons and herein and not else where in all the riuers of Britaine is the Castor or Beuer to be found But to procéed The verie hed thereof I saie is foure miles aboue Stradflore in Luitie and after it hath run from thence a little space it receiueth a brooke from southeast that commeth out of Lin Legnant and then after the confluence runneth on to Stradflore abbeie beneth which it
riseth in a mounteine therby and goeth into the sea two miles aboue Duegeuelth Auon Duegeuelth is three miles aboue Conweie which rising in the mounteins a mile off goeth by it selfe into Meneie salt arme On the said shore also lieth Conweie and this riuer dooth run betwixt Penmaine Maur and Penmaine Uehan It riseth about three miles from Penmaclon hils which lie about sixtie miles from Conweie abbeie now dissolued out of a lake called Lin Conweie and on the north and west of this riuer standeth the towne of Conweie which taketh his name thereof This riuer which Ptolomie calleth Toesobius as I take it after the deriuation thereof from the head passeth on the west side by Spittieuan and Tiherio beneath which it taketh in a streame comming from the east out of Denbighshire deriued from thrée heads and of the greatest called Nag Soone after also another and then the third which commeth in from the west by Lanpen Mawr next of all the Leder on the same side which commeth by Dolathelan castell and aboue that from a Lin of the same denomination Beneath this and selfe hand lieth likewise the Ligow or Ligwie proceeding from two lakes that is the Mumber and the Ligow On the right hand as we still descend is the Coid then the Glin a little lower we méet with the Lin Gerioneth and after we be past another on the right side we come to the Perloid which commeth out of Lin Cowlid to the Ygan to the Idulin to the castell Water on the left then to the Melandider on the right without the sight of anie other till we come almost to Conweie where we find a notched streame comming from by west and called Guffen or Gyffin into the same by one chanell on the norrtheast side of the towne beneath Guffin or Gyffin and ouer against Lansanfraid in Denbighshire so farre as I now remember Some part of Carnaruonshire stretcheth also beyond Aber Conweie or the fall of Conweie it is called Ormeshed point wherein also is a rill whose fall into the sea is betwéene Penrin and Landright And thus we haue made an end of the chéefe waters which are to be found in this countie The next is a corner of Denbigh by which we doo as it were step ouer into Flintshire and whose first water is not great yet it commeth from southwest and falleth into the north or Irish sea called Virginium beneath Landilas as the next that commeth south from Bettas dooth the like thrée miles beneath Abergele and is not onelie called Gele as the name it selfe importeth but also noted to take his course through the Canges Hauing thus gone ouer the angle of Denbighshire that lieth betwéene those of Carnaruon and Flint we come next of all vnto Aber Cluide or the fall of Clotha or Glota which is a streame not to be shortlie intreated of It riseth among certeine hilles which lie not far distant from the confines of Merioneth and Denbighshires Southeast from his fall and hauing run foure or fiue miles from the head it commeth about to Darwen taking in the Maniton on the left hand and the Mespin on the right and soone after the third from by-west whose head is not farre from Gloucanocke Beneath Ruthen also it taketh in the Leueneie and after that another and the third all on the right hand and so holdeth on till it méet with the Cluedoch then with the Ystrade which passeth by Whitchurch on the left hand After which we come to the Whéeler on the right and so to his ioining with the Elwie which is beneath S. Asaphes a bishops sée that is inuironed with them both This Elwie riseth aboue Gwitherne beneath Lanuair taketh in the Alode which commeth from lin Alode by Lanfannan and ioineth with him fiue miles beneath Langrenew The Cluda therefore and the Elwie being met the confluence passeth on to the sea by Rutland castell where it taketh in the Sarne which commeth from by east and hath a course almost of sixteene miles From hence we tooke sea toward the Dée mouth and as we passed by the rest of the shore we saw the fall of a little brooke néere Basing Werke of another néere to Flint of the third at Yowleie castell which with his two armes in maner includeth it and the fourth beneath Hawarden hold which in like sort goeth round about the same from whence we came to the Dée where we landed and tooke vp our lodging in Chester In this place also it was no hard matter to deliuer set downe the names of such riuers and streames as are also to be found in Angleseie finding my selfe to haue some leasure and fit opportunitie for the same and imagining a iourneie thither also as vnto the other places mentioned in this description whither as yet it hath not béene my hap to trauell I thought it not amisse to take it also in hand and performe it after this maner Ferrieng therefore ouer out of Carnaruonshire to Beaumarise I went by land without crossing of anie riuer or streame worthie memorie till I came to the Brant which hath his fall not farre from the southest point of that Iland This Brant riseth farre vp in the land not farre from Lauredenell and holding on his course southward to Lanthoniell Uaall it goeth on to Bodoweruch Langainwen and so into the sea The next fall we came vnto was called Maltrath and it is producted by the confluence of two riuers the Geuennie and the Gint who ioine not farre from Langrestoll This also last rehearsed hath his head neere to Penmoneth the other being forked riseth in the hillie soile aboue Tregaion and Langwithlog so that part of the Iland obteineth no small commoditie and benefit by their passage Next vnto this we came vnto the Fraw whose head is neere to Langinewen and passage by Cap Maer after which it falleth into a lake from whence it goeth east of Aberfraw and so into the sea The next riuer hath no name to my knowledge yet hath it a longer course than that which I last described For it riseth two or thrée miles aboue Haneglosse and passing from thence to Treualghmaie after the descent of foure miles it falleth into the sea After this we came to an other which riseth more to Cap legan ferwie and falleth into the sea southeast of the little Iland which is called Ynis Wealt it is namelesse also as the other was and therefore hauing small delight to write thereof we passed ouer the salt créeke by a bridge into Cair Kibie which by the same is as it were cut from the maine Iland and in some respect not vnworthie to be taken for an I le In the north side therefore of Cair Kibie is a little rill or créeke but whether the water thereof be fresh or salt as yet I doo not remember This place being viewed I came backe againe by the aforesaid bridge into the
writers supposed Scithians passed by seas from Ireland and arriued in that part of Britaine called Albania against whome this Coell assembled his power and being entred Albania to expell them one Fergus in the night disguised entered the tent of this Coell and in his bed traitorouslie slue him This Fergus was therfore in reward of his great prowesse made there king whervpon they sat downe in that part with their wiues and children and called it Scotland and themselues Scots from the begining of the world foure thousand six hundred and seauentéene yeares after the Scotish accompt which by iust computation and confession of all their owne writers is six hundred yeares lacking ten after that Brutus had reigned ouer the whole Iland the same land being inioied by him and his posteritie before their comming during two and fiftie descents of the kings of Britaine which is a large prescription Certes this intrusion into a land so manie hundred yeares before inhabited and by so manie descents of kings quietlie inioied is the best title that all their owne writers can alledge for them But to proceed Fergus herevpon immediatlie did diuide Albania also among his capteins and their souldiers whereby it most euidentlie appeareth that there were no people of that nation inhabiting there before in proofe whereof the same partition shall follow The lands of Cathnes lieng against Orkneie betwéene Dummesbeie and the water of Thane was giuen vnto one Cornath a capteine and his people The lands betwéene the water of Thane Nes now called Rosse being in bredth from Cromart to the mouth of the water of Locht were giuen to Lutorke another capteine and his people The lands betwéene Spaie and Nes from the Almane seas to the Ireland seas now called Murraie land were giuen to one Warroch and his people The land of Thalia now called Boin Ainze Bogewall Gariot Formartine and Bowguhan were giuen to one Thalis and his people The lands of Mar Badezenoch and Lochquhaber were giuen to Martach and his people The lands of Lorne and Kintier with the hilles and mounteins thereof lieng from Mar to the Ireland seas were giuen to capteine Nanance and his people The lands of Athole were giuen to Atholus another capteine and his people The lands of Strabraun Brawdawane lieng west from Dunkell were giuen to Creones Epidithes two capteins The lands of Argile were giuen to Argathelus a capteine The lands of Linnox Clidisdale were allotted to Lolgona a capteine The lands of Siluria now called Kile Carrike Cuningham were giuen to Silurth another capteine The lands of Brigance now called Gallowaie were giuen to the companie called Brigandes which as their best men were appointed to dwell next the Britons who afterward expelled the Britons from Annandale in Albanie whereby it is confessed to be before inhabited by Britons The residue of the land now called Scotland that is to saie Meirnis Angus Steremond Gowrie Strahern Pirth Fiffe Striueling Callender Calderwood Lougthian Mers Teuedale with other the Rement Dales the Sherifdome of Berwicke were then enioied by a nation mingled in marriage with the Britons and in their obedience whose capteine called Beringer builded the castell and towne of Berwicke vpon Twede these people were called Picts vpon whome by the death of this Coell these Scots had oportunitie to vse wars whereof they ceased not vntill such time as it pleased God to appoint another Coell king of Britons against whose name albeit they hoped for a like victorie to the first yet he preuailed and ceased not his warre vntill these Scots were vtterlie expelled out of all the bounds of Britaine in which they neuer dared to reenter vntill the troublesome reigne of Sisilt king of Britons which was the twelft king after this Coell During all which time the countrie was reinhabited by the Britons But then the Scots turning the ciuill discord of this realme betweene this Sisilt and his brother Blede to their best aduantage arriued againe in Albania there made one Reuther their king Upon this their new arriuall new warre was made vpon them by this Sisilt king of Britons in which warre Reuther their new king died and Thereus succéeded against whome the warre of Britons ceased not vntill he freelie submitted himselfe to the said Sicill king of Britons at Ebranke that is Yorke where shortlie after the tenth yeare of his reigne he died Finnane brother of Iosine succeeded by their election to the kingdome of Scots who shortlie after compelled by the warres of the same Sicill declared himselfe subiect and for the better assurance of his faith and obeisance to the king of Britons deliuered his sonne Durstus into the hands of this Sicill who fantasieng the child and hoping by his owne succession to alter their subtiltie I will not saie duplicitie saith Adams married him in the end to Agasia his owne daughter This Durstus was their next king but for that he had married a Briton woman though indeed she was a kings daughter the Scots hated him for the same cause for which they ought rather to haue liked him the better and therefore not onelie traitorouslie slue him but further to declare the end of their malice dishinherited as much as in them was the issues of the same Durstus and Agasia Herevpon new warre sproong betwéene them and vs which ceased not vntill they were contented to receiue Edeir to their king the next in bloud then liuing descended from Durstus and Agasia and thereby the bloud of the Britons of the part of the mother was restored to the crowne of Albania so that nature whose law is immutable caused this bond of loue to hold For shortlie after this Edeir attended vpon Cassibelane king of Britons for the repulse of Iulius Caesar as their owne author Boetius confesseth who commanded the same as his subiect But Iulius Caesar after his second arriuall by treason of Androgeus preuailed against the Britons and therevpon pursued this Edeir into Scotland and as himselfe saith in his commentaries subdued all the I le of Britaine Which though the liuing Scots denie it their dead writers confesse that he came beyond Calender wood and cast downe Camelon the principall citie of the Picts And in token of this victorie not farre from Carron builded a round temple of stone which remained in some perfection vntill the reigne of our king Edward called the first after the conquest by whome it was subuerted but the monument thereof remaineth to this daie Marius the sonne of Aruiragus being king of all Britaine in his time one Roderike a Scithian with a great rabble of néedie souldiours came to the water of Frith in Scotland which is an arme of the sea diuiding Pentland from Fiffe against whome Marius assembled a power by which he slue this Rodericke and discomfited his people in Westmerland but to those that remained aliue he gaue the countrie of Cathnesse in Scotland which prooueth it be within his owne
And herevpon their Hector Boetius as an hen that for laieng of one eg will make a great cakeling solemnlie triumphing for a conquest before the victorie alledgeth that hereby the Britons were made tributaries to the Scots and yet he confesseth that they won no more land by that supposed conquest but the same portion betwéene them and Humber which in the old partitions before was annexed to Albania It is hard to be beléeued that such a broken nation as the Scots at that time were returning from banishment within foure yeares before and since in battell loosing both their kings and the great number of their best men to be thus able to make a conquest of great Britaine and verie vnlikelie if they had conquered it they would haue left the hot sunne of the south parts to dwell in the cold snow in Scotland Incredible it is that if they had conquered it they would not haue deputed officers in it as in cases of conquest behooueth And it is beyond all beliefe that great Britaine or any other countrie should be woon without the comming of anie enimie into it as they did not but taried finallie at the same wall of Adrian whereof I spake before But what need I speake of these defenses when the same Boecius scantlie trusteth his owne beliefe in this tale For he saieth that Galfride and sundrie other authentike writers diuerslie varie from this part of his storie wherein his owne thought accuseth his conscience of vntruth herein also he further forgetting how it behooueth a lier to be mindfull of his assertion in the fourth chapter next following wholie bewraieth himselfe saieng that the confederat kings of Scots and Picts vpon ciuill warres betwéene the Britons which then followed hoped shortlie to inioie all the land of great Britaine from beyond Humber vnto the fresh sea which hope had bene vaine and not lesse than void if it had béene their owne by anie conquest before Constantine of Britaine descended from Conan king thereof cousine of Brutes bloud to this Maximian and his neerest heire was next king of Britaine he immediatlie pursued the Scots with wars and shortlie in battell slue their king Dongard in the first yeare of his reigne whereby he recouered Scotland out of their hands and tooke all the holdes thereof into his owne possessions Uortiger shortlie after obteined the crowne of Britaine against whom the Scots newlie rebelled for the repressing whereof mistrusting the Britons to hate him for sundrie causes as one that to auoid the smoke dooth oft fall into the fire receiued Hengest a Saxon and a great number of his countriemen with whom and a few Britons he entred Scotland ouercame them wherevpon they tooke the Iles which are their common refuge He gaue also much of Scotland as Gallowaie Pentland Mers and Annandale with sundrie other lands to this Hengest and his people to inhabit which they did accordinglie inioie But when this Hengest in processe of time thirsted after the whole kingdome of the south he was banished and yet afterward being restored he conspired with the Scots against Aurilambrose the sonne of Constantine the iust inheritor of this whole dominion But his vntruth and theirs were both recompensed togither for he was taken prisoner by Eldulph de Samor a noble man of Britaine and his head for his traitorie striken off at the commandement of Aurilambrose In the field the Scots were vanquished but Octa the sonne of Hengest was receiued to mercie to whome and his people this Aurilambrose gaue the countrie of Gallowaie in Scotland for which they became his subiects And hereby appeareth that Scotland was then againe reduced into his hands Uter called also Pendragon brother to Aurilambrose was next king of the Britons against whome these sworne Saxons now foresworne subiects confederate with the Scots newlie rebelled but by his power assembled against them in Gallowaie in Scotland they were discomfited Albania againe recouered vnto his subiection Arthur the sonne of of this Uter begotten before the mariage but lawfullie borne in matrimonie succéeded next to the crowne of great Britaine whose noble acts though manie vulgar fables haue rather stained than commended yet all the Scotish writers confesse that he subdued great Britaine and made it tributarie to him and ouercame the Saxons then scattered as far as Cathnesse in Scotland and in all these wars against them he had the seruice and obeisance of Scots and Picts But at the last setting their féet in the guilefull paths of their predecessors they rebelled and besieged the citie of Yorke Howell king of the lesse Britaine cousine to king Arthur being therein But he with an host came thither and discomfited the Scots chased them into a marsh and besieged them there so long that they were almost famished vntill the bishops abbats and men of religion for as much as they were christened people besought him to take them to his mercie and grace and to grant them a portion of the same countrie to dwell in vnder euerlasting subiection Upon this he tooke them to his grace homage and fealtie and when they were sworne his subiects and liegemen he ordeined his kinsman Anguisan to be their king and gouernour Urian king of Iland and Murefrence king of Orkeneie He made an archbishop of Yorke also whose authoritie extended through all Scotland Finallie the said Arthur holding his roiall feast at Cairleon had there all the kings that were subiects vnto him among which Angusian the said king of Scots did his due seruice and homage so long as he was with him for the realme of Scotland bare king Arthurs sword afore him Malgo shortlie after succéeded in the whole kingdome of great Britaine who vpon new resistance made subdued Ireland Iland the Orchads Norwaie and Denmarke and made Ethelfred a Saxon king of Bernicia that is Northumberland Louthian and much other land of Scotland which Ethelfred by the sword obteined at the hands of the wilfull inhabitants and continued true subiect to this Malgo. Cadwan succéeded in the kingdome of great Britaine who in defense of his subiects the Scots made warre vpon this Ethelfred but at the last they agréed and Cadwan vpon their rebellion gaue all Scotland vnto this Ethelfred which he therevpon subdued and inioied but afterward in the reigne of Cadwallo that next succeeded in great Britaine he rebelled Whervpon the same Cadwallo came into Scotland and vpon his treason reseised the countrie into his owne hands and hauing with him all the vicerois of the Saxons which then inhabited here as his subiects in singular battell he slue the same Ethelfred with his owne hands Oswald was shortlie after by Cadwallos gift made king of Bernicia and he as subiect to Cadwallo and by his commandement discomfited the Scots and Picts and subdued all Scotland Oswie the brother of this Oswald was by the like gift of Cadwallo made next king of Bernicia and he by like commandement newlie subdued the Scots and Picts and held them in that
came to inhabit in this land And for this later not vnlikelie sith before the comming of the Saxons the king of the Suessionenses had a great part of this Iland in subiection as Caesar saith and in another place that such of Belgie as stale ouer hither from the maine builded and called diuerse cities after the names of the same from whence they came I meane such as stood vpon the coast as he himselfe dooth witnesse But sith coniectures are no verities and mine opinion is but one mans iudgement I will not stand now vpon the proofe of this matter least I should séeme to take great paines in adding new coniectures vnto old in such wise to deteine the heads of my readers about these trifles that otherwise peraduenture would be farre better occupied in matters of more importance To procéed the refore As soone after the first inhabitation of this Iland our cities began no doubt to be builded and increased so they ceased not to multiplie from time to time till the land was throughlie furnished with hir conuenient numbers whereof some at this present with their ancient names doo still remaine in knowledge though diuerse be doubted of and manie more perished by continuance of time and violence of the enimie I doubt not also but the least of these were comparable to the greatest of those which stand in our time for sith that in those daies the most part of the Iland was reserued vnto pasture the townes and villages either were not at all but all sorts of people dwelled in the cities indifferentlie an image of which estate may yet be seene in Spaine or at the lestwise stood not so thicke as they did afterward in the time of the Romans but chéefelie after the comming of the Saxons and after them the Normans when euerie lord builded a church neare vnto his owne mansion house and thereto imparted the greatest portion of his lands vnto sundrie tenants to hold the same of him by coppie of court roll which rolles were then kept in some especiall place indifferentlie appointed by them and their lord so that the one could haue no resort vnto them without the other by which means the number of townes and villages was not a little increased If anie man be desirous to know the names of those ancient cities that stood in the time of the Romans he shall haue them here at hand in such wise as I haue gathered them out of our writers obseruing euen their manner of writing of them so neare as to me is possible without alteration of anie corruption crept vp into the same 1. London otherwise called Trenouanton Cair Lud. Londinum or Longidinium Augusta of the legion Augusta that soiourned there when the Romans ruled here 2 Yorke otherwise called Cairbranke Vrouicum or Yurewijc Eorwijc or Eoforwijc Yeworwijc Eboracum Victoria of the legion victrix that laie there sometime 3 Canturburie Duroruerno alià s Duraruenno Dorobernia Cantwarbirie 4 Colchester Cair Colon. Cair Colden Cair Colkin of Coilus Cair Colun of the riuer that runneth thereby Colonia of the colonie planted there by the Romans Coloncester Camulodunum Plin. lib. 2. ca. 75. Tacitus Ptolome 5 Lincolne Cair Lud Coit of the woods that stood about it Cair Loichoit by corruption Lindum Lindocollinum 6 Warwijc had sometime 9 parish churches Cair Guttelin Cair Line or Cair Leon. Cair Gwair Cair Vmber Cair Gwaerton 7 Chester vpon Vske was a famous vniuersitie in the time of Arthur Cair legion Carlheon Cairlium Legecester 〈◊〉 legionum 8 Carleill Cair Lueill Cair Leill Lugibalia Cair Doill 9 S. Albanes Cair Maricipit Cair Municip Verolamium Verlamcester Cair Wattelin of the street wheron it stood 10 Winchester Cair Gwent Cair Gwin Cair Wine Venta Simenorum 11 Cisceter Cair Churne Cair Kyrne Cair Kery Cair Cery Cirnecester Churnecester 12 Silcester Cair Segent Selecester 13 Bath Cair Badon Thermae Aquae solis 14 Shaftesbyry Cair Paladour Septonia 15 Worcester Wigornia Cair Gworangon Brangonia Cair Frangon Woorkecester 16 Chichester Cair Key or Kair Kis Cair Chic 17 Bristow Cair Odernant Badon Oder Cair Bren. Venta Belgarum Brightstow 18 Rochest Durobreuis corruptlie Rofcester Roffa Durobrouis Dubobrus Durobrius 19 Portchester Cair Peris Cair Poreis 20 Cairmarden Cair Maridunum Cair Merdine Maridumum Caiâ— Marlin Cair Pridâ—in 21 Glocester Cair Clowy Cair Glow Claudiocestria 22 Leircester Cair Beir Cair Leir Cair Lirion Wirall teste Matth. West 895. 23 Cambridge Grantabric Cair Graunt 24 Cair Vrnach peraduenture Burgh castell 25 Cair Cucurat 26 Cair Draiton now a slender village 27 Cair Celennon 28 Cair Megwaid As for Cair Dorme another whereof I read likewise it stood somewhere vpon the Nene in Huntingdon shire but now vnknowne fith it was twise raced to the ground first by the Saxons then by the Danes so that the ruines thereof are in these daies not extant to be séene And in like sort I am ignorant where most of them stood that are noted with the staâ— I find in like sort mention of a noble citie called Alcluid ouer and beside these afore mentioned sometime builded by Ebracus of Britaine as the fame goeth and finallie destroied by the Danes about the yeare of Grace 870. It stood vpon the banks of the riuer Cluda to wit betwéene it and the blanke on the north and the Lound lake on the west and was sometime march betwéene the Britons and the Picts and likewise the Picts and the Scots neuerthelesse the castell as I heare dooth yet remaine and hath béene since well repared by the Scots and called Dombrittain or Dunbritton so that it is not an hard matter by these few words to find where Alcluid stood I could here if leisure serued and hast of the printer not require dispatch deliuer the ancient names of sundrie other townes of which Stafford in time past was called Stadtford and therfore as I gesse builded or the name altered by the Saxons Kinebanton now Kimbalton But if anie man be desirous to sée more of them let him resort to Houeden in the life of Henrie the second and there he shall be furthor satisfied of his desire in this behalfe It should séeme when these ancient cities flourished that the same towne which we now call saint Albons did most of all excell but chéefelie in the Romans time and was not onelie nothing inferior to London it selfe but rather preferred before it bicause it was newer and made a Municipium of the Romans whereas the other was old and ruinous and inhabited onelie by the Britons as the most part of the Iland was also in those daies Good notice hereof also is to be taken by Matthew Paris and others before him out of whose writings I haue thought good to note a few things whereby the maiestie of this ancient citie may appeare vnto posteritie and the former estate of Uerlamcester not lie altogither as it hath doone hitherto raked vp in forgetfulnes through the negligence of such as might haue
Aristotle Socion Plinie Laertius Bodinus and others which I will gather in briefe and set downe as followeth They had as Caesar saith the charge of common priuate sacrifices the discussing of points of religion the bringing vp of youth the determining of matters in variance with full power to interdict so manie from the sacrifice of their gods and the companie of men as disobeied their award Polydore affirmeth how they taught that mens soules could not die but departed from one bodie to another and that to the intent to make men valiant and dreadlesse of death Tullie writeth that partlie by tokens and partlie by surmises they would foretell things to come And by the report of Hector Boetius some of them were not ignorant of the immortalitie of the one and euerlasting God All these things they had written in the Greeke toong insomuch that Wolf Lazius vpon the report of Marcellinus declareth how the Gréeke letters were first brought to Athens by Timagenes from the Druides And herevpon it commeth also to passe that the British toong hath in it remaining at this day some smacke of the Gréeke Among other abuses of the Druides they had according to Diodorus one custome to kill men and by the falling bleeding and dismembring of the to diuine of things to come for the which and other wicked practises their sect was first condemned for abhominable as some haue written and dissolued in Gallia as Auentinus witnesseth by Tiberius and Cladius the emperours and lastlie abolished here in Britaine by the report of Caius when the gospell of Christ by the preaching of Fugatius and Damianus was receiued among the Britaines vnder Lucius king of Britaine about the yeare of our sauior 179. BArdus the sonne of Druis succéeded his father in the kingdome of Celtica and was the fift king ouer the Celtes and Samotheans amongst whom he was highlie renoumed as appeareth by Berosus for inuention of dities and musicke wherein Annius of Viterbo writeth that he trained his people and of such as excelled in this knowledge he made an order of philosophicall poets or heraulds calling them by his owne name Bardi And it should séeme by doctor Caius and master Bale that Caesar found some of them here at his arriuall in this I le and reported that they had also their first begining in the same The profession and vsages of these Bardi Nonnius Strabo Diodorus Stephanus Bale and sir Iohn Prise are in effect reported after this sort They did vse to record the noble exploits of the ancient capteins and to drawe the pedegrées and genealogies of such as were liuing They would frame pleasant dities and songs learne the same by heart and sing them to instruments at solemne feasts and assemblies of noble men and gentlemen Wherefore they were had in so high estimation that if two hosts had beene readie ranged to ioine in battell and that any of them had fortuned to enter among them both the hosts as well the enimies as the friends would haue holden their hands giuen eare vnto them and ceassed from fight vntill these Bards had gone out of the battell Of these Bards Lucane saith Vos quoque qui fortes animas bellóque peremptas Laudius in longum vates dimittitis aeuum Plurima securi fudistis carmina Bardi And you ô poet Bards from danger void that dities sound Of soules of dreadlesse men whom rage of battell would confound And make their lasting praise to time of later age rebound Because the names of these poets were neither discrepant from the ciuilitie of the Romans nor repugnant to the religion of the Christians they of all the other sects before specified were suffered onlie to continue vnabolished in all ages insomuch that there flourished of them among the Britains according to Bale before the birth of Christ Plenidus and Oronius after Christ as Prise recounteth Thalestine and the two Merlins Melkin Elaskirion and others and of late daies among the Welshmen Dauid Daie Iollo Gough Dauid ap William with an infinite number more And in Wales there are sundrie of them as Caius reporteth remaining vnto this day where they are in their language called as Leland writeth Barthes Also by the witnes of Humfrey Llhoyd there is an Iland néere vnto Wales called Insula Bardorum and Bardsey whereof the one name in Latine and the other in Saxon or old English signifieth the Iland of the Bardes or Barthes Thus farre the gouernement of the Celts in this I le An appendix to the former chapter AFter Bardus the Celts as Bale saith loathing the streict ordinances of their ancient kings and bâ—â—aking themselues to pleasure and idlenesse were in short time and with small labour brought vnder the subiection of the giant Albion the sonne of Neptune who altering the state of things in this Iland streicted the name of Celtica and the Celts within the bounds of Gallia from whence they came first to inhabit this land vnder the conduct of Samothes as before ye haue heard accordinglie as Annius hath gathered out of Berosus the Chaldean who therein agréeth also with the scripture the saieng of Theophilus the doctor and the generall consent of all writers which fullie consent that the first inhabitants of this I le came out of the parties of Gallia although some of them dissent about the time and maner of their comming Sir Brian Tuke thinketh it to be ment of the arriuall of Brute when he came out of those countries into this I le Caesar and Tacitus séeme to be of opinion that those Celts which first inhabited here came ouer to view the countrie for trade of merchandize Bodinus would haue them to come in a Gods name from Languedoc and so to name this land Albion of a citie in Languadoc named Albie Beda and likewise Polydore who followeth him affirme that they came from the coasts of Armorica which is now called little Britaine But that the authorities afore recited are sufficient to proue the time that this Iland was first inhabited by the Celts the old possessors of Gallia not onelie the néernesse of the regions but the congruence of languages two great arguments of originals doo fullie confirme the same Bodinus writeth vpon report that the British and Celtike language was all one But whether that be true or not I am not able to affirme bicause the Celtike toong is long sithens growne wholie out of vse Howbeit some such Celtike words as remaine in the writings of old authours may be perceiued to agrée with the Welsh toong being the voncorrupted spéech of the ancient Britains In déed Pausanias the Grecian maketh mention how the Celts in their language called a horsse Marc and by that name doo the Welshmen call a horsse to this day and the word Trimarc in Pausanias signifieth in the Celtike toong thrée horsses Thus it appeareth by the authoritie
souldiers secretlie in a wood and there to remaine in couert till the morning that Brute should come foorth and giue a charge vpon the enimies wherewith Corineus should breake foorth and assaile the Galles on the backes This policie was put in practise and tooke such effect as the deuisers themselues wished for the Galles being sharplie assailed on the front by Brute and his companie were now with the sudden comming of Corineus who set vpon them behind on their backes brought into such a feare that incontinentlie they tooke them to flight whom the Troians egerlie pursued making no small slaughter of them as they did ouertake them In this battell Brute lost manie of his men and amongst other one of his nephues named Turinus after he had shewed maruellous proofe of his manhood Of him as some haue written the foresaid citie of Tours tooke the name and was called Turonium because the said Turinus was there buried Andrew Theuet affirmeth the contrarie and mainteineth that one Taurus the nephue of Haniball was the first that inclosed it about with a pale of wood as the maner of those daies was of fensing their townes in the yeare of the world 3374. and before the birth of our sauiour 197. But to our matter concerning Brute who after he had obteined so famous a victorie albeit there was good cause for him to reioise yet it sore troubled him to consider that his numbers dailie decaied and his enimies still increased and grew stronger wherevpon resting doubtfull what to doo whether to procéed against the Galles or returne to his ships to séeke the Ile that was appointed him by oracle at length he chose the surest and best way as he tooke it and as it proued For whilest greater part of his armie was yet left aliue and that the victorie remained on his side he drew to his nauie and lading his ships with excéeding great store of riches which his people had got abroad in the countrie he tooke the seas againe After a few daies sailing they landed at the hauen now called Totnesse the yeare of the world 2850 after the destruction of Troy 66 after the deliuerance of the Israelites from the captiuitie of Babylon 397 almost ended in the 18 yeare of the reigne of Tineas king of Babylon 13 of Melanthus king of Athens before the building of Rome 368 which was before the natiuitie of our Sauior Christ 1116 almost ended and before the reigne of Alexander the great 783. Brute discouereth the commodities of this Iland mightie giants withstand him Gogmagog and Corineus wrestle together at a place beside Douer he buildeth the citie of Trinouant now termed London calleth this Iland by the name of Britaine and diuideth it into three parts among his three sonnes The fourth Chapter WHEN Brute had entred this land immediatlie after his arriuall as writers doo record he searched the countrie from side to side and from end to end finding it in most places verie fertile and plentious of wood and grasse and full of pleasant springs and faire riuers As he thus trauelled to discouer the state and commodities of the Iland he was encountred by diuers strong and mightie giants whome he destroied and slue or rather subdued with all such other people as he found in the Iland which were more in number than by report of some authors it should appeare there were Among these giants as Geffrey of Monmouth writeth there was one of passing strength and great estimation named Gogmagog with whome Brute caused Corineus to wrestle at a place beside Douer where it chanced that the giant brake a rib in the side of Corineus while they stroue to claspe and the one to ouerthrow the other wherewith Corineus being sore chafed and stirred to wrath did so double his force that he got the vpper hand of the giant and cast him downe headlong from one of the rocks there not farre from Douer and so dispatched him by reason whereof the place was named long after The fall or leape of Gogmagog but afterward it was called The fall of Douer For this valiant déed and other the like seruices first and last atchiued Brute gaue vnto Corineus the whole countrie of Cornwall To be briefe after that Brute had destroied such as stood against him and brought such people vnder his subiection as he found in the I le and searched the land from the one end to the other he was desirous to build a citie that the same might be the seate roiall of his empire or kingdome Wherevpon he chose a plot of ground lieng on the north side of the riuer of Thames which by good consideration séemed to be most pleasant and conuenient for any great multitude of inhabitants aswell for holsomnesse of aire goodnesse of soile plentie of woods and commoditie of the riuer seruing as well to bring in as to carrie out all kinds of merchandize and things necessarie for the gaine store and vse of them that there should inhabit Here therefore he began to build and lay the foundation of a citie in the tenth or as other thinke in the second yeare after his arriuall which he named saith Gal. Mon. Troinouant or as Hum. Llhoyd saith Troinewith that is new Troy in remembrance of that noble citie of Troy from whence he and his people were for the greater part descended When Brutus had builded this citie and brought the Iland fullie vnder his subiection he by the aduise of his nobles commanded this Ile which before hight Albion to be called Britaine and the inhabitants Britons after his name for a perpetuall memorie that he was the first bringer of them into the land In this meane while also he had by his wife .iij. sonnes the first named Locrinus or Locrine the second Cambris or Camber and the third Albanactus or Albanact Now when the time of his death drew néere to the first he betooke the gouernment of that part of the land nowe knowne by the name of England so that the same was long after called Loegria or Logiers of the said Locrinus To the second he appointed the countrie of Wales which of him was first named Cambria diuided from Loegria by the riuer of Seuerne To his third sonne Albanact he deliuered all the north part of the I le afterward called Albania after the name of the said Albanact which portion of the said Ile lieth beyond the Humber northward Thus when Brutus had diuided the I le of Britaine as before is mentioned into 3. parts and had gouerned the same by the space of 15. yeares he died in the 24 yeare after his arriuall as Harison noteth and was buried at Troinouant or London although the place of his said buriall there be now growne out of memorie Of Locrine the eldest sonne of Brute of Albanact his yoongest sonne and his death of Madan Mempricius Ebranke Brute Greenesheeld Leill Ludhurdibras Baldud and Leir the nine rulers of
where the courts of iustice were kept there was a maruellous great noise heard with much laughing and a sturre in the theatre with great wéeping and lamentable howling at such time as it was certeinlie knowne that there was no creature there to make anie noise The sea at a spring tide appeared of a bloudie colour and when the tide was gone backe there were séene on the sands the shapes figures of mens bodies Women also as rauished of their wits and being as it were in a furie propheâ—â—ed that destruction was at hand so that the Britains were put greatlie in hope and the Romans in feare But those things whether they chanced by the craft of man or illusion of the diuell or whether they procéeded of some naturall cause which the common people oftentimes taketh superstitiouslie in place of strange woonders signifieng things to follow we would let passe least we might be thought to offend religion the which teaching all things to be doone by the prouidence of God despiseth the vaine predictions of haps to come if the order of an historie saith Polydor Virgil would so permit the which requireth all things to be written in maner as they fall out and come to passe But the Britains were chiefelie mooued to rebellion by the iust complaint of Uoadicia declaring how vnséemelie she had beene vsed and intreated at the hands of the Romans and because she was most earnestlie bent to séeke reuenge of their iniuries and hated the name of the Romans most of all other they chose hir to be capteine for they in rule and gouernement made no difference then of sex whether they committed the same to man or woman and so by a generall conspiracie the more part of the people hauing also allured the Essex men vnto rebellion rose and assembled themselues togither to make warre against the Romans There were of them a hundred and twentie thousand got togither in one armie vnder the leading of the said Uoadicia or Bunduica as some name hir She therefore to encourage hir people against the enimies mounted vp into an high place raised vp of turfes sods made for the nonce out of the which she made a long verie pithie oration Hir mightie tall personage comelie shape seuere countenance and sharpe voice with hir long and yellow tresses of heare reaching downe to hir thighes hir braue and gorgeous apparell also caused the people to haue hir in great reuerence She ware a chaine of gold great and verie massie and was clad in a lose kirtle of sundrie colours and aloft therevpon she had a thicke Irish mantell hereto in hir hand as hir custome was she bare a speare to shew hirselfe the more dreadfull The oration of queene Voadicia full of prudence and spirit to the Britains for their encouragement against the Romans wherein she rippeth vp the vile seruitude and shamefull wrongs which their enimies inflicted vpon them with other matters verie motiue both concerning themselues and their enimies hir supplication and praier for victorie The eleuenth Chapter NOw Uoadicia being prepared as you heare set foorth with such maiestie that she greatlie incouraged the Britains vnto whome for their better animating and emboldening she vttered this gallant oration in manner and forme following I doo suppose my louers and friends that there is no man here but dooth well vnderstand how much libertie and fréedome is to be preferred before thraldome and bondage But if there haue bene anie of you so deceiued with the Romane persuasions that ye did not for a time see a difference betwéene them and iudged whether of both is most to be desired now I hope that hauing tried what it is to be vnder both ye will with me reforme your iudgement and by the harmes alreadie taken acknowledge your ouersight and forsake your former error Againe in that a number of you haue rashlie preferred an externall souereigntie before the customes and lawes of your owne countrie you doo at this time I doubt not perfectlie vnderstand how much free pouertie is to be prefered before great riches wherevnto seruitude is annexed and much wealth in respect of captiuitie vnder forren magistrats wherevpon slauerie attendeth For what thing I beséech you can there be so vile grieuous vnto the nature of man that hath not happened vnto vs sithens the time that the Romans haue bene acquainted with this Iland Are we not all in manner bereaued of our riches possessions Doo not we beside other things that we giue and the land that we till for their onelie profit paie them all kinds of tributs ye â— for our owne carcases How much better is it to be once alost and fortunate in deed than vnder the forged and false title of libertie continuallie to paie for our redemption a fréedome How much is it more commendable to lose our liues in defense of our countrie than to carie about not so much as our heads toll free but dailie oppressed laden with innumerable exactions But to what end doo I remember and speake of these things since they will not suffer by death to become frée For what and how much we paie for them that are dead there is not one here but he dooth well vnderstand Among other nations such as are brought into seruitude are alwaies by death discharged of their bondage onelie to the Romans the dead doo still liue and all to increase their commoditie and gaine If anie of vs be without monie as I know not well how and which way we should come by anie then are we left naked spoiled of that which remaineth in our houses we our selues as men left desolate dead How shall we looke for better dealing at their hands hereafter that in the beginning deale so vncourteousie with vs since there is no man that taketh so much as a wild beast but at the first he will cherish it and with some gentlenesse win it to familiaritie But we our selues to saie the trueth are authors of our owne mischiefe which suffered them at the first to set foot within our Iland and did not by and by driue them backe as we did Cesar or slue them with our swords when they were yet farre off and that the aduenturing hither was dangerous as we did sometime to Augustus and Caligula We therefore that inhabit this Iland which for the quantitie thereof maie well be called a maine although it be inuironed about with the Ocean sea diuiding vs from other nations so that we séeme to liue vpon an other earth vnder a seuerall heauen we euen we I saie whose name hath béene long kept hid from the wisest of them all are now contemned and troden vnder foot of them who studie nothings else but how to become lords haue rule of other men Wherefore my welbeloued citizens friendes and kinsfolkes for I thinke we are all of kin since we were borne and dwell in this I le and haue one
author signifieth for Ada the sonne of the foresaid Ida succéeded his father in the kingdome of Brenitia reigning therein seuen yeares and Ella the sonne of Histria a most valiant duke began to gouerne Deira as both the said Matth. Westm. and other doo affirme VOtiporus the sonne of Aurelius Conanus succeeded his father and began to reigne ouer the Britains in the yéere of our Lord 576 in the 11 yeare of the emperour Flauius Anicius Iustinus in the fourth yeare of the reigne of Childeric king of France and in the fourth yeare of Clephis the Gothish king in Italie This Uortiporus vanquished the Saxons in battell as the British histories make mention and valiantlie defended his land and subiects the Britains from the danger of them and other their allies In the time of this kings reigne the foresaid Ella began to rule in the south part of the kingdome of Northumberland called Deira as before is mentioned according to the account of some authors who also take this Uortiporus to begin his reigne in the yeare 548. After that Uortiporus had ruled the Britans the space of 4 yeares he departed this life and left no issue behind him to succéed him in the kingdome Against this Uortiporus Gyldas also whetting his toong beginneth with him thus And why standest thou as one starke amazed Thou I say Uortiporus the tyrant of Southwales like to the panther in maner and wickednesse diuerslie spotted as it were with manie colors with thy hoarie head in thy throne full of deceits crafts and wiles and defiled euen from the lowest part of thy bodie to the crowne of thy head with diuers sundrie murthers committed on thine owne kin and filthie adulteries thus proouing a naughtie sonne of a good king as Manasses was to Ezechias How chanceth it that the violent streames of sinnes which thou swallowest vp like pleasant wine or rather art deuoured of them the end of thy life by little and little now drawing néere can not yet satisfie the What meanest thou that with fornication of all euils as it were the full heape thine owne wife being put away thou by hir honest death dooest oppresse thy soule with a certeine burthen that can not be auoided of thine vnshamefast daughter Consume not I pray thée the residue of thy daies to the offense of God c. These and the like woords vttered he exhorting him to repentance with admonitions taken out of the scriptures both for his comfort and warning ¶ If the circumstance of this that Gyldas writeth of Uortiporus be marked it may be perceiued that Geffrey of Monmouth and also Matthew of Westminster the author of the floures of histories are deceiued in that they take him to be the sonne of Aurelius Conanus and rather it may be gathered that not onlie the same Aurelius Conanus and Uortiporus but also Constantinus yea Cuneglasus and Maglocunus of the which he also intreateth as partlie shall be hereafter touched liued and reigned all at one time in seuerall parts of this I le and not as monarchs of the whole British nation but as rulers each of them in his quarter after the maner as the state of Ireland hath béene in times past before the countrie came vnder the English subiection if my coniecture herein doo not deceiue me Malgo reigneth ouer the Britains the noble qualities wherewith he was beautified by his filthie sinnes are blemished Gyldas reproueth Cuneglasus for making warre against God and man and this Malgo for his manifold offenses the vile iniquities wherevnto the British rulers were inclined the valiantnesse of Kenrike king of the Westsaxons his victories against diuers people his enimies succession in the gouernment of the Westsaxons Northumberland and Kentish Saxons the first battell that was fought betwixt the Saxons in this Iland Cheuling with his Westsaxons encounter with the Britains and get the vpper hand three kings of the Britains slaine and their people spoiled of their lands goods and liues The xvij Chapter AFter the deceasse of Uortiporus Malgo the nephue of Aurelius Conanus as some write was made king of Britaine began his reigne ouer the Britaines in the yéere of our Lord 580 in the fiftéenth yéere of the emperour Iustinian and in the 37 yéere of the reigne of Childerike king of the Frenchmen This Malgo is reported to haue béene the comeliest gentleman in beautie and shape of personage that was to be found in those daies amongst all the Britains and therewith of a bold and hardie courage He manfullie defended the country which he had in gouernance from the malice of the Saxons and subdued the out Iles as Orkenie and others But notwithstanding the noble qualities with the which his person was adorned yet he spotted them all with the filthie sinne of Sodomie so that he fell into the haâ—red of almightie God and being pursued of the Saxons receiued manie ouerthrowes at their hands as by the report oâ— the English writers is gathered more at large Finallie when he had reigned fiue yéeres and od moneths he departed this life It séemeth that this Malgo is named by Gyldas Maglocunus the which Gyldas before he speaketh of him inueieth against one Cimeglasus whom he reprooueth for that he warred both against God and man against God with grieuous sinnes as namelie adulterie in forsaking the companie of his lawfull wife and kéeping to concubine a sister of hirs that had professed chastilie against man with materiall armor and weapons which he vsed to the destruction of his owne countrimen with whom he kept warres and not against the enimies of the common wealth From Cuneglasus he commeth to the foresaid Maglâ—cunus whome he nameth the dragon of the Iles and the expeller of manie tyrants not onelie out of their kingdoms but also out of life the last of whom he treateth as he himselfe saith but the first in all mischéefe euill greater than manie in power and likewise in malice verie liberall in giuing but more plentifull in sinne strong and valiant in arms but stronger in destruction of his owne soule And so procéeding chargeth him with the sinne of the Sodomits sore blameth him for that where it had pleased God to make him higher than all other dukes of Britaine in kingdome and degrée he did not shew himselfe better but contrarilie far woorse than they both in maners and conditions He declareth also a little after that this Maglocune in his yoong yéeres slue in battell his vncle being king with the most valiant souldiers in maner that he had Also that where the said Maglocune tooke vpon him the profession of a moonke he after renounced the same and became a woorsse liuer than euer he was before abandoning his wife and kéeping his brothers sonnes wife while hir husband yet liued Thus by that which Gyldas writeth of the kings and rulers of the Britains which liued in his daies ye may perceiue that they were giuen to all
bread is verie ill kept or not at all looked vnto in the countrie townes and markets Browne bread Panis Cibarius Summer wheat and winâ—er barâ—eie verie rare in England Drinke Malt. Making of malt Bruing of beere Charwoore Cider Perrie Metheglin Mead. Hydromel Lesse time spent in eating than heretofore Canutus a glutton but the Normans at the last excéeded him in that vice Long sitting reprehended * That is at thrée of the clocke at afternoone Li. 4. epig. 8. Andrew Boord Strange cuâ—s Much cost vpon the bodie and little vpon the soule Beards Excesse in women Ezeâ—h 16. Attire of merchants The parlement house diuideth the estate of the realme into nobilitie and the commons Time of summons Of the vpper house Places of the peeres Of the lower house Speaker Petitions of the speaker Clerke of the parlement Of the nether house Samothes Albion Brute Mulmutius The praise of Dunwallon Martia Martian law Saxon law Dane law Ordalian law Fire Water The cup yet in vse Water Ciuill law Canon law Lawiers of England not alwaies constant in iudgment Parlement law Number of congregates in the parlement Common law Customarie law Prescription Terme Deceipt Manie of our lawiers stoope not at small fées Poore men contentious Promooters séeke matters to set lawiers on worke withall The times of our termes no hinderance to iustice Thrée sorts of poore A thing often séene At whose hands shall the bloud of these men be required Thomas Harman Halifax law Mute Cleargie Pirats Three things greatlie amended in England Chimnies Hard lodging Furniture of household This was is the time of generall idlenesse By the yeare Six and twentie cities in England Sitomagus Nouiomagus Neomagus Niomagus Salisburie of Sarron Sarronium Sarrous burg Greater cities in times past when husbandmen also were citizens The cause of the increase of villages Leouitius placeth yorke in Scotland de eclipsibus A legion conteined sixtie centuries thirtie manipuli thrée cohortes Cair Segent stood vpon the Thames not farre from Reding When Albane was martyred Asclepiodotus was legat in Britaine Sullomaca and Barnet all one or not far in sunder This soundeth like a lie The best keepers of kingdomes The wandles in time past were called windles King Hen. 8. not inferior to Adrian and Iustiman White hall S. Iames. Oteland Ashridge Hatfield Enuéeld Richmond Hampton Woodstocke 〈◊〉 Gréenewich Dartford Eltham Of the court 〈…〉 Traines of attendants Striking within the court and palace of the prince 〈…〉 The Britons fasted all the while they were at the sea in these ships Suborned bodgers Bodgers licenced Tillage and mankind diminished by parkes The decaie of the people is the destruction of a kingdome Gipping of going vp to anie place Pegened Lespegend Nunc sortè Tringald Ealdermen Tineman Michni Hundred law Warscot Muchehunt Ofgangfordell Purgatio ignis triplex ordaliâ— Pegen Forathe Helfehang Pere Pite Gethbrech Ealderman Staggon or Stagge Frendlesman Bubali olim in Anglia Ilices aliquando in BritaÌ„nia nisi intelligatur de quercu Greihounds Uelter Langeran Ramhundt Pretium hominis mediocris Pretium liberi hominis Great abundance of wood sometime in England Desire of much wealth and ease abateth manhood ouerthroweth a manlie courage The like haue I séene where hens doo féed vpon the tender blades of garlike * This gentleman caught such an heate with this sore loade that he was faine to go to Rome for physicke yet it could not saue his life but hée must néeds die homewards Marises and tennes Chap. 25. The Pyritis is found almost in euerie veine of mettall in great plentie diuersities and colour and somtimes mixed with that mettall of whose excrements it consisteth Crosse bath Common bath King bath Hot houses in some countâ—res little â—etter than brodels Colour of the water of the baths Taste of the water Fall or issue of the water Hot good to enter into baths at all seasons Sterbirie a place where en armie hath lien Copper monie Siluer restored Old gash New gold Oxen. Athenaeus lib. 10. cap. 8. Horsses Geldings Shéepe Shéepe without hornes Goats Swine Bores Brawne of the bore Baked hog Flat fish Round fish Long fish Legged fish Woolfes Tribute of woolfes skins Foxes Badgers Beuers Marterns Stags Hinds haue béene milked * Galenus de Theriaca ad Pisonem * Plin. lib. 10. cap. 62. Adder or viper Sée Aristotle Animalium lib. 5. cap. vltimo Theophrast lib. 7. cap. 13. Snakes Sol. cap. 40. Plin. lib. 37. cap. 11. Todes Frogs Sloworme Efts. Swifts Flies Cutwasted whole bodied Hornets Waspes Honie Sée Diodorus Siculus Homelie kind of dogs Tie dogs Some 〈…〉 Some bite and barke not Occasion of the name Paung Gathering Sée 〈◊〉 Raising The lord Mountioy Gold Siluer Tin Lead Iron Copper Stéele Geat Laon. Chalchonvtle Triall of a stone Lib. 7. A common plague in all things of anie great commoditie for one beateth the bush but another catcheth the birds as we may see in batfowling Priuileges doo somtimes harme Night Vesper Crepusculum Concubium Intempestum Gallicinium Conticinium Matutinum Diluculum Watches Houre weeke * Ferias Moneth Triuethus in Antartico Britannia Pag. 5 6 7 8 15. 16 28 29 of the description and pag. 202 of the historie of England The originall of nations for the most part vncerteine whither Britaine were an Iland at the first Geog. com lib. No Ilands at the first as some coniecture In the first part of the acts of the English votaries Britaine inhabited before the floud Genesis 6 Berosus ant lib. â— Noah In comment super 4. lib. Berosus de antiquit lib. 1. Annisus vt supr Iaphet and his sonnes Iohannes Bodinus ad fac hist. cogn Franciscus Tarapha Britaine inhabited shortlie after the floud Theophilus episcop Antioch ad Anâ—ol lib. 2. The words of Theophilus a doctor of the church who liued an Dom. 160. Gen. 2. De migr gen Cent. 1. Anti. lib. 1. Bale script Brit. cent 1. Caesar commenâ— lib. 8. In epithes temp De aequiuocis contra Appionem Lib. de Magic success lib. 22. Script Brit. cent 1. De ant Cant. cent lib. 1. This I le called Samothes Magus the son of Samothes Lib. 9. Annius in coâ— men super â—â—dem Geogr. De diui lib. 1. DE fastis li. 5. H. F. Sarron the sonne of Magus De ant Cant. lib. 1. Bale script Brit. cent 1. Lib. 6. Druis the son of Sarron De morte Claud Anti. lib. 5. Annius super euâ—ndem De bello Gallico lib. 9. De belio Gallico 6 Hist. an lib. 1. De diui lib. 1. Hiâ—t Sâ—oti li. 2. Demigr gen 〈◊〉 2. Marcellinus Anna. B oiorum lib. 22. De ant Caut. Bardus the sonne of Druis Berosus ani lib. 2. Annius in comâ—en super eurâ—dem Ant. Cant. li. 1. script Britain cent 1 Nonnius Marcel Strabo Diodor. Sicul. lib. 6. â—arol Stepha â—n dict hist. Bale Iohn Prise Lucan lib. 1. H. F. Iohn Bale script Britan. cent 2. Iohn Prise defen hist. Brit. Caius de ant Cant lib. 1. Iohn Leland syllab an
writers doo report and from whence they came at the first into the aforsaid Ilands For my part I suppose with other that they came hither out of Sarmatia or Scythia for that nation hauing how alwaies an eie vnto the commodities of our countrie hath sent out manie companies to inuade and spoile the same It may be that some will gather those to be the Picts of whom Caesar saith that they stained their faces with wad and madder to the end they might appeare terrible and fearefull to their enimies and so inferre that the Picts were naturall Britans But it is one thing to staine the face onelie as the Britans did of whom Propertius saith Nunc etiam infectos demummutare Britannos And to paint the images and portrattures of beasts fish and foules ouer the whole bodie as the Picts did of whom Martial saith Barbara depictis veni Bascauda Britannis Certes the times of Samothes and Albion haue some likelie limitation and so we may gather of the comming in of Brute of Caesar the Saxons the Danes the Normans and finallie of the Flemmings who had the Rosse in Wales assigned vnto them 1066. after the drowning of their countrie But when first the Picts then the Scots should come ouer into our Iland as they were obscure people so the time of their arriuall is as far to me vnknowne Wherefore the resolution of this point must still remaine In tenebris This neuerthelesse is certeine that Maximus first Legate of Britaine and afterward emperour draue the Scots out of Britaine and compelled them to get habitation in Ireland the out Iles and the North part of the maine and finallie diuided their region betwéene the Britaines and the Picts He denounced warre also against the Irishmen for receiuing them into their land but they crauing the peace yéelded to subscribe that from thence-foorth they would not receiue any Scot into their dominions and so much the more for that they were pronounced enimies to the Romans and disturbers of the common peace and quietnesse of their prouinces here in England The Saxons became first acquainted with this I le by meanes of the piracie which they dailie practised vpon our coastes after they had once begun to aduenture themselues also vpon the seas thereby to seeke out more wealth than was now to be gotten in the West parts of the maine which they and their neighbours had alreadie spoiled in most lamentable and barbarous maner howbeit they neuer durst presume to inhabit in this Iland vntill they were sent for by Vortiger to serue him in his warres against the Picts and Scots after that the Romans had giuen vs ouer and lest vs wholie to our owne defense and regiment Being therefore come vnder Hengist in three bottoms or kéeles and in short time espieng the idle and negligent behauiour of the Britaines and fertilitie of our soile they were not a little inflamed to make a full conquest of such as at the first they came to aid and succour Herevpon also they fell by little and little to the winding in of greater numbers of their countrimen and neighbours with their wiues and children into this region so that within a while these new comlings began to molest the homelings and ceased not from time to time to continue their purpose vntill they had gotten possession of the whole or at the leastwise the greatest part of our countrie the Britons in the meane season being driuen either into Wales and Cornewall or altogither out of the Iland to séeke new habitations In like maner the Danes the next nation that succéeded came at the first onelie to pilfer and robbe vpon the frontiers of our Iland till that in the end being let in by the Welshmen or Britons through an earnest desire to be reuenged vpon the Saxons they no lesse plagued the one than the other their fréends than their aduersaries seeking by all meanes possible to establish themselues also in the sure possession of Britaine But such was their successe that they prospered not long in their deuise for so great was their lordlinesse crueltie and infatiable desire of riches beside their detestable abusing of chast matrons and yoong virgins whose husbands and parents were dailie inforced to become their drudges and slaues whilest they sat at home and fed like drone bées of the sweet of their trauell and labours that God I say would not suffer them to continue any while ouer vs but when he saw his time he remooued their yoke and gaue vs libertie as it were to breath vs thereby to see whether this his sharpe scourge could haue mooued vs to repentance and amendment of our lewd and sinfull liues or not But when no signe thereof appeared in our hearts he called in an other nation to vex vs I meane the Normans a people mixed with Danes and of whom it is worthilie doubted whether they were more hard and cruell to our countrimen than the Danes or more heauie and intollerable to our Iland than the Saxons or the Romans This nation came out of Newstria the people thereof were called Normans by the French bicause the Danes which subdued that region came out of the North parts of the world neuerthelesse I suppose that the ancient word Newstria is corrupted from West-rijc bicause that if you marke the situation it lieth opposite from Austria or Ost-rijc which is called the East region as Newstria is the Weast for Rijc in the old Scithian toong dooth signifie a region or kingdome as in Franc-rijc or Franc-reich Westsaxon-reich Ost saxon-reich Su-rijc Angel-rijc c is else to be séene But howsoeuer this falleth out these Normans or Danish French were dedlie aduersaries to the English Saxons first by meane of a quarell that grew betwéene them in the daies of Edward the Confessour at such time as the Earle of Bullen and William Duke of Normandie arriued in this land to visit him their freends such Normans I meane as came ouer with him and Emma his mother before him in the time of Canutus and Ethelred For the first footing that euer the French did set in this Iland sithence the time of Ethelbert Sigebert was with Emma which Ladie brought ouer a traine of French Gentlemen and Ladies with hir into England After hir also no small numbers of attendants came in with Edward the Confessour whome he preferred to the greatest offices in the realme in so much that one Robert a Norman became Archbishop of Canturburie whose preferment so much enhanced the minds of the French on the one side as their lordlie and outragious demeanour kindled the stomachs of the English nobilitie against them on the other insomuch that not long before the death of Emma the kings mother and vpon occasion of the brall hapning at Douer whereof I haue made sufficient mention in my Chronologie not regarding the report of the French authors in this behalfe who write altogither in the fauour of their Archbishop
genus delicti 21 Poena forisfactio non vna eadémque erit liberalis quem Dani Ealderman vocant illiberalis domini serui noti ignoti nec vna eadémque erit causarum tum ciuilium tum criminalium ferarum forestae ferarum regalium viridis veneris tractatio nam crimen veneris ab antiquo inter maiora non immeritò numerabatur viridis verò fractione chaceae nostrae regalis excepta ita pusillum exiguum est quòd vix earespicit nostra constitutio qui in hoc tamen deliquerit sit criminis forestae reus 22 Si liber aliquis feram forestae ad cursum impulerit siue casu siue praehabita voluntate ita vt cursu celeri cogatur fera anhelare decem solidis regi emendet si illiberalis dupliciter emendet si seruus careat corio 23 Si vero harum aliquot interfecerit soluat dupliciter persoluat sitque pretij sui reus contra regem 24 Sed si regalem feram quam Angli Staggon appellant alteruter coegerit anhelare alter per vnum annum alter per duos careat libertate naturali si verò seruus pro vtlegato habeatur quem Angli Frendlesman vocant 25 Si verò occiderit amittat liber scutum libertatis si sit illiberalis careat libertate si seruus vita 26 Episcopi abbates barones mei non calumniabuntur pro venatione si non regales feras occiderint siregales restabunt rei regi pro libito suo sine certa emendatione 27 Sunt aliae praeter feras forestae bestlae quae dum inter septa sepes forestae continentur emendationi fubiacent quales sunt capreoli lepores cuniculi Sunt alia quà m plurima animalia quae quāquam infra septa forestae viuunt oneri curae mediocrium subiacent forestae tamen nequaquā censeri possunt qualia sunt bubali vaccae similia Vulpes lupi nec forestae nec veneris habentur proinde eorum interfectio nulli emendationi subiacet Si tamen infra limites occiduntur fractio sit regalis chaceae mitiùs emendetur Aper verò quanquam forestae sit nullatenus tamen animal veneris haberi est assuetus 28 Bosco nec subbosco nostro sine licentia primariorum forestae nemo manum apponat quòd si quis fecerit reus sit fractionis regalis chaceae 29 Si quis verò ilicem aut arborē aliquam quae victum feris suppeditat sciderit praeter fractionem regalis chaceae emendet regi viginti solidis 30 Volo vt monis liber homo pro libito suo habeat venerem siue viridem in planis suis super terras suas sine chacea tamen deuitent omnes meam vbicúnque eam habere voluero 31 Nullus mediocris habebit nec custodiet canes quos Angli Greihounds appellant Liberali verò dum genuiscissio eorum facta fuerit coram primario forestae licebit aut sine genuiscissione dune remoti sunt à limitibus forestae per decem miliaria quando verò propiùs venerint emendet quodlibet miliare vno solido Siverò infra septa forestae reperiatur dominus canis forisfaciet decem solidos regi 32 Velteres verò quos Langeran appellant quia manifestè constat in ijs nihil esse periculi cuilibet licebit sine genuiscissione eos custodire Idem de canibus quos Ramhundt vocant 33 Quòdsi casu inauspicato huiusmodi canes rabidi fiant vbique vagātur negligentia dominorum redduntur illiciti emendetur regi pro illicitis c. Quòdsi intra septa forestae reperiantur talis exquiratur herus emendet secundum pretium hominis mediocris quòd secundum legem Werinorum 1. Churingorum est ducentorum solidorum 34 Si canis rabidus momorderit feram tunc emendet secundum pretiū hominis liberalis quod est duodecies solidis centum Si verò fera regalis morsa fuerit reus sit maximi criminis And these are the constitutions of Canutus concerning the forrest verie barbarouslie translated by those that tooke the same in hand Howbeit as I find it so I set it downe without anie alteration of my copie in anie iot or tittle Of gardens and orchards Chap. 19. AFter such time as Calis was woone from the French and that our countriemen had learned to trade into diuerse countries wherby they grew rich they began to wax idle also and therevpon not onlie left off their former painfulnesse and frugalitie but in like sort gaue themselues to liue in excesse and vanitie whereby manie goodlie commodities failed and in short time were not to be had amongst vs. Such strangers also as dwelled here with vs perceiuing our sluggishnesse and espieng that this idlenesse of ours might redound to their great profit foorthwith imploied their endeuours to bring in the supplie of such things as we lacked continuallie from forren countries which yet more augmented our idlenes For hauing all things at reasonable prices as we supposed by such means from them we thought it méere madnesse to spend either time or cost about the same here at home And thus we became enimies to our owne welfare as men that in those daies reposed our felicitie in following the wars wherewith we were often exercised both at home and other places Besides this the naturall desire that mankind hath to estéeme of things farre sought bicause they be rare and costlie and the irkesome contempt of things néere hand for that they are common and plentifull hath borne no small swaie also in this behalfe amongst vs. For hereby we haue neglected our owne good gifts of God growing here at home as vile and of no valure and had euerie trifle and toie in admiration that is brought hither from far countries ascribing I wot not what great forces and solemne estimation vnto them vntill they also haue waxen old after which they haue béene so little regarded if not more despised amongst vs than our owne Examples hereof I could set downe manie in manie things but sith my purpose is to deale to this time with gardens and orchards it shall suffice that I touch them onelie and shew our inconstancie in the same so farre as shall séeme be conuenient for my turne I comprehend therefore vnder the word garden all such grounds as are wrought with the spade by mans hand for so the case requireth Of wine I haue written alreadie else-where sufficientlie which commoditie as I haue learned further since the penning of that booke hath beene verie plentifull in this Iland not onlie in the time of the Romans but also since the conquest as I haue séene by record yet at this present haue we none at all or else verie little to speake of growing in this Iland which I impute not vnto the soile but the negligence of my countrimen Such herbes fruits and
roots also as grow yéerelie out of the ground of seed haue béene verie plentifull in this land in the time of the first Edward and after his daies but in processe of time they grew also to be neglected so that from Henrie the fourth till the latter end of Henrie the seuenth beginning of Henrie the eight there was litle or no vse of them in England but they remained either vnknowne or supposed as food more meet for hogs sauage beasts to feed vpon than mankind Whereas in my time their vse is not onelie resumed among the poore commons I meane of melons pompions gourds cucumbers radishes skirets parsneps carrets cabbages nauewes turneps and all kinds of salad herbes but also fed vpon as deintie dishes at the tables of delicate merchants gentlemen and the nobilitie who make their prouision yearelie for new séeds out of strange countries from whence they haue them aboundantlie Neither doo they now staie with such of these fruits as are wholesome in their kinds but aduenture further vpon such as are verie dangerous and hurtfull as the verangenes mushroms c as if nature had ordeined all for the bellie or that all things were to be eaten for whose mischiefous operation the Lord in some measure hath giuen and prouided a remedie Hops in time past were plentifull in this land afterwards also their maintenance did cease and now being reuiued where are anie better to be found where anie greater commoditie to be raised by them onelie poles are accounted to be their greatest charge But sith men haue learned of late to sow ashen keies in ashyards by themselues that inconuenience in short time will be redressed Madder hath growne abundantlie in this Iland but of long time neglected and now a little reuiued and offereth it selfe to prooue no small benefit vnto our countrie as manie other things else which are now fetched from vs as we before time when we gaue our selues to idlenesse were glad to haue them other If you looke into our gardens annexed to our houses how woonderfullie is their beautie increased not onelie with floures which Colmella calleth Terrena sydera saieng Pingit in varios terrestria sydera flores and varietie of curious and costlie workmanship but also with rare and medicinable hearbes sought vp in the land within these fortie yeares so that in comparison of this present the ancient gardens were but dunghils and laistowes to such as did possesse them How art also helpeth nature in the dailie colouring dubling and inlarging the proportion of our floures it is incredible to report for so curious and cunning are our gardeners now in these daies that they presume to doo in maner what they list with nature and moderate hir course in things as if they were hir superiours It is a world also to sée how manie strange hearbs plants and annuall fruits are dailie brought vnto vs from the Indies Americans Taprobane Canarie Iles and all parts of the world the which albeit that in respect of the constitutions of our bodies they doo not grow for vs bicause that God hath bestowed sufficient commodities vpon euerie countrie for hir owne necessitie yet for delectation sake vnto the eie and their odoriferous sauours vnto the nose they are to be cherished and God to be glorified also in them bicause they are his good gifts and created to doo man helpe and seruice There is not almost one noble man gentleman or merchant that hath not great store of these floures which now also doo begin to wax so well acquainted with our soiles that we may almost accompt of them as parcell of our owne commodities They haue no lesse regard in like sort to cherish medicinable hearbs fetched out of other regions néerer hand insomuch that I haue séene in some one garden to the number of three hundred or foure hundred of them if not more of the halfe of whose names within fortie yéeres passed we had no maner knowledge But herein I find some cause of iust complaint for that we extoll their vses so farre that we fall into contempt of our owne which are in truth more beneficiall and apt for vs than such as grow elsewhere sith as I said before euerie region hath abundantlie within hir owne limits whatsoeuer is needfull and most conuenient for them that dwell therein How doo men extoll the vse of Tabacco in my time whereas in truth whether the cause be in the repugnancie of our constitution vnto the operation thereof or that the ground dooth alter hir force I cannot tell it is not found of so great efficacie as they write And beside this our common germander or thistle benet is found knowne to bée so wholesome and of so great power in medicine as anie other hearbe if they be vsed accordinglie I could exemplifie after the like maner in sundrie other as the Salsa parilla Mochoacan c but I forbeare so to doo because I couet to be bréefe And trulie the estimation and credit that we yéeld and giue vnto compound medicines made with forren drugs is one great cause wherefore the full knowledge and vse of our owne simples hath bene so long raked vp in the imbers And as this may be verified so to be one sound conclusion for the greater number of simples that go vnto anie compound medicine the greater confusion is found therein because the qualities and operations of verie few of the particulars are throughlie knowne And euen so our continuall desire of strange drugs whereby the physician and apothecarie onelie hath the benefit is no small cause that the vse of our simples here at home dooth go to losse and that we tread those herbes vnder our féet whose forces if we knew could applie them to our necessities we wold honor haue in reuerence as to their case behooueth Alas what haue we to doo with such Arabian Grecian stuffe as is dailie brought from those parties which lie in another clime And therefore the bodies of such as dwell there are of another constitution than ours are here at home Certes they grow not for vs but for the Arabians and Grecians And albeit that they maie by skill be applied vnto our benefit yet to be more skilfull in them than in our owne is follie and to vse forren wares when our owne maie serue the turne is more follie but to despise our owne and magnifie abou◠measure the vse of them that are sought and brought from farre is most follie of all for it sauoureth of ignorance or at the leastwise of negligence and therefore woorthie of reproch Among the Indians who haue the most present cures for euerie disease of their owne nation there is small regard of compound medicins lesse of forren drugs because they neither know them nor can vse them but worke woonders euen with their owne simples With them also the difference of the clime dooth shew hir full effect For whereas they will heale one another in short
altogither passe ouer this chapter without the rehersall of something although the whole summe of that which I haue to saie be nothing indeed if the performance of a full discourse hereof be anie thing hardlie required Of fishes therefore as I find fiue sorts the flat the round the long the legged and shelled so the flat are diuided into the smooth scaled and tailed Of the first are the plaice the but the turbut birt floke or sea flounder dorreie dab c. Of the second the soles c. Of the third our chaits maidens kingsons flath and thornbacke whereof the greater be for the most part either dried and carried into other countries or sodden sowsed eaten here at home whilest the lesser be fried or buttered soone after they be taken as prouision not to be kept long for feare of putrifaction Under the round kinds are commonlie comprehended lumps an vglie fish to sight and yet verie delicat in eating if it be kindlie dressed the whiting an old waiter or seruitor in the court the rochet sea breame pirle hake sea trowt gurnard haddocke cod herring pilchard sprat and such like And these are they whereof I haue best knowledge and be commonlie to be had in their times vpon our coasts Under this kind also are all the great fish conteined as the seale the dolphin the porpoise the thirlepole whale and whatsoeuer is round of bodie be it neuer so great and huge Of the long sort are congers eeles garefish and such other of that forme Finallie of the legged kind we haue not manie neither hane I seene anie more of this sort than the Polypus called in English the lobstar crafish or creuis and the crab As for the little crafishes they are not taken in the sea but plentifullie in our fresh riuers in banks and vnder stones where they kéepe themselues in most secret maner and oft by likenesse of colour with the stones among which they lie deceiue euen the skilfull takers of them except they vse great diligence Carolus Stephanus in his maison rustique doubted whether these lobstars be fish or not and in the end concludeth them to grow of the purgation of the water as dooth the frog and these also not to be eaten for that they be strong and verie hard of digestion But hereof let other determine further I might here speake of sundrie other fishes now and then taken also vpon our coasts but sith my mind is onelie to touch either all such as are vsuallie gotten or so manie of them onelie as I can wel rehearse vpon certeine knowledge I thinke it good at this time to forbeare the further intreatie of them As touching the shellie sort we haue plentie of oisters whose valure in old time for their swéetnesse was not vnknowne in Rome although Mutianus as Plinie noteth lib. 32 cap. 6. preferre the Cyzicene before them and these we haue in like maner of diuerse quantities and no lesse varietie also of our muskles and cockles We haue in like sort no small store of great whelkes scalops and perewinkles and each of them brought farre into the land from the sea coast in their seuerall seasons And albeit our oisters are generallie forborne in the foure hot moneths of the yeare that is to saie Maie Iune Iulie and August which are void of the letter R yet in some places they be continuallie eaten where they be kept in pits as I haue knowne by experience And thus much of our sea fish as a man in maner vtterlie vnacquainted with their diuersitie of kinds yet so much haue I yéelded to doo hoping hereafter to saie some what more and more orderlie of them if it shall please God that I may liue and haue leasure once againe to peruse this treatise and so make vp a perfect péece of worke of that which as you now sée is verie slenderlie attempted and begun Of sauage beasts and vermines Chap. 4. IT is none of the least blessings wherewith God hath indued this Iland that it is void of noisome beasts as lions beares tigers pardes wolfes such like by means whereof our countrimen may trauell in safetie our herds and flocks remaine for the most part abroad in the field without anie herdman or kéeper This is cheefelie spoken of the south and southwest parts of the Iland For wheras we that dwell on this side of the Twed may safelie boast of our securitie in this behalfe yet cannot the Scots doo the like in euerie point within their kingdome sith they haue greeuous woolfes and cruell foxes beside some other of like disposition continuallie conuersant among them to the generall hinderance of their husbandmen and no small damage vnto the inhabiters of those quarters The happie and fortunate want of these beasts in England is vniuersallie ascribed to the politike gouernement of king Edgar who to the intent the whole countrie might once be clensed and clearelie rid of them charged the conquered Welshmen who were then pestered with these rauenous creatures aboue measure to paie him a yearelie tribute of woolfes skinnes to be gathered within the land He appointed them thereto a certeine number of three hundred with free libertie for their prince to hunt pursue them ouer all quarters of the realme as our chronicles doo report Some there be which write how Ludwall prince of Wales paid yearelie to king Edgar this tribute of thrée hundred woolfes whose carcases being brought into Lhoegres were buried at Wolfpit in Cambridgeshire and that by meanes thereof within the compasse and terme of foure yeares none of those noisome creatures were left to be heard of within Wales and England Since this time also we read not that anie woolfe hath béene séene here that hath beene bred within the bounds and limits of our countrie howbeit there haue béene diuerse brought ouer from beyond the seas for gréedinesse of gaine and to make monie onlie by the gasing and gaping of our people vpon them who couet oft to see them being strange beasts in their eies and sildome knowne as I haue said in England Lions we haue had verie manie in the north parts of Scotland and those with maines of no lesse force than they of Mauritania were sometimes reported to be but how and when they were destroied as yet I doo not read They had in like sort no lesse plentie of wild and cruell buls which the princes and their nobilitie in the frugall time of the land did hunt and follow for the triall of their manhood and by pursute either on horssebacke or foot in armor notwithstanding that manie times they were dangerouslie assailed by them But both these sauage cretures are now not heard of or at the least wise the later scarselie known in the south parts Howbeit it this I gather by their being here that our Iland was not cut from the maine by the great deluge or flood of Noah but long after otherwise the generation of those
other like creatures could not haue extended into our Ilands For that anie man would of set purpose replenish the countrie with them for his pleasure and pastime in hunting I can in no wise beléeue Of foxes we haue some but no great store and also badgers in our sandie light grounds where woods firzes broome and plentie of shrubs are to shrowd them in when they be from their borrowes and thereto warrens of conies at hand to féed vpon at will Otherwise in claie which we call the cledgie mould we sildom heare of anie bicause the moisture and toughnesse of the soile is such as will not suffer them to draw and make their borrowes déepe Certes if I may fréelie saie what I thinke I suppose that these two kinds I meane foxes and badgers are rather preserued by gentlemen to hunt and haue pastime withall at their owne pleasures than otherwise suffered to liue as not able to be destroied bicause of their great numbers For such is the scantitie of them here in England in comparison of the plentie that is to be seene in other countries and so earnestlie are the inhabitants bent to root them out that except it had béene to beare thus with the recreations of their superiors in this behalfe it could not otherwise haue béene chosen but that they should haue béene vtterlie destroied by manie yeares agone I might here intreat largelie of other vermine as the polcat the miniuer the weasell stote fulmart squirrill fitchew and such like which Cardan includeth vnder the word Mustela also of the otter and likewise of the beuer whose hinder féet and taile onlie are supposed to be fish Certes the taile of this beast is like vnto a thin whetstone as the bodie vnto a monsterous rat the beast also it selfe is of such force in the téeth that it will gnaw an hole through a thicke planke or shere thorough a dubble billet in a night it loueth also the stillest riuers it is giuen to them by nature to go by flockes vnto the woods at hand where they gather sticks wherewith to build their nests wherein their bodies lie drie aboue the water although they so prouide most commonlie that they tailes may hang within the same It is also reported that their said tailes are a delicate dish and their stones of such medicinable force that as Vertomannus saith foure men smelling vnto them each after other did bleed at the nose through their attractiue force procéeding from a vehement sauour wherewith they are indued ther is greatest plentie of them in Persia chéefelie about Balascham from whence they and their dried cods are brought into all quarters of the world though not without some forgerie by such as prouide them And of all these here remembred as the first sorts are plentifull in euerie wood and hedgerow so these latter especiallie the otter for to saie the truth we haue not manie beuers but onelie in the Teisie in Wales is not wanting or to séeke in manie but most streams and riuers of this I le but it shall suffice in this sort to haue named them as I doo finallie the marterne a beast of the chase although for number I worthilie doubt whether that of our beuers or marterns may be thought to be the lesse Other pernicious beasts we haue not except you repute the great plentie of red fallow déere whose colours are oft garled white and blacke all white or all blacke and store of conies amongst the hurtfull fort Which although that of themselues they are not offensiue at all yet their great numbers are thought to be verie preiudiciall and therfore iustlie reprooued of many as are in like sort our huge flocks of shéepe whereon the greatest part of our soile is emploied almost in euerie place and yet our mutton wooll and selles neuer the better cheape The yoong males which our fallow deere doo bring foorth are commonlie named according to their seuerall ages for the first yéere it is a sawne the second a puckot the third a â—â—rell the fourth a soare the fift a bucke of the first head not bearing the name of a bucke till he be fiue yéers old and from hencefoorth his age is commonlie knowne by his head or horns Howbeit this notice of his yéers is not so certeine but that the best woodman may now and then he deceiued in that account for in some grounds a bucke of the first head will be so well headed as another in a high rowtie soile will be in the fourth It is also much to be maruelled at that whereas they doo yéerelie new and cast their horns yet in fighting they neuer breake off where they doo grife or mew Furthermore in examining the condition of our red déere I find that the yoong male is called in the first yéere a calfe in the second a broket the third a spaie the fourth a stagon or stag the fift a great stag the sixt an hart and so foorth vnto his death And with him in degrée of venerie are accounted the hare bore and woolfe The fallow déere as bucks and does are nourished in parkes and conies in warrens and burrowes As for hares they run at their owne aduenture except some gentleman or other for his pleasure doo make an inclosure for them Of these also the stag is accounted for the most noble game the fallow déere is the next then the roe whereof we haue indifferent store and last of all the hare not the least in estimation because the hunting of that seelie beast is mother to all the terms blasts and artificiall deuises that hunters doo vse All which notwithstanding our custome are pastimes more méet for ladies and gentlewomen to exercise whatsoeuer Franciscus Patritius saith to the contrarie in his institution of a prince than for men of courage to follow whose hunting should practise their armes in tasting of their manhood and dealing with such beasts as eftsoones will turne againe and offer them the hardest rather than their horsses féet which manie times may carrie them with dishonour from the field Surelie this noble kind of hunting onelie did great princes frequent in times past as it may yet appéere by the histories of their times especiallie of Alexander who at vacant times hunted the tiger the pard the bore and the beare but most willinglie lions because of the honorable estimation of that beast insomuch that at one time he caused an od or chosen lion for force and beautie to be let foorth vnto him hand to hand with whome he had much businesse albeit that in the end he ouerthrew and killed the beast Herevnto beside that which we read of the vsuall hunting of the princes and kings of Scotland of the wild bull woolfe c the example of king Henrie the first of England who disdaining as he termed them to follow or pursue cowards cherished of set purpose sundrie kinds of wild beasts as bears libards ounces lions at Woodstocke one