A defence of the antiquity of the royal line of Scotland with a true account when the Scots were govern'd by kings in the isle of Britain / by Sir George Mackenzie ... Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. 1685 Approx. 288 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 116 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A50493 Wing M156 ESTC R228307 12350734 ocm 12350734 59981 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A50493) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 59981) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 893:8) A defence of the antiquity of the royal line of Scotland with a true account when the Scots were govern'd by kings in the isle of Britain / by Sir George Mackenzie ... Mackenzie, George, Sir, 1636-1691. [8], 13, [1], 204, [4] p. Printed by Ri. Chiswell ..., London : 1685. Reproduction of original in Union Theological Seminary Library, New York. In reply to Bishop Stillingfleet's Origines britannicae. Advertisement: p. [1]-[4] at end. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Stillingfleet, Edward, 1635-1699. -- Origines britannicæ. Scotland -- History -- To 1603. Scotland -- Kings and rulers. 2004-03 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-03 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-05 Olivia Bottum Sampled and proofread 2004-05 Olivia Bottum Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion A DEFENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF THE Royal Line OF SCOTLAND . WITH A true Account when the Scots were govern'd by Kings in the Isle of Britain . By Sir GEORGE MACKENZIE His Majesty's Advocate in Scotland . London , Printed for Ri. Chiswell , at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard . 1685. To the KING . SIR , DIvine Providence having suffered these Kingdoms to destroy one another for many Ages , in divided Monarchies ; reserv'd their happy Union for the Merciful Royal Family , of which Your Majesty is now the Head : and mingl'd lawfully in their Veins , all those many and different Bloods-Royal , which pretended to any Soveraignty in these your Dominions : designing thereby at once to reward the Vertue of Your Majesty's Predecessors , and to endear that Union to us , in preventing future Debates . In King Iames , Your Royal Grand-Father , these Nations got a Monarch , who was acknowledg'd to be the Solomon of His Age : who excell'd all His Contemporary Princes in * King-Craft ; all his Ministers in Prudence ; and all His Doctors in Learning . None of his Subjects understood the Law better , or observ'd it more : and who knew as well all that was done at Council-Tables abroad , as they who sat at them . To Him succeeded Your Majesty's Royal Father , whose Life was the best Law a King could make : who knew no use of Power , save to do good by it : who was less careful of His own Blood , than of that of his Subjects : And I may justly say , that Heaven only was govern'd by a better King. After we had shown our selves unworthy of such Monarchs , the Divine Goodness , to try us once more , gave us Your Gracious Brother , whose Clemency ( after so many and so great Injuries ) was as great a Miracle as His Restoration : who knew every thing save to be severe ; and could bear every thing , save to see His People in trouble : who after the abuse of His Goodness , had made his Enemies so insolent , that His Servants concluded all was lost ; did , by His extraordinary parts , with a gentle easiness , peculiar to Himself , dissipate those execrable Combinations , to our great satisfaction and amazement . But , Sir , the Conscience of His Enemies , will far exceed in His Praises , the Eloquence of His Servants ; and so my trembling Hand leaves this Melancholy Subject . His Throne is now fill'd with Your Sacred Majesty , whose Abilities Your Royal Brother esteemed so much , that He shar'd with You the Exercise of the Government , before His Death gave you the Possession of the Crown . In You , Sir , Your People have a General to their Armies , an Admiral to their Fleet , a Treasurer to their Mony : whose Courage can lead them as far as theirs can follow ; and raise the Glory of these Kingdoms as high as they can wish : So that if they be not happy , they will have this Addition to their Misfortunes , that the World will see , that they themselves are only to be blam'd for it . Our Country , Sir , does not boast of a rich Soil , or a hot Sun : but it may , that it has given these happy Islands those Gracious and Glorious Kings . In return whereof , we might have expected kinder Rewards , than that any of their Natives should debate its Antiquity , and the Veracity of those Histories wherein the great Actions of Your Royal Predecessors were recorded . And since the Honour of the Ancient and Royal Race of our Soveraigns is the chief thing wherein we Glory ; it is hard to deny us a Favour , so just on our part , and so easy on theirs . However , Sir , since I presume , that those of Your other Subjects , who controvert this , do so , rather from want of information , than from unkindness ; I , who am resolv'd to make the defence of Your meanest Priviledges my greatest Honour , have thought it incumbent to me , as Your Advocate , to undertake the defence of that Antiquity , which makes Your Majesty the most Ancient Monarch upon Earth . Which Argument , I hope , I have manag'd with that Candour , which becomes an honest Man , and that Zeal which is the Duty of , SIR , Your Majesty's most Dutiful , Loyal , and Obedient Subject and Servant , Geo. Mackenzie . A LETTER to the EARL of PERTH , Lord High Chancellor of SCOTLAND , Upon his having sent to the Author the Bishop of St. Asaph's Book . With some Reflections upon the Design of that Book . My Lord , I Have read the Book you sent me , with that delight I did of old a Play ; which one may think it resembles more , than our Histories do a Romance : For what is truly related , is so disguised and transposed , as may best suit with the Author's Design ; and with a Rhetorick so Polite and Comical , that if the Reasons do not convince , yet the Humour and Stile may charm , and please , even some of those against whom it is design'd . This made me unwilling at first to undertake to answer a Book , which I suppose might have more Admirers than Proselytes : but finding , upon a second perusal , that the Author had not fully examined the Grounds upon which our Historians proceeded , or had suffered himself to be byass'd by Zeal for his Order , or Partiality to his Country ; And that this whole Kingdom take it as an Injury done , not only to the Antiquity of the Royal Family , but to this our Nation in general ; I was at last prevailed with to enter the Lists , with a kind Design , by a sober and candid Information , rather to convince and satisfy the Author , and those he may have misled , than to acquire the vain glory of such a Victory , especially over one who bears the Character of a Bishop , for which I have so great a Veneration : Altho , for the Reasons following , I cannot but dislike his unnecessary Undertaking , and unseasonable and partial Management of a National Debate , which * we are prohibited to enter upon under pain of a Sedition . 1. I am sorry , that while these Kingdoms are unhappily divided , not in Nations , but Opinions ; the old Animosities amongst Scots , English , and Irish , being forgot and buried , and the modern Differences between the Episcopal and Fanatick , and Cavalier and Republican , or , as some term it , Whig and Tory , are so violent and turbulent ; the Author should have diverted our just and dutiful Zeal , by imploying it in defence of an important right of State , unkindly , as well as unnecessarily invaded : so as the other , of near concern to the Church , may in some measure come to be neglected . 2. The pretext for writing this Book , wherein the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation is so much disparag'd , being , that the Presbyterians , and particularly Blondel , urg'd from our Historians , that we had a Church for some Years without Bishops : it seem'd neither just nor fit , that any Episcopal Author should have magnify'd so highly the meanest Argument that ever was us'd by a Presbyterian ; as for it , to cut off 44 Kings ( all preceding Coranus , who began his Reign anno 501 ) and to expose on a Pillory as Forgers , our many and grave Historians . And that it is a weak Argument , appears from this , that I have met with very few Laicks in all our Country , who had heard of it ; nor with one , even of these few , who had valu'd it : and so this Author may be said , rather to have suggested a new Argument , than to have answered an old One : For they urge now nothing to us , save places of Scripture ; resolving to have their Presbytery , Iuris Divini : knowing that nothing less can secure them , in opposing the Laws of the Kingdom . And what can the Presbyterians think of their other Arguments , which they value much . Since this , which they valu'd so little , is thought of such force , by a learned Bishop , as to deserve a whole Book , the cutting off of 44 Kings , and the offending a Nation of Friends . It is also very remarkable , that the learn'd Doctor Hammond , a great Champion of Episcopacy , owns the Antiquity of our Nation ; and answers fully that Argument , without overturning the truth of our History , or wronging the Antiquity of our Royal-Line : whereas Baxter the Presbyterian urges this Citation , and yet agrees with this Author in opposing the Antiquity of our History ; approving what is said by Cambden and Vsher ; and in a Letter to the Duke of Lauderdale asserting the lateness of our settlement here . Which shews , that there is no necessity lying upon such as own Episcopacy , to wrong the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation . But how the necessity of a private corner of a remote Country in Ecclesiâ constituendâ , could wrong the general practice of the Church ; is as little to be understood , as it is undenyable , that many thousands in Iapan , and China , were converted by Presbyters , before Bishops were sent thither . And since it cannot be deny'd , but that those who ordain'd our Presbyters were Bishops ; it necessarily follows , that Episcopacy was settl'd in the Christian Church before we had Presbyters or Culdees : or else , if these who ordain'd our Presbyters were not Bishops , the practice of that Church , whereby our Presbyters were ordain'd , should have been impugn'd , and not the Authority of our Histories , and the Antiquity of our Royal-Line overturn'd . And though this Reverend and Learn'd Author could prove , that we were not setled here , before the Year 503 , yet that could not answer the Argument : for the Culdees might have been settled before that time in this Country , where we now live , though amongst the Picts ; for it cannot be deny'd but the Picts were setled in this Country before that time . And when our Historians say that the Abbots of Icolm-kill had Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of the Province ; that is to be understood , as Beda observes , more inusitato ; and my Lord St. Asaph himself well remarks these words , and gives a full and clear vindication of the passages of Beda in the 173 , and following Pages ; and might have rested therein , and needed not to have been driven to seek a new Answer in overturning the Antiquity of our Nation . Many examples can be given of Jurisdiction of Presbyters , and even of Deacons over Bishops in the Canon Law and History . So that this instance from our Historians makes nothing against Episcopacy . And latter Historians meeting with these ambiguous words in our Annals , De signatus , Electus , Ordinatus , were by a mistake induc'd to appropriate these words to the formal Ceremony of Ordination and Imposition of Hands . And I find , by the Bishop's Concession , * that the Abbess Hilda did elect and send forth such of her Monks , as she thought fit to be ordain'd : which is all that our Guldees , and ancient Monks did . Thus a King may be said to make one a Bishop , or a Mother to have made one of her Sons a Church-man ; which answer , the learned Nicol , a zealous friend to Episcopacy , thought sufficient to elide Blondel's Arguments from our Historians , without denying the Antiquity of our Nation , or troubling himself with our * Culdees . And if Beda had heard that the Presbyters did ordain Bishops , he had remark'd it as a most unusal thing , having marked that the Abbots had jurisdiction over Bishops , they being but Presbyters ; such an Ordination being much more extraordinary , than such a Jurisdiction . And might not my Lord St. Asaph as well have inveigh'd against Gildas and the British Historians , because he says * that Church-men were ordain'd by the consent of the Bishops and the rest of the Presbyters , from which Presbyterians , and particularly the same , Blondel † infers a parity betwixt Bishops and Presbyters . And from which it appears , that dangerous Consequences should not be drawn from the dubious and heedless expressions of old Authors , living in rude Times and Places : and from all which we might have been secure , that my Lord St. Asaph would have concur'd with the wise answer , which Spotswood , Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews ( with whom the learn'd Hammond agrees ) gave to that silly Argument , without affronting him as a betrayer of the Episcopal Cause ; and caressing our Fanaticks by that unwarrantable and dangerous assertion ; that in consequence thereof they might reasonably conclude , that when they covenanted against Episcopacy , they had only us'd their own right ; and thrown out that , which was a confess'd innovation ; in order to the restoring of that , which was their primitive Government . For it does not follow , that because our Church in its infancy and necessity was without Bishops for some Years ; that therefore it was reasonable for Subjects , to enter into a Solemn League and Covenant , without , and against the consent of their Monarch ; and to extirpate Episcopacy settled then by Law , and by an old prescription of 1200 Years at least . 3. Precedency being one of the Jewels of the Crown and one of the chief Glories of Princes ; and all who treat on that Subject confessing , that the King of Great-Britain , as King of Scotland , is the most ancient Monarch in Europe , the Line of other Kingdoms having been often interrupted , whereas ours never was ; it seems a great injury to our Kings , to have their Line shortened , so as thereby to postpone them , to many others ; and if this Author's Arguments prove any thing , they must prove that our Kings cannot instruct their Antiquity , till Malcolm the 3d's Time : and so our Kings will be amongst the last of all Crowned-Heads . Nor is it one of the least Arguments , which prevail with us , to hazard all for our Royal-Line , that we have been so long Subjects to it , and happy under it : and therefore whoever shortens it , lessens ( though without design ) the influence of our Kings , and endangers the Succession . And since * Luddus owns , that he durst not deny the British Descent from Brutus , lest he might thereby wrong the Majesty of the English Nation ; I admire , that any of the Subjects of Great Britain did not think it a degree of Lese-Majesty , to injure and shorten the Royal-Line of their Kings . 4. If this injury had been done to Kings , or to a Nation , when they were Enemies to Episcopacy , as the Obligation was , so the fault had been less . But to inveigh against our Royal-Line , after King Iames had made the settlement of Episcopacy his business ; King Charles had died for it ; and our late Soveraign of Glorious Memory , had been more disquieted by the Schismatical opposition made to it , than by all his other concerns , seems very unkind . And tho this learned and worthy Author , upon design to make us sit down quietly under these Injuries , seems to gratifie us , by the Complement , That we , since the Writing of our Histories , needed not such helps , as old and fabulous Romances : telling us , that we have excell'd most other Nations , in Arts , and Arms ; and especially in the Purity of Religion , abating only the blemish , which we have contracted by too easie a belief of these Fictions , which he designs to Refute . Yet , since no Peer in England , though a Subject , would have allow'd this Author to tell him , that albeit , he be now a brave and generous Person ; his Predecessors were lately pilfering barbarous Robbers and Vagabonds , and the History of his Family a fabulous Romance . How should he have imagin'd , that our Kings and Nation ( how gentle soever ) would have thought , that the Justice done them in this Age ( and for which we thank the Bishop of St. Asaph ) should have compens'd the Injuries done to their Predecessors ? But it is probable , that my Lord St. Asaph has not , on the one hand , known the Grounds which we here urge for our Antiquity , and that our nice Jealousie for our Honour , on the other hand , magnifies too much to us such injuries , of which we are naturally very sensible : and therefore , I hope , by his Lordship's aquiescence , the result of the Debate will be , that he will see that our Royal-Line and Nation are more ancient than he imagined them to have been : and that we will remain convinc'd , that his Book was not dictated by malice , and National Humour . My Design is not to convince my Readers , that I am Learn'd , but that my Cause is just : and therefore I use no more Citations , even from the Books I know , than may prove or illustrate my Positions . And , not being the first aggressor , I expect the favour which is due to Self-defence : For of all things , I hate unnecessary Debates ; and I admire St. Pâul , for saying , * And they neither found me in the Temple disputing with any Man. Debates generally starve Charity , feed Self-love , and incline even very good Men to more partiality , than I hope can be charg'd in this Debate , upon Your Lordship's most faithful and humble Servant , Geo. Mackenzie . King CHARLES the 1st his Speech to the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh , Aug. 19. 1641. I Cannot doubt of such real Testimonies of your Affections , for the maintenance of that Royal Power which I enjoy , after 108 Descents , and which you profess to maintain , and to which your National Oath doth oblige your , &c. A Defence of the Antiquity OF THE Royal-Line OF SCOTLAND , With a true Account , when the Scots were govern'd by Kings in the Isle of Britain . In Answer to the Bishop of St. Asaph . ALL the Historians of Scotland unanimously agreeing , that the Royal-Line of the Kings of Scotland did begin in King Fergus the First : and that the Scots now inhabiting it , were settled here , under one Soveraign , about 330 years before Christ. And their Histories being receiv'd with great applause for many hundreds of years , by Historians , Antiquaries , and Criticks of other Nations , who had any occasion to take notice of our Affairs ; Luddus affecting Singularity , did , Anno 1572 , controvert both these Points : for which , he having been refuted with just severity by Buchannan ; the Bishop of St. Asaph , upon pretext of answering a very silly an inconsequential Argument against Episcopacy , has undertaken the Defence of Luddus his Kinsman , contending , that the Scots did not settle in Britain till the year of our Lord 503 , and that they had no King , who govern'd in this Island till that time . Albeit there be other unwarrantable assertions and positions in that Book , yet being unwilling to enter upon any Argument , which may , by the remotest Consequence , be urg'd against that Episcopacy , which I so much reverence ; I , as his Majesties Advocate , design only to prove , that in both these Points the Bishop has ( though I hope without design ) injur'd our Kings and Nation . For proving whereof , The first thing I shall clear , shall be , That History requires , nor admits no Mathematieal , nor Legal Proof , but is satisfied with such Moral Certainty , as is infer'd from probable Tradition , old Manuscripts , credible Historians , the Testimony of Foreign Authors , and probable Reasons . Secondly ; That our Histories being already acquiesced in , and received by the generality of Mankind , and especially by Criticks , Antiquaries , and Historians , the best Iudges in such cases , need no Confirmation , nor further Proof . Thirdly ; That albeit we are not obliged to prove , or confirm our History , yet we are able to do it by all the former Grounds , which is all that needs be done for the Credit of any History . Fourthly ; I shall answer the Arguments brought by the Bishop against our Histories . And I must intreat my Readers to lay all these together , and not to judg by parcels , which is not to be done , especially in cases of this nature . For clearing the first of these Points , it is fit to consider , that right Reason requires only in all cases , such Proofs , as the nature of the Subject can allow : and therefore , though Mathematicians rest only upon infallible Demonstrations ; and the Law requires strict and solemn Proofs ; Yet the Law it self remits its ordinary Exactness , to comply with the necessity of Human Affairs , allowing Domestick Witnesses , where others cannot be had , and strong presumptive Grounds as equal to Witnesses , where the Subject Matter can admit of no other Proofs : Morality convinces by probable Reasons , and History allows Moral Certainty for a sufficient Probation in matters of Fact , because the matters treated of in it , can generally admit no exacter Proofs : Which Proposition as to History , will very easily appear , if we consider , that even the Historians of this present Age , cannot themselves see every thing they relate ; nor can all be prov'd by the Testimony of Witnesses . Reason likewise has oblig'd Men to presume , that a Nation ought as much to be believ'd in these cases , as two Witnesses are in any single one : for even in the case of Witnesses , our belief is founded upon the presumption , that they will not lie , and damn themselves ; and that both the one , and the other , do at last resolve in presumptive and probable Grounds : So that Men satisfie themselves in most things , with the general Belief and Tradition of those among whom they live , founded upon probable Reasons . Manuscripts also written by others , infer no Mathematical nor Legal Certainty : For the Author of the Manuscript might have been mistaken , or byass'd ; and at best , one Witness proves not . Nor are Strangers oblig'd to believe the exactest History of those who write in favour of the Antiquity of their own Nation , upon any other account , than because History is satisfy'd with probable Grounds . Domestick Testimonies infer only a probable Belief ; and tho an Oath were interpos'd , that could creat no more than a moral Certainty . As the former Proposition is founded upon just Reason , so all Historians have been believ'd , and the Histories of all Nations have been receiv'd upon probable Grounds and Warrants , though they were not written by those who saw and heard what they wrote . Amongst many Instances of which , I shall only name that of the Romans , written by * Livius ; In which Common-wealth , he tells us that the use of Letters was not then ordinary , and that the best Records were the faithful Remembrance of things past ; and if some few Memorials were left by the Priests in succeeding Ages , they perish'd at the burning of the Town . And no History was collected till the year 485 , after the building of Rome , Fabius Pictor , their first Historian , writing in that Year , as † Vossius informs us . The Iewish History also had no Historical Warrant for the first 2000 years , but Tradition , and after that time , their Transactions were mention'd in very few Foreign Histories : And the Annals of their own Priests were thought good Historical Foundations , in the opinion of * Iosephus , even for the Sacred History . I need not mention the Histories of the Greeks , who could have no Records for many hundreds of years before they wrote ; and much less those of the French , and Spaniards , whose Histories might much more justly be questioned upon the Grounds that ours are . The surest Foundation then of all Histories , is the common belief and consent of the Natives : For Strangers cannot know but from them , and this consent and belief may be founded upon credible Tradition , Manuscripts , Domestick Witnesses , but especially when these are fortify'd by the concurring Testimonies of Foreign Authors , probable Reasons , and the acquiescence of Mankind . And tho less accepted for fortifying an Ancient , than Modern History , and that even a part of these would be sufficient to confirm a Modern one ; yet I hope to make them all concur for supporting ours , tho very ancient . It would appear then by this , that as the Bishop of St. Asaph has undertaken to defame our History without any necessity , so he does it without any shadow of Reason : and we will at least have the satisfaction to see our Histories subsist as long as any Histories can do . I conceive also , that in Reason , Historians already receiv'd in the World with Applause , need not show their Warrants whereupon they proceed ; No more than a Man that is in possession needs prove or confirm his Right , except the same be prov'd to be false , or a clearer , or stronger Right be produced by him who challenges the former . Nor are Men curious to preserve old Manuscripts and Records , after they have form'd their Histories by them : for else no Historian could ever be secure , if the not being able to show their Warrants , after many Ages , might discredit their History . And I desire to know , where are these few Historians , whom Herodotus , Livius , and others do cite in their Histories ? Or , these whom Iosephus did cite to confirm that of the Jews , when it was challeng'd by Appion the Grammarian , upon the same grounds that ours is now quarrell'd by the Bishop of St. Asaph ? And albeit the authority of a single Historian , might be suspected after his History is written , and that then his Warrants might be call'd for ; especially if other Manuscripts could be found , written in the time controverted , by which that History might be contradicted : Or if the History controverted did report things inconsistent with the whole Tract of other Historians , or the Principles of common Sense and Reason , as Ieffrey of Monmouth , and some British Historians do , in the opinion of the Bishop of St. Asaph , and their own best Critiques . Yet , this cannot at all be extended to our case , who have many Histories written by Men of great Reputation , all agreeing very well with one another , and relating things probable in themselves , and very agreeable to Foreign Histories , and which they declare , they did draw from Warrants cited by them , and which have for many Years , been read with great pleasure , and cited with great honour by Critiques , Antiquaries , and Historians , and contradicted by the authority of no positive History or Manuscript , written by any in the Ages controverted , asserting , that the Scotish Nation now inhabiting this Isle , did first plant themselves here , about such a year of God , under such a King , or adducing some such solid Ground against us ; all that is objected against our positive and applauded Histories , being the vain scruples of an obscure Author , Luddus , who being confuted by Buchannan , made no more noise in the World , till * Cambden rais'd some Conjectures with submission to us , after which Learned † Bishop Vsher ( picqu'd by Dempster's Severity , to his Uncle Stanihurst ) gathered together , an undigested , and formless lump of all Writers , good and bad , from which , he says , that Discretion being us'd , a History might be form'd . And from these , the Bishop of St. Asaph , impatient of Buchannan's severity to Luddus , under the pretext of respect to Episcopacy , has drawn a new Model , without bringing new Materials , putting that confus'd Rabble in Rank and File , with some pleasant Reflections . I might then forbear to trouble my self any further , than in answering those few , and ill-founded Objections , muster'd up by the Bishop against us , which being remov'd , leave our History in its former lustre and splendor . But for serving my King and Country , and satisfying my Reader more entirely , I am resolv'd to clear , that our Historians have proceeded upon sufficient Warrants , according to the former uncontrovertible Propositions , which I at first laid down in relation to History in general . And this I will endeavour to do , 1. By shewing that our Tradition is very well founded . 2. By shewing , that we had ancient Annals , and that our Historians were Men of great Reputation , and that they founded their Histories on those ancient Annals . 3. That the best Historians among the Britains , do concur to assert our Antiquity ; and that such as oppose it , are Men of so little authority , as that their Testimony should not be put in the Ballance with those who stand for us . 4. That our Histories are confirm'd by the authority of ancient Foreign Authors . 5. That our Histories have been believ'd and applauded by the best of late Historians , Critiques , and Antiquaries , the best Judges in such cases . 6. That the antiquity of our History is founded upon solid Reason , and great Probability as well as upon the Testimony of Authors , both within and without the Isle : Which is all that can be done , or is requisite for asserting and proving the Truth of any History . For clearing whereof I must inform my Reader , that whilst this Isle was Pagan , it had for its Priests , the Druids , who taught them Sciences , and Letters , and who were so famous , That * Caesar tells us , That the Gauls deriv'd their first Learning from them . And all Histories acknowledg , That these us'd to transmit the Histories of their own times in Verses , which were taught by them to their Scholars : and it is probable , that some of these Druids having been converted from the Pagan Religion , whereof they were the Priests , became our first Monks ; being thereto much inclin'd by the severity of their former Discipline : as the Therapeutae did for the same Reason become the first Anchorits in Egypt ; and so it was easie for them to inform the Monasteries of what they knew so well . And this Hint is confirm'd by a very clear passage in Leslies Preface to his History , who being a Bishop himself , should be believ'd by another of the same Character in a probable matter of Fact. Nor can there be a clearer Confirmation of our having had the Druids amongst us , than that in several places of the Irish Version of the New Testament , the wise Men , or Priests , are translated Druids : and so , where the English Translation saith , That the Wise Men from the East came to worship our Saviour : Our Irish Translation has the Druids , &c. Our Predecessors also being descended from the Spanish Gallicks , or Galicians , as is acknowledg'd by Historians ; and they having had the use of Letters , and of Grammar , long before this time , as * Strabo confesses , it cannot be imagined , but that we as a Colony of them , would have likewise a part of their Art and Learning . Our Predecessors also had their Sanachies and Bards ; The first whereof were the Historians , and the latter the Poets of their Traditions , as Luddus himself acknowledges , and by either of these means , the Memory of our Kings and their Actions , might have been preserv'd until the 5th Century ; at which time we got Monasteries ; in which ( as I shall hereafter prove ) were written and preserv'd the Annals of our Nation . And since nothing but great Improbabilities , and fundamental Inconsistencies , should be allow'd to refute a History already receiv'd . I shall offer these Considerations for clearing , that this way of preserving the Memory of our Kings , is as probable a mean as any can be in History . 1. It is probable that our Nation , as all the rest of Mankind , who are warlike , and in constant action , would be desirous to preserve the memory of those Actions , for which they had hazarded their Lives , and by which they design'd to preserve that Fame , which they preferr'd to Life it self : And that the Kings likewise , whose Authority and Right was much reverenc'd for its Antiquity , would be as careful to preserve those Marks of their ancient Dominion . 2. We do not in this serious Debate , pretend to such ancient Originations , and Descents , as might through Vanity tempt Men to lie , as those do , who endeavour to derive themselves from the Trojans . All that we pretend to in this Debate , being only , that we are a Colony , who probably came first from Greece to Spain , but settled certainly in Ireland for some time : and that we came from them , after the time , in which Cambden , and Vsher acknowledge that the Nation of the Scots ( whose Name we only now bear ) were long settled there . Would not our Accusers have us trust the British Antiquities for 2500 years ? and the Irish for a longer time than our own , without any written History , or Manuscript now extant before Gilda's time ? And tho Lycurgus would not suffer his Laws to be written , yet they were preserv'd in the Memories of Men , for more than 600 Years , as Plutarch observes ; and we and other Nations have preserv'd some Laws for much longer time , without the help of writing . And the only Points here controverted , being the first Settlement of our Nation , and that we continue Subjects to the same race of Kings ; these are matters so remarkable , that most Nations know when such Changes happened to one another . As for instance , tho there were no History yet extant , we should easily have known that the Saxons , Danes , and Normans conquer'd the Britons , and alter'd the Race of their Kings . That Ireland had many little Monarchs , till they were swallow'd up by Henry the 2d of England . And that Edward Bruce , Brother to our glorious King Robert the first , was chosen King of Ireland , with universal Consent there , and might have continued in that Government , if from too great a love to Fame , and to gain a Victory without his Brother , he had not lost it , and himself . And though all these controverted Points , fell out in a time after the use of Letters was known to most Nations , and particularly to the Druids and Romans , the one whereof were our Priests , and the other our Neighbours very long , yet there remains not the least vestige of a doubt , that our Scepter was ever sway'd by any other Race . 3. Though we had wanted the use of Letters , as most probably we did not ; Yet the Tradition controverted , is at most of about 800 years . For , after that time , it shall be proved , that we had Records and Annals : And the things said of our Kings , during that time , are so few , and so remarkable , that Men might have taught the same to their Children in a weeks time : And Men lived so long at that time , that ten or twelve Men might have transmitted the Tradition to one another . As also , since private Families do preserve to this day their Tradition for as long time as this ; it was much more easy for a Nation , and their Kings , to preserve theirs . Nor can I tell why my Lord St. Asaph , in his Preface , can controvert our Tradition , though we could not produce Writers who lived in those Times , wherein these Actions are said to be done : since * he thinks it reasonable to judge that there was the same Government here in Britain , though for want of Ancient Writings , there could be produced no plain Instances of it . And if this be allowed to Episcopacy in these times , why should he not have allow'd the same favour to his Monarch's Predecessors , in the same and more ancient Ages . 4. It was much easier for us to preserve our Traditions , than for the English , we being all descended from the same Race , and being still the same People , living under the uninterrupted succession of the same Royal-Line ; Whereas they were oblig'd to suppress the Traditions and Memorials of the People whom they had conquer'd . 5. As no Man is presum'd to lie , or cheat , without some great Temptation ; so the most glorious things that are said of us , are true beyond debate . As our having defended the Ground in which we setled , against all opposition to this very day : Our having put the first stop to the Roman Greatness ; our having beat the far more numerous Britans , though defended by strong Walls , and stronger Romans : All which cannot be deny'd to have been done by us , and are equally noble , whether we were setled here or not , when we did them . After those controverted Times , it cannot be deny'd , that we carried our Conquests further into Britain than formerly : That we fought long with success against the Saxons and Picts , and did at last extirpate the latter : And when we were alone , we continued , and extended our former Conquests against the Danes and Normans ; which proves also , that in the Wars which we had against the Romans in conjunction with the Picts , the Victories we then got , are chiefly to be ascrib'd to us . And to crown all , we have generously contributed all that was in our power , to support that Ancient and Royal Family ( so unparallell'd for its antiquity ) by which we were animated , and instructed to do all those great Actions , till they are now become the Monarchs of the whole Isle ; having by a happier way extinguished those Wars and Animosities , and may he be unhappy who revives them . For clearing how this Tradition might have been , and was preserv'd ; Our History tells us of a probable way among many others , which was , That at the Coronation of our Kings , one appeared and recited his whole Genealogy . I shall trouble my Reader only with a proof of this Custom , which is such as confirms also the Genealogy of King Alexander the 3d , in the year 1249 , prior to Fordon's time , or to the view of any such Debate , and is related by Fordon and Major in the Life of that King ; and being so memorable a Fact , and so near Fordon's own time , his Relation cannot but be credited . His words are , That the King being plac'd in the Marble-Chair , the Crown upon his Head , and the Scepter in his Hand , and the Nobility being set below Him , a Venerable old High-landed Gentleman stept out , and bowing the Knee , express'd himself to the King in the High-land Language thus ; God bless you King Alexander , Son of Alexander , Son of William , &c. And so carried up the Genealogy to Fergus the First : Which Custom was most solemnly us'd at the Coronation of King Charles the Martyr , at which time their Pictures were expos'd , and noblest Actions recited . As also the reciting of their Genealogy was usual at the Burial of ours Kings , a written Proof of which Tradition , is to be seen in a Manuscript of Baldredus Abbas Rynalis ; ( for that which is the Abbacy of Melros , was so called before King David's time , who designs them so in the Foundations of the Lands of Melros , which he gives to them ) and is related verbatim by Fordon , consisting of eighteen Chapters , mentioning the memorable Actions of King David , upon whom the Lamentation is made , who died 1151 ; and running up the Genealogy of the said St. David to Fergus the First , dedicated to Henry Prince of England , Grand Nephew to St. David , who came to the Crown of England , Anno 1154 , under the name of Henry the Second : In both which at least Fordon is to be believ'd , having sufficient Vouchers . This also being ordinary in our High-land Families to this very day , not only at Burials , but Baptisms and Marriages : and in which Families , Men continue still to be design'd from their Fathers , Grandfathers , and very many Generations upwards ; as is a sufficient Historical Proof of Tradition , tho we had no other Warrant for those few Ages . Before I come to clear that we had Manuscripts and Records , it is fit to consider that is very probable , that as the History of most Nations was preserv'd by their Priests and Church-men : so ours would be very ready to oblige the Kings , under whom , and the People among whom they liv'd , by writing their Annals . And therefore we may reasonably conclude , that since we were very early Christians , we had therefore ancient Histories written by our Church-men , besides those which we may pretend to have been transmitted to them by the Druids . And the Bishop himself acknowledges that the Monastery of Hy , call'd by us Icolm-kill , ( that is Hy , the Cell of Columba ) was founded about the year 560 ; and it is undeniable , that 48 of our old Kings were buried , and our Records were kept there since its Foundation , until the Reign of Malcolm Canmore : and it is also certain , that our Annals were written in our Monasteries , such as Scoon , Pasley , Pluscardin , and Lindesfern * govern'd by three Scotish-Bishops , Aidan , Finan , and Colman ; and Abercorn , mention'd by † Beda ; and Melross , the Chronicle whereof begins where Beda ends , as their History now printed shews : though certainly that English Manuscript is very unfaithful , for most of the things relating to our Nation are omitted , as particularly about the beginning , in the year 844. Our Manuscript observes ( which the English has not ) That Alpin King of the Scots died , to whom succeeded his Son Kenneth , who beat the Picts , and was declared first King of all Scotland , to the Water of Tine ; and after it expresses in his Epitaph , Primus in Albania fertur Regnasse Kenedhus Filius Alpini , praelia multa gerens . And it observes that he was called the first King of Albany , not because he was the first who made the Scotish Laws , but because he was the first King of all Scotland . And each of our Monasteries had two Books , the one call'd their Register , or Chartulary , containing the Records relating to their private securities ; and another call'd their Black-book , containing an account of the memorable things which occur'd in every Year . And as it is strongly presumable , that our Historians would have compil'd our Histories from those : So this being a matter of Fact , is probable by Witnesses : and I thus prove it in such a way and manner as is sufficient to maintain any History . Verimundns a Spaniard , Arch-deacon of St. Andrews , in Anno 1076 , ( as is remarked by * Chambers of Ormond ) declares in the Epistle to his Book of the Historians of Scotland , dedicated to King Malcolm , call'd Can-more ; That , albeit there are many things in the said Histories , which may seem to the Readers to be a little difficult to be believed , because they are not totally confirmed by Foreign Historians : Yet after have they heard how the Scots were setled in the North Part of the Isle of Albion , separated by the Sea from the firm Land , and so seldom troubled by Strangers , to whom they give no occasions to write their Actions ; and also that they have not been less happy in having almost always among them the Druids , Religious People , and diligent Chroniclers , before the Reception of the Christian Faith , and continually since Monks , faithful Historians in the Isles of Man , and Icomkill ; where they kept securely their Monuments and Antiquities , without giving a sight , or Copy of them to strangers ; they will cease to wonder . This Chambers was a Learned Man , and a Lord of Session , who wrote anno 1572 , and in his * Preface , says , That he had those principal Authors , Verimund a Spaniard , Turgot Bishop of St. Andrews , John Swenton , John Campbel , and Bishop Elphinstoun , &c. and many great Histories of the Abbacies of Scoon , called the Black-book , and of other like Chronicles of Abbacies , as that of Inch-colm , and Icolmkill , the most part whereof he took pains to consider as much as was possible for him . He * cites Verimund for an account of the Scots and Picts , and after he also † cites him for the Miracle of St. Andrews in Hungus's time ; and he * gives an account of the tenor of the League betwixt Charles the Great , and Achaius , and asserts that the same was extracted out of the Registers and Books he mention'd , and particularly , out of the second Book of Verimund . Sir Richard Baker cites this Verimund , among the Authors out of whom he compiled his History ; and with him he cites Ioannes Campbellus , who ( he says ) wrote the History of the Scots from the Origine of the Nation till the Year 1260 , in which he liv'd : And also Turgot , who ( he says ) wrote our Annals from the beginning till the Year 1098 , in which he liv'd , ( and him likewise Hollinshed cites ) ; as also Aluredus Rivallensis , who wrote the History of King David , and died Anno 1166 ; and Bartholomeus Anglicus , who wrote a Chronicle of the Scots , and liv'd in the Year 1360. Two of which three last , we have reason to think were Scots-men , and have been called English-men , only because they liv'd in the Counties which now belong to England , but then certainly belong'd to us ; and if they be Englishmen , they are yet the more credible Witnesses for us . And as the worthy Baker says , he compil'd his History out of these Books , which he neither would nor could have said , if he had not seen them : So it is very probable that he did see them ; our Records and Manuscripts having been industriously carry'd to England by Edward the First , as shall be hereafter observ'd : Nor can it be answer'd , that he cited them at second-hand from Boeth , or Buchannan , for else he had cited the other Authors whom they cite , such as Richardus de sancto victore , Fordon , Major , &c. All this doth evidently demonstrate that we had such Historians as Verimund , and the others above-cited , who asserted before Fordon what he has related : so that it was most unwarrantable to say , that these things were dream'd by Fordon and Boethius , but that Verimund was seen and consider'd by others , and cited in a particular part of his Book , which could not be copied from Boethius , because he doth not cite Verimund for all those Transactions ; and upon this * Balaeus , a Learn'd English-man , hath rested . And † Holinshed says , that Verimund wrote a Book , De Regibus Scotorum . Nor can it be deny'd that Gesner in verbo Verimund , and other famous Strangers , cite him as one who has written our History ab exordio Scoticae gentis , usque ad Malcolmi tempora . And it is incredible to think so good and grave a Man as Boetius could have been so impudent to assert in * his Dedication to King Iames the 5th , That these Books were sent to him by the Earl of Argile , and his Brother the Thesaurer from Icolmkill , and that , he had follow'd them in writing his History : Especially since he is by Erasmus that great Critick , admir'd as a most Learned Man , they having studied together at Paris , where he remembers that he was in great esteem . And in a Letter concerning him , Anno 1530 , inserted in the Life of Erasmuus , he remarks , that Boethius was a Person who could not lie . How can it then be imagined , that he would have adventur'd to have printed a whole Romance , and have told his King and the World , that he had the Manuscripts by him ? Nor is this asserted only by Boethius , and our own Historians , but by Paulus Iovius , a very famous Foreign Historian , who in his Description of Scotland , says , * That in Iona ( which we call Icolmkill ) are kept the ancient Annals and Manuscripts in hidden Presses of the Church , and large Parchments asigned by the King 's own hands , and seal'd either with Seals of Gold , or Wax . By which also it appears how nice we have been in securing the Faith of our History , the Seals of our Kings being put to what was written by our devout Church-men . And whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph , to lessen the Credit of Boethius * , relates , that Bishop Gavin Dowglas advised Polidor Virgil not to follow his History . Polidor Virgil himself is appeal'd to , where there is no mention of Boethius at all , nor could it be ; for Polidor regrates that Gavin Dowglas died Anno 1520 , whereas Boethius was not publish'd till 1526 , and † Boethius himself informs us , That the Records from which he form'd his History , were sent him from Icolmkill Anno 1525 , and no sooner ; neither did he see those Warrants from which he wrote his History , till that Year . And it appears by that passage , that Gavin Dowglas believ'd our account , and produc'd a Manuscript for it , which I now cite , and use as an accessory Argument , and prove it by the Bishop of St. Asaph , and Polidor : and whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph pretends that the Relation given by Gavin Dowglas agreed with Nennius , but contradicted Boethius ; the contrary is probable by Polidor's own Relation of what Gavin Dowglas writ to him , which agrees with Boethius in every thing relating to our Antiquity . The Bishop of St. Asaph is also most unjust to Boethius , in alledging that Vossius considers him as a fabulous Author : For Vossius commends him from what Erasmus and Buchannan say of him , and in the end taxes him only a little for having believ'd too many Miracles , a fault incident to most Popish Writers in those times , but to none more than to the Bishop's own obscure Authors , for which , among many other Testimonies , I refer my Reader to them who writ the Preface to the Histories of Matthew of Westminster , and to the Life of King Alfred , and Walsingham's History . It can also be proved by many famous Gentlemen , that the Black Book of Scoon , containing our Histories from the beginning , was among President Spotwood's Books , and was given by Lewis Cant to Major General Lambert , and by him to Collonel Fairfax ; which Book King Charles the first had ransom'd from Rome by a considerable Sum of Money . And it is certain that Spotswood had it , and the Black Book of Pasley , signed by the hands of three Abbots , when he compil'd his History : Which Book of Pasley , together with the famous Book of Pluscardin , Buchannan says he had , and frequently cites : and that there were such Books is known to the whole Nation . And I my self have seen in the Learned Sir Robert Sibbald's Library ( to whom this Nation owes very much ) a very old Abridgment of the Book of Pasley ( which Book Bp Vsher himself also cites ) agreeing in every thing with our Histories , and which was extracted per venerabilem virum Ioannem Gibson Canonicum Glasguensem , & Rectorem de Renfrew , Anno 1501. And two other old Manuscripts , the one called , Excerpta de Chronicis Scotiae , & Scoti-chronico , which comes to the Reign of King Iames the 2d . and belong'd to Doctor Arbuthnot Physician to King Iames the 5th ; and this proves that there were Chronica different from Fordon's . And the other , Extracta de Registro prioratus Sancti-Andreae , giving the Irish Names of our Kings . As also I have seen a Manuscript written by a Brother of the minores Observants of Iedburgh , in Anno 1533 , containing an Abridgment of our History , and whereof Doctor Sibbald has another Copy . And there is another old Manuscript written by Ventonius yet extant , which Buchannan also cites , and follows . Since the Writing of these Sheets , I have seen a very old Manuscript brought from Icolmkill , written by Carbre Lifachair , who liv'd six Centuries before St. Patrick , and so about our Saviours time ; wherein is given a full account of the Irish Kings : By which I conclude , that since the Irish had Manuscripts then , certainly we must also be allowed to have had them , having greater occasion of learning Sciences , and writing Histories ; because of our Commerce with the Romans , and polite Britans . In this Book also there are many Additions by the Druids of those times : from which I likewise may confirm that the Priests in our old Monasteries learn'd our Ancient History from the Druids who preceded them . I have seen also an old Genealogy of the Kings of the Albanian Scots , agreeing with that mentioned in our History at the Coronation of King Alexander the 2d , and which has still been preserv'd as Sacred there . I have also seen another old Manuscript , wherein the Dalreudini Albanach are considered as setled here six Generations before Eric , whom Vsher calls the Father of our Kings . I find also in it , that Angus Tuerteampher reign'd in Ireland five Generations before our Fergus the First ; and that in his time the Irish and Albanians divided , and separated from one another . Which agrees with our Histories , which say , that the Scots were in this Country long before King Fergus and his Race setled here . And these our Irish Manuscripts agree in every thing with the above-cited History of Corbre ' , and are in effect Additions to his Book by our old Sanachies . Having thus cleared , that there were sufficient Warrants upon which our Authors might have founded their Histories ; I shall in the next place say something of our Historians , and make appear that they deserv'd the credit and applause they met with , and that they founded their History on those good Warrants , from which Verimund , Boetius , and Chambers are formerly prov'd to have drawn theirs , viz. our ancient Annals and Registers . Fordon was no Monk , as the * Bishop is pleas'd to call him , and we had no such Monastery as Fordon : but he was venerabilis vir dominus Iohannes Fordon Presbyter , and is called a Monk by the Bishop ( who studies still his own conveniency ) to make the World believe he was inclin'd to lie , as the Monks are said to have been in that Age ; and to shew him interested for the Independency of Monks and Culdees from Bishops . This Author began at least to write before the Year 1341 ; for , in his Book he speaks of that as a present Year . This Book was so esteem'd , that there were Copies of it in most of our Monasteries , and one of them we have in very old , but in fair Characters , continued by Arelat ; another continued by a Reverend Man , Walter Bowmaker , Abbot of Icolmkill , and found in the custody of one , who had preserv'd several of the Manuscripts of that Monastery : And both these Continuations have drawn out our Histories to the Reign of King Iames the 2d . And it is not to be imagin'd that the Monasteries would have esteem'd it so much ; or that the Abbot of that Monastery , where our chief Annals were kept , would have continued it , if they and he had not known it to agree with their Annals . And Fordon cites frequently through his Book Chronica , & alia Chronica , and Beda , and follows him exactly : he cites also Adamnanus , who liv'd before the Year 700 ; and Turgot Archbishop of St. Andrews , who lived anno 1098 , and Alvared , ( who dedicated his Book to King Malcom the 3d , about the year 1057. ) He cites also other foreign Authors , such as Sigisbert , and Isidor , and so has done all that the Bishop requires , and all that the best Historians can do : Neither does he follow Ieffrey , but contradicts him , even in the instance of Bassianus , as shall be cleared to conviction , in answering the Bishop's Objections . He has in him also Baldredus or Ethelredus , and the Process before the Pope , containing the Copies of the authentick Letters , Objections , Apologies , and Answers made and sign'd by Edward 1. and his Parliament , and the Scotish Nobility , produc'd before the Pope , about the year 1300 , whereof the Copies are not only extant from Fordon , but the Bishop also insinuates that the Originals themselves are extant in England , and certainly they were at Rome . And Fordon cites many other considerable old Records : He writes in a good Stile , and with good Judgment : and the reason why this Work was not printed , was not because it deserv'd not the Press , but because Boethius , Buchannan , and Lesly having printed their Histories in their own time , and there being no printing in his , it was thought we had Histories enow ; which also occasion'd the perishing of many of our excellent Manuscripts . But why should the Bishop object to us Fordon his not being printed , since he cites against us Manuscripts never cited by any , and which have been left unprinted in a Country where every thing is printed : and I dare say , after exact perusal of the Bishops Book , and of the Authors cited by him , that Fordon is preferable to all those old Legends , and most of those Authors which he cites against us , venerable Beda only excepted , who is still on our side . Ioannes Major was Rector of the famous Divinity-School of Paris , and was a Man of such Reputation in that University , as that he is yet remembred with esteem , and a Man of too innocent a life , to have written a Romance for a History ; and he likewise relates to Beda , and our Annals . Of Iohn Major a full account and Elogium is given by the Learn'd Launoy Academiae Parisionsis illustrata , Tom. 2. pag. 652 , 653. & sequent . One of the most accurate Writers in this Age * says , That the talent of writing History hath not been found on this side of the Alps in any , save in Buchannan , who hath written the History of Scotland , better than Livius did that of Rome . The Bishop of Condom also , and the famous Rapin , in their exact Essays concerning History , have preferr'd none to him , save Mariana the Jesuit , whom all Men know to be far inferior ; but they prefer Mariana , because Buchannan was a Protestant . Ioseph Scaliger says of Buchannan and Us , Imperii fuerat Romani Scotia limes , Romani Eloquii , Scotia finis erit . And * Mr. Dryden also my Friend , whom I esteem a great Critick , as well as Poet , prefers Buchannan to all the Historians that ever wrote in Britain . And tho I approve as little of Buchannan's Politicks as the Bishop of St. Asaph doth , yet I will not be so unjust to him as he is , * in saying , That Buchannan in the Life of Fergus the First , refers to our old Annals , but he cites them not ; for there is no such thing in the Life of that King : And he was not so much a favourer of Monarchy , to have allow'd it the advantage of so singular an Antiquity , if he had not found the same due to it , from our Manuscripts and Records , beyond all contradiction . Bishop Lesly , and Arch-bishop Spotswood are Men who have written our History with great judgment and truth , and it cannot be imagin'd that they who were indeed banish'd for Loyalty , and suffer'd the loss of all for their Perswasion , would have asserted a whole bundle of Lies , or a continued Romance , as the Author calls our History , especially since they had both seen Luddus , and knew that their History would be enquired into . And * Lesly has the confidence to tell in his Preface to the Nobility , That his History had been drawn with all the exactness that the truth of History requires from the ancient Records of the Kingdom , and the Monasteries , and he was then at Rome , whither they were carried . It is also very pleasant to hear the Bishop of St. Asaph inveigh against Dempster the Jesuit , one of our Antiquaries , whose Book certainly he had never seen , else he would never have call'd him a Jesuit as he * does . For the very Title of his Book bears that he was Baro de Muiresk , and a Lawyer , and he was indeed Professor honorarius of the Civil Law at Bolognia in Italy , and died married , as the History of his Life , writ by Peteraces , bears : and we may know by the Elogies of the greatest Wits in Italy , how much they esteem'd him for his extraordinary Learning , and Parts . I may add to these , David Camerarius de fortitudine , &c. Scotorum , besides Richardus de sancto victore , and Cornelius Hibernicus , both which wrote our ancient Histories , the last of them liv'd in the year 1140. And they are both follow'd by Boethius , and cited by Vossius , Baleus , Sixtus Senensis , and others ; and also Adamnanus that wrote St. Columba's Life . From all which it appears , that our Historians have been Men of great credit and esteem , and have founded their History upon more authentick Documents , than almost any other Historians in the World , viz. the Records of many Monasteries in the time when Monasteries were very devout , and upon the universal Tradition of the times , both ancient and modern ; and that before there was any competition or controversie concerning our Antiquity ; and that what they have said , has been universally believ'd by all the learned World. To which I shall add that our Clerk of Registers , Skeen , the great Antiquary , had added from those ancient Records a Chronology of our Kings , and which he has inserted amongst our Acts of Parliament . Is not then the Bishop of St. Asaph much to blame , when he would have all this pass for a Romance , and all those Authors to be reputed only as one ? Because , as he says , they followed one another from Fordon , and he follow'd Ieffrey ; neither of which is so . Tho I confess the contrivance of this untruth was prety , but happily disappointed , by their asserting that they founded their Histories upon the old Records of our Monasteries , and on Turgot , Verimund , and others ; all which they had seen , and who are elder than Fordon . And it might be as well objected against Witnesses , that they came in and depos'd one after another , giving for the reason of their knowledg , that they had seen what they depos'd . If all these Manuscripts , which I have cited were extant , I doubt not but the Author himself would acknowledg our Histories to be instructed beyond debate ; and therefore if I can instruct them to have once been , they must be reputed as good as extant still . For both Law , and common Reason having consider'd that Papers are very subject to be lost , and to perish ; have therefore allow'd , that if it can be prov'd , that there were such Papers , and that they were lost by accident , that this probation shall supply the loss . And I desire to know if the Warrants of Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation had been burnt , would not the Bishop of St. Asaph have been angry , if his Testimony and Dr. Stillingfleet's had not been sufficient to prove the tenor of them ? And what have we for many Authors , whom Livy , Iosephus , and Herodot cite besides their own Testimony ? And what probation did ever Mankind see stronger , than that which we adduce in this case ? For first , that all our Monasteries did write our Annals , is beside common Fame , and universal and late Tradition , which passes over all our Country , prov'd by the other Authorities above cited : If then two ordinary Witnesses be sufficient to prove a matter of Fact , we must much more allow , that this matter may be prov'd by very many Persons , considerable for their Devotion and Quality . 2. There are other Manuscripts yet extant , some whereof I my self have seen , and have formerly nam'd , all agreeing with the tenour of our History , and long prior to Luddus's starting of this Debate , in Anno 1572. And so must prove sufficient to support our Histories , and those Witnesses ; especially seeing they have nothing in them contrary to Reason , or other credible Histories ; but on the contrary , are supported by both , and written by Authors of great Integrity and Knowledg , and have been receiv'd with great applause in the World , and are also confirm'd by the English Historians themselves . And therefore I must conclude with the Learned Vossius , * That albeit the old Monuments of Rome perisht , that therefore the Faith of their History should not perish with them . Lest it might be thought that we our selves caus'd to destroy those Records we now cite , to prevent further inquiry , and to shew how much harder it is for us than other Nations , to be call'd to such an account : I shall desire Strangers to be inform'd as a casus omissionis , that our ancient Records were destroyed in three remarkable occasions ; 1. When Edward the First took away all our Records that he could find , having , as all Historians declare , resolv'd to abolish all memory of our Nation : and of which we accus'd him before the Pope , and he did not deny it . 2. When our Monks flying to Rome at the Reformation , carry'd with them their Records . 3. By Cromwel , who carry'd our Records into England , and many of which were lost at Sea in their return . But if our Historians are to be rejected , I hope it must be by the Authority of far more , and far more credible Authors , agreeable to a Principle of Dr. Stillingfleet's , the Patron of our Bishop's Book , who * says , Certainly they who undertake to contradict that which is received by common Consent , must bring stronger and clearer Evidence , than that on which that Consent is grounded , or else their Exceptions ought to be rejected with the highest Indignation . Which Principle , as it seems to be recommended by Reason , so it is founded upon the express Law of all Nations ; by which it is acknowledg'd , that the Testimonies of Witnesses are not to be reprobated but by others in a double number , and who are of far greater Authority . And from this Principle it is , that if a Jury of fifteen hath absolv'd a Man unjustly , though that Jury consisted of the meanest Men of the Nation , yet their Verdict cannot be question'd for error , otherways than by twenty five , whereof most part must be Persons of Quality , who must proceed upon most infallible grounds and evidences . By this rule then , our Historians cannot be redargu'd , otherways than by the Testimonies of far more unsuspected Historians , who agree in what they assert against us , and who are receiv'd with greater applause in the World than ours , and proceed upon far stronger Evidences . Let us then examine if these Qualifications can be found in those Historians , by whom the faith of ours is to be overturned . And first , as to the old British Historians , it might be objected by us , that they are too much interested , both because the Subject Matter is an emulation for Antiquity between the two Nations , and because they were over-run by our Country-men at that time to a degree to make them passionate enough for disabling a Witness : And as it is very remarkable that Florentius Wigorniensis , Malmesburiensis , Huntingdonensis , and Hoveden wrote about the Reign of Henry the Second ; and Tho. Walsingham , and Matthew of Westminster , in the Reigns of Edward the Third , and Henry the Sixth ; at all which times there were Wars and Animosities betwixt the Nations . So if any Man will read the sad Lamentations that are in Gilda's , and the rage with which he cries out against us , no Man can allow him to be an unsuspected Judg or Witness in what concerns our Honour . Polidor Virgil suspects , * that there are some things supposititious in the History of Gildas ; and if any thing , certainly we may suspect most what is added concerning us ; since the design of detracting from our History , possest too much those who were Masters of that Manuscript , and printed the same . And yet Gildas says very little that can be wrested against us in the Points controverted ; being , as Beda interprets him , clearly for us , as shall hereafter appear . 2. As our Writers are not inferiour in number , so most of theirs deserve no credit , and they agree not so well against us in the Points controverted , as our Authors do in what they assert , viz. when we setled here , and who were our first Kings : For * Nennius Britannus does positively say , that the Scots came here in the time of Brutus . Matthew of Westminster says , that we setled here the eleventh year after Christ. And Baker * acknowledgeth that Severus built his Wall against the Scots and Picts , without mentioning this to be the first incursion ; and this at least confutes the Bishop of St. Asaph , who asserts that we were not come to this Isle even by way of incursion , till after the year 300. As they thus differ remarkably as to our Origination , and most of them follow Ieffreys ridiculous Inventions , as our Author himself acknowledges : So * Holinshed , speaking of those ancient times , says , That Scotland had in those days two Kingdoms , the one whereof consisted of the Picts , called Pictland ; and the other of the Irish Race , call'd Scotland : which I hope ( says he ) no wise Man will readily deny . And Caixton in his old Chronicle of England , tells , that the King of the Scots assisted Cassibelan King of the Britains against Julius Caesar : which shews that our Antiquity was believed . And Balaeus , a most famous English Chronologist , says , that * the Scots wrote , &c. ex incorrupta annalium Fide. 3. That our settlement was so ancient , as not only to have been contemporary with their Historians , but even to be higher than their Chronology could reach to , appears from this , that Gildas declares † he knew nothing of us , but what he was forc'd to borrow from beyond Sea. * Beda places us amongst the old Inhabitants of this Isle , without condescending upon the particular time , which he had given us , if he had known it himself , as he did in all other occasions . Nennius their next Author to Beda owns , that the most skillful amongst the Scots , affirm'd in his time , that we were descended from Scota , as our Authors now do . * And the eldest after him affirm , that we are descended from Albanactus , second Sond to Brutus . And this is so far acknowledg'd by succeeding Ages , that Edward the First did upon that account claim the superiority to England over us , as younger Brother to Locrinus the eldest Son of Brutus . And we may see in Hollinshed , * where he brings in many Scotish Kings doing Homage to the Kings of Britain , long before this year 502 , and in which several of their Authors agree with him . And the Bishop fore-seeing the unanswerable strength of this Argument , acknowledges this Superiority to be a most unjust Pretension , as indeed it is ; especially seeing it is undeniable , that there was any such thing known in the World then , as that Feudol Homage which the English Historians contend for ; there being no Vestige thereof in any part of Europe , till the 800 year of God , and we having had no such Kings as some of those whom they name in that ancient Homage . But yet even all these Forgeries prove clearly , that we were consider'd by those Writers , as Inhabitants here past all Memory , and as ancient as themselves . * Giraldus Cambrensis also considers us as descended from Gathelus and Scota , which proves not only that this old Tradition was believ'd , but that Fordon was not the inventer of it . For Girald liv'd about 200 years before Fordon . But how any Historian in this also can controvert this Antiquity after Selden has asserted it , Lib. 2. cap. 8. I understand not . There is likewise a very full and well written Manuscript in the hands of the Lord Maitland , which makes us to come from Spain , about the year of the World 3242 , and to have been first govern'd by Captains , and thereafter govern'd by the Kings mention'd in our History . 4. There are no positive Authorities produc'd against us , condescending expresly when our Royal Line did begin , save three Legendary Stories written with design , in whom no Protestant Bishop can find any considerable Passages worthy to be cited ; the easiest thing in them being , * That a Child made a Fire of Ice ; † and that when St. Columba was sick , his Mare wept . The first is a nameless Author of St. Patrick's Life , cited by * Vsher , who affirms , that when Neil Neilialagh was King of Ireland , and Constantius was Emperor , Muredus King of Ulster had six Sons , who possest themselves of the Northern Parts of Britain , and the Nation sprung from them ( as Giraldus repeating this passage , says ) was by a special name called Scotland . And it may be , saith the Bishop , Reuda mention'd by Beda , was one of these six Sons . Joceline , another Author of St. Patrick's Life , * tells , that the twelve Sons of the King of Dalrieda in Ireland , having despised their youngest Brother Fergus , he complain'd of them to St. Patrick , and he prophesied to him , that from him should descend Kings , who should reign in many Foreign Kingdoms ; and accordingly Fergus became King of all Dalrieda , and after his Successors had for many Generations reigned there , Aidanus the Son of Gabranus conquer'd Albania , now call'd Scotland , and the other Isles , in which his Posterity by due Succession reign to this day . But an elder Author cited by Cambden ( and whom * Usher calls the writer of the Tigernack Annals ) brings the Scotish Kings from another Origine , to which Usher himself is inclin'd . Fergus ( says that Author ) the Son of Eric , was the first of the offspring of Chonar , who obtain'd the Kingdom of Albania from Brown-Albain , to the Irish Sea and Inchgall , whom he places Anno 503 , and from him the Kings of Fergus ' s race reign'd in Brun-Albain , or Brun-heir to Alphin the Son of Eochal , and with this ( as the Bishop says ) the Irish Genealogies agree . And thus our approv'd History must be overturn'd by Legends , and Genealogies . Upon which passages I beg leave to make these few Reflections . First , that ( besides , that these Authors liv'd not within 600 years of the times of which they wrote ( which the Bishop of St. Asaph objects to ours ) they do also contradict not only our Story , but the Roman , who place us here much sooner ) . All these three Authors contradict one another in the most remarkable part of our History , and in so late a matter of Fact , as that of Fergus the Second , which shews them neither faithful nor learn'd Chronologists . The first nameless Author , writer of the Life of S. Patrick , makes our King to have been one of the Sons of Mured , whom Vsher conjectures to have been Reuther , and he must have liv'd in 360 ; for Constantius reign'd then , and Mured's Son liv'd in his Reign . Iocelin makes Aidan to be the first , and to have sprung from Fergus after many Generations : And this agrees well with ours , but not with the other Writers of St. Patrick's Life . For we place the beginning of Aidan's Reign in 570 , and it could be no sooner , according to Iocelin . The third is the Author of the Tigernack Annals , or an ancienter Writer cited by Cambden , who places our first King in 503 , and there he is call'd Fergus ; and so they neither agree in the name of our first King , nor in the time of their entry to this Kingdom . Which dreaming Glances have risen from an imperfect notion of our History , the first having borrowed his from Beda , who brings us here sub duce Reuda : the second has been invented to fulfil the Prophecy of St. Patrick , who promis'd the Kingdom not to Fergus himself , but to one of his Succession , and therefore finding none of our Kings nam'd in Beda , save Reuther and Aidan ; he fixes on Aidan as the latest . And the third of these , finding that Fergus was uncontrovertedly the name of our first King , will rather contradict the rest , and go back from Aidan to Fergus . And thus they clensh here , making the the first Fergus the second , as they do elsewhere , in making Scotia to be Ireland , or Scotia major . 2. Since the Bishop's Authors are so irreconcileable , what Warrants can he or they have to contradict our positive History ? * And Bishop Vsher cites another Author of St. Patrick's Life , Meyerus , who tells us that after St. Patrick ' s Voyage about this Isle , he turn'd his Boat to an Isle which bears to this day the name of St. Patrick ; out of which Isle I believe the Accusers of our Historians got their best Intelligence . 3. That this Reuda could not be one of Mureda's six Sons , is most clear , both because Beda speaks of the Scots coming to this Isle , as very ancient , even in his time , which could not be if this had happen'd in Anno 360 ; for Beda liv'd in Anno 730 , and how can it be imagin'd that Beda could not have known the whole Series of a Royal Descent that was so recent . Nor do our Historians , whose Faith is not controverted , after Fergus the Second , mention any Reuda after his Reign : and so he behov'd to be an elder King , and consequently we had King 's before Fergus the Second , which the Authors denies . Nor could any of these Sons of Mured have been Fergus the Second , whom these late Inventors call our first King ; for no Author makes Fergus the Second to have reign'd within more than 40 Years after Constantius . Luddus and Cambden assert us to have setl'd here , under Fergus the Second , in the Reign of Honorius , at which time Fergus the Second did reign . Vsher relates only the three Authorities of those ridiculous Legends ; and the Bishop of St. Asaph fixes on the year 503 , and so contradicts not only our Historians , but * Luddus and † Cambden in making Fergus the Second near 100 years later , than truly he was . As these few prime and late Authors who controvert our Antiquity , differ thus in the names of our first Kings , and the time of their settlement in Scotland ; so they differ in these following cardinal Points of their new invented Hypothesis . The Bishop of * St. Asaph thinks it necessary for maintaining that the Scots setl'd not till the year 503 , to assert that the Picts fill'd all the Northern Parts of Britain , and that those Picts were a ruder sort of Britains , divided in South and North Picts ; in which he follows * Cambden , yet with this difference , implying a contradiction , that Cambden makes these Deucaledones and Vecturiones , to signify by a British derivation , Picts , to the East and West : Whereas the Bishop of St. Asaph , from a British derivation of the same words , calls them Southern and Northern Picts . But Cambden does acknowledge plainly that in this Derivation , he differs from the venerable Beda , whose Authority he truly foretels will weigh down the Reasons he brings for his Conjecture . And as he , contrary to the universally receiv'd opinion , denies the Picts to be Schythians , tho they were really so , he makes the Scots to be Schythians , though really they were not so . * Vsher not having considered all the Scheme and Consequences of this new Hypothesis ( as the Bishop of St. Asaph has done with more cunning ) follows Beda in bringing the Picts from Schythia , but he differs from Beda in that he brings them hither after our Saviour's Birth , and produces such Authors as he uses in our occasions , who assign three different Periods of time for their settlement ; the last whereof , and to which he inclines , is said to be under the Emperours Gratian and Valentinian ; and so makes the Scots and Picts to have come in together about the year 400 , and yet he finds no inconveniency in bringing us to Scotland under Gathelus and Scota , and in asserting that we setled first in Galloway , whereas none of our Historians do say that Gathelus and Scota came to Scotland , and the Bishop of St. Asaph and Cambden assert our descent from Scota to be a Fiction ; and the Bishop of St. Asaph * confesses us to have first fixt in Argile . Another material difference amongst them is , that the Bishop of St. Asaph † confines us and the Picts , for 1000 years be-north Grahams Dike , call'd Severus Wall , beyond Clyde and Forth . Whereas Cambden ‖ asserts that Edinburgh was the chief Seat of the Kings of the Picts , and derives the names of Louthian , Edingburgh , and Pictland , from Pictish words . From all which it clearly appears , that no weight is to be laid on such irreconcileable Authors ; and yet by these only , is the Antiquity of of our Kings and Nation controverted . But to confirm fully our History from Iulius Caesar's time , and to shew that the British Historians do not only contradict one another , but do contradict the two only ancient Historians , who could understand any thing of our Origine , as being the eldest and most deserving of all their own Authors , viz. Gildas and Beda ; I do appeal to them . And I begin with Beda , because he is most full , and interprets the other . The venerable Beda , tho a Saxon himself , and so an Enemy to us , having written an exact Chronology , according to the periods of time ; does in his first cap. de * priscis incolis , tell us , that God was praised in five languages in this Isle , that of the English , Britains , Scots , Picts , and Latines : and then proceeds to tell , that the Britains were the first possessors , and possest the south parts , after which came the Picts to the northern parts , and the Scots under Reuda , thereafter made a third Nation , in that part belonging to the Picts , getting the western part of Scotland , North from the Picts , called Dumbriton , or Alcluith . And he inculcates their fixing here , by three several , but concuring Expressions . 1. Progressi ex Hibernia , they left Ireland . 2. Sedes vindicarunt in Britannia , they setled in Britain . 3. In Britannia Britonibus & Pict is gentem tertiam addiderunt , they added a third Nation to the Britains and Picts . And that this was very ancient is clear ; for he fixes them in Britain in that Chapter wherein he treats de priscis incolis ; and having thus setled the Scots and Picts in his first Chapter with the Britains ; he proceeds in the second Chapter to settle the fourth Nation , viz. the Latines or Romans , beginning with these words , * But this Britain was unknown , and not entred upon by the Romans , till Julius Caesar ' s time . And having describ'd the Wars betwixt these three Nations and the Roman Emperours , in a due gradation , marking every period of time through the Reign of their consecutive Emperors ; and how at last the Romans had abandon'd the Island , and Aetius the Roman Consul , had refus'd the Petition of the miserable Britains , so often defeated by the Scots and Picts : he in the 14 Cap. relates how the Britains upon deep consultation , brought in the Saxons , and from thence continues the Saxon History . This being the tract of Beda's History ; Is there any place to doubt but that the Scots were setled before the Saxons ? For the Wars betwixt the Romans and Scots are related exactly before any mention is made of the Saxons ; and at last they are only brought in to assist the Britains against the Scots and Picts , because the Britains were deserted by the Romans , and consequently the Saxons having been brought in Anno 449 , it unanswerably follows , that the Scots were setl'd here , and made a third Nation , long before the 503 , as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges , at which time he makes us to have setl'd here very cunningly , but not sincerely , upon design to make us later than the English. As also it appears very clearly that the Scots setl'd here even before Iulius Caesar's time , for after Beda ( who proceeds exactly according to the Periods of Time ) had setl'd us in Britain , he tells , * that this Britain was unknown to the Romans , and describ'd what these Romans did in the Isle , and how they fought with the Picts and Vs under their subsequent Emperors , without ever speaking again of the entry of the Scots , as having setl'd them in the first Chapter , before Caesar's time . Nor is the time alter'd in any other Period ; and he is so careful of the Period of time , that he subjoyns to his Work a Chronological Recapitulation , which is very exact . And he being a Saxon , had certainly told ( as the Bishop now does ) that the Saxons were elder than we , if this had been true ; which is a demonstration according to the Rules of Chronology , against the Bishop of St. Asaph . It may be some may wonder why Beda mentions not our coming under Fergus the first ; and some may object , that in this we go higher than Beda . To which it is answered , That our History confesses , that the Scots came over from Ireland at several times : Once under Fergus the first , but not being numerous enough , Reutherus brought over another recruit , and thereafter Fergus the second brought over others after his Predecessor Eugenius was expell'd by the Romans and Britains . And in so old Antiquity , it 's much for Beda , even to know the Descent under Reuda . And whereas the Bishop quarrels Beda , that he gives no Authority for this : The Reply is , that if it were requisite , then one Author behov'd to give another , and he a third , & sic in infinitum . Nor did ever any Man before him require an Authority in so ancient an Author : and this Answer is a full proof of the Bishop's Conviction , who being absolutely gravel'd here , he grows as angry at Beda , as at our Historians , and tells , disdainfully , that this might be true for ought Beda knew , and adds , that the Scots were indeed here in Beda's time , and he speaks according to his own time , which were to make Beda speak great non-sense . For Beda speaks here of the preterit , and not the present time , viz. The first Vastations spoke of by Gildas , and we shall see that others , who lived in the time agree with him . The second Citation I shall bring from Beda , shall be from the 5th cap. l. 1. Eccl. Hist. where he says , that * Severus built a Wall to defend against the other unconquer'd Nations , and in the 12 cap. he tells that † Britain was vex'd by the Scots and Picts , two over-Sea , or Transmarine Nations ; and thereafter , as if he had been afraid that this word Transmarine , might have been mistaken , he adds , ‖ that they were not call'd Transmarine , because they liv'd , and were setled out of Britain ; but because they were separated from that part of Britain by the two Seas , which did almost meet . And in this he agrees exactly with Tacitus , who in the Life of Agricola , says , that there being a Wall built betwixt these two Seas , the Roman Enemies were closed up as in an Isle . By this place of Beda it is also very clear , that the Scots were setled in Britain whilst the Romans fought against the Picts and Scots , and consequently before they were call'd by the Picts to defend them against the Saxons , as is alledged by the Bishop . If the Scots had not been living in this Isle at that time , the explication of Transmarine had been both ridiculous and untrue . And as it is not presumable that the venerable Beda would have asserted this , if he had not certainly known it ; so it was very easy for him to know it , that being so publick a thing , which concern'd his own , as well as his Neighbour Nation . But if the Scots had setled in anno 503 , Beda could not have call'd them * Prisci incolae , and reckon'd them amongst the ancient Inhabitants . For a Man living in his time , might have told him , that his Father saw the Scots call'd over by the Picts , and that they settled here in his time . Beda being thus clear to a Demonstration , as far as Chronology and History can allow : I desire to know how what Gildas says , can contradict our History , since he copies Gildas , and liv'd within 200 years of him ? and since both wrote the same Actions in almost the same words ? Or how can it be imagin'd , that if Gildas had known our Origin to be so late , he would not have told it to our disadvantage ? whereas on the contrary , he speaks of Scots and Picts as living in this Isle , after the same manner as Transmarine , in the same sense , in which Beda interprets it ; which is , because they liv'd not without the Isle , but on the other side of the Wall , which made an Isle . From which it follows necessarily that in Gildas's time , the Scots dwelt not without the Isle of Britain ; and Gildas having been born in Anno 493 , as is said in the Calculation prefix'd to that * Edition , which himself relates , it is clear that he was born 10 Years before that Year , in which the Bishop of St. Asaph pretends we first settled here ; and so certainly he could not but have taken notice of the settlement of a Nation , in which he was so much concern'd . And albeit he says once , speaking of us , that Hiberni revertuntur domum . Yet that was spoke of us as settl'd here , and as being Irish by extraction , as shall be hereafter clear'd . Nor must our Histories which are so positive and unanimous , be overturn'd by Clenshes and Equivocations , and remote weak Consequences , without Authors living at the time , and mentioning expressly so remarkable an Accident . Before I enter upon Foreign Citations without the Isle , I must observe , that we having kept the Romans ( the only writing Nation that had any knowledg of these our Isles ) from entering our Kingdom ; they could not know our Antiquities , as they did those of England or France , whom they had conquer'd . But our being engag'd in a constant War with them , is so universally related by all their Historians ; that to deny our being a Nation , and in Britain , when they so frequently and unanimously writ of us , as Gens , & Gens etiam Britannica , fighting here , cannot but seem Railery to any Serious Man : and the being able to controvert it , is rather a mark of nimbleness of Wit , than skill in Antiquity . But however I shall produce some few Foreign Authors , whose Testimonies seem to me unanswerable , being joyn'd with , and illustrated by what I formerly said from the venerable Beda , and the Historians within this Isle . My first Author is Eumenius in his Panegyrick to Constantine in praise of his Father Constantius : who preferring the Victory Constantius had over the Britains , to that which Iulius Caesar had over them ; says , * that the Britains at the time Caesar conquer'd them , were a rude Nation , being only us'd to fight against the Picts , and Irish of the British Country , Enemies half naked , and so easily yeilded to the Roman Arms and Ensigns . By which Citation , we contend that it is prov'd , that in the time of Iulius Caesar , there was another Nation beside the Picts , who then inhabited Britain , and were a Colony of the Irish ; and these must certainly have been the Scots . For it cannot be pretended , that ever there was another Colony of the Irish in Britain , besides us . And it is uncontroverted on all hands , that we are that Colony of the Irish , who only us'd to fight with the Picts , against the Britains , and therefore that answer made by the Bishop , that this place relates only to the Irish , and not to the Scots , is of no moment . But he has another Answer , which his Lordship insists more upon ; and for clearing whereof , I must cite the Latin ; Ad hoc natio etiam tunc rudis , & soli Britanni Pictis modo , & Hibernis assueta hostibus , adhuc seminudis , facile Romanis armis signisque cesserunt . His Answer is , that the words , Soli Britanni , are the Nominative , and not the Genitive , and his Lordship confesses , * that if the words be in the Genitive , they are clear of Buchannan's side . And that they are of the Genitive , all disinterested Men , who understand the Latin , will confess . And Cambden himself , tho a learned Schoolmaster , and in other Citations about our Antiquity , somewhat more humourous , than so worthy a Man needed to be , trusts to no other Answer , but that the Panegyrist spoke here , according to the Conception of the Age wherein he liv'd . But , as any Citation may be thus answered ; so if he had not spoken with relation to the time of Iulius Caesar , the Comparison and Complement had no great force . The Learned Vsher likewise objects not this to Buchannan , which shews also his Acquiescence . 2. If this , Natio Rudis , had been the same thing with Soli Britanni ; and if the sence must be , as his Lordship says , a Rude Nation , the Britains ; then not only it had been superfluous , but inconsistent with true sence . For how can the same thing be copulated with it-self ? and tho it may be said , Natio rudis Soli Britanni , assueta hostibus ; yet certainly assueti had been more elegant for an Orator , if Soli Britanni had been the Nominative . And the great * Ioseph Scaliger , one of the best Judges both for that kind of Learning and Disinteressedness , exclaims against Luddus , for misconstructing so the words ; and therefore the Bishop might have spared the saying , * that Cambden ought to have given Buchannan correction ; for the great Ioseph Scaliger , and Buchannan , that incomparable Humanist , are fitter to give , than receive Correction from any in the Isle , or Age. I must also observe , that the Bishop has pointed these words otherways than they are in the Author : for in the Author ( of Paulus Stephanus , and Plantins Editions , who were the most learned and exact of all Printers ) there is no Comma immediately after tthe words , Soli Britanni , and it is pointed as I have set it down here , and even * Luddus is just here . But the Bishop has very wittily added the Comma after these words . Now without the Comma , it is clear , that the Panegyrist meant Pictis & Hibernis Soli Britanni ; and if the Panegyrist had design'd his words should have been construed , as the Bishop has constru'd them ; so great an Orator would certainly have said , Soli Britanni Natio ad hoc etiam tunc rudis , &c. And in this case the words had been clear , and the ingenious Bishop needed not , in translating them , to have been forc'd to use the word * Nation twice , because the sense was hard and unnatural , according to his Construction . And whereas the Bishop pretends , * that the words construed according to Buchannan , would not have run so strong in the Comparison : for the strength of the Comparison lies , saith he , in that Julius Caesar ' s Victory was not so great , as that of Constantius , because Caesar overcame a Nation , yet rude and unskilful of War , and only Britains , a Nation us'd to no other Enemies but Picts and Irish : Whereas Constantius overcame Carausius , who had got a Roman Legion on his side , &c. But by his Lordship's favour , the Comparison runs strong enough thus , according to Buchannan's Construction . Caesar overcame the Britains when they were yet a rude Nation , us'd only to fight against the Picts and Irish who liv'd upon the Land , or Isle of Britain : but Constantius overcame them after they had been long train'd up in War. And certainly a Nation is a far more formidable Enemy after their being long train'd up in War , than when yet rude , and unexperienc'd ; tho they had had the accession of a Roman Legion ; which could signify nothing against a whole Roman Army . Nor does it follow , that the words must be ill construed ; if so , the Comparison would be stronger : for it is sufficient to sustain the Construction , that in the Comparison Constantius was to be preferr'd in the way I have mention'd . 4. If there were any doubtfulness in these words , as there is none ; yet they ought to be interpreted so , as to consist with other Authors and Histories , and especially with Beda : for in our sence , they confirm his Chronological Account , of our being in this Isle before Iulius Caesar's time : And the Bishop must still remember , that he cannot overturn our receiv'd Histories , except he produce Arguments which infallibly conclude against them : It being a Rule in Law , that , Verba semper sunt interpretanda potius , ut scriptura , vel actus subsistat ; quam ut destruatur . This shews also that in Constantius's time , which was about the Year 300 , the Britains were assueti , us'd to fight with the Scots and Picts : and this use must imply a long time . And so it 's very probable , that we had frequent Wars with the Britains long before this time , and consequently the Bishop errs , * asserting , We were not in Britain even by way of incursion , till the year 300. If it be objected , that in the Phrase Soli Britanni , Britanni is a Substantive ; Britannici being still the Adjective ; and therefore these words must be construed to be the Nominative Case , as the Bp of St. Asaph alledgeth . I prove the contrary by Lucretius . Nam quid Britannum Coelum differre putamus , &c. Claudianus de quarto consulatu Honorii Terribilis Mauro , debellatorque Britanni Littoris . A further Confirmation of this arises from the same Eumenius , in this same Panegyrick ; where speaking of Constantius's Victory over this Island , he saith , Neque enim ille , tot tantisque rebus gestis , non dico Caledonum aliorumque Pictorum silvas & paludes , sed nec Hiberniam proximam , nec Thulen ultimam , nec ipsae si quae sunt , fortunatarum Insulas , dignabitur acquirere . And tho Vsher foreseeing the force of this Argument , endeavours to elude it by contending , that by the Caledonii , are here meant the Picts , because the words aliorumque Pictorum , had else been impertinent . Yet to make the Scots not to be Caledonians in ancient Authors , were too great a Task even for Vsher ; that being contrary to the universally receiv'd opinion of all the Learned , * some of which I have cited in the Margin : but for a further Proof , I shall here cite a Roman that liv'd very near Eumenius's time , and who almost speaks in the same words with him , Latinus Pacatius Drepanius , who in his Panegyrick to Theodosius the elder , who liv'd Anno 367 , complements him upon * having reduc'd the Scots to their Marishes , shewing that the Sylvae , and Paludes Caledonum , were the Scotorum Sylvae : though Strangers in those ancient times , could little distinguish Picts from Scots . And from which I further evince , that the Scots before the year 400 , dwelt in in Scotland , as their own Country ; else it had been impertinent and untrue to say , that the Scots were reduced to their own Marishes . Having thus shown that the Scots were Caledonians : It clearly follows , that all the ancient Authors who write of the Caledonii , prove the Antiquity of the Scots ; and therefore Valerius Flaccus proves our Antiquity , who writing to Domitian , in praise of his Father Vespasian , who was known to have made War with us about the year 70 after Christ , says , — Caledonius , postquam tua Carbasa vexit . Oceanus Phrygios prius indignatus Iulos . And * Martial , who liv'd also in Domitian's time , says , Quinte Caledonios , Ovide visure Britannos , Et viridem Tethyn Oceanumque Patrem . Next to these I cite Tacitus , who in the Life of Agricola , brings in that famous Galgacus , who fought with the Romans , near to the Grampian Hills . And that he was a Scotish King , or Leader , is confirm'd from * Lipsius , who calls him Galgacus Scotus . This is also confirm'd by the exact and noble French Manuscript foresaid ; which says , that Dardan was chosen , because Galdus was not of Age : Alluding to our old Law , appointing that the immediate Heir of the Crown , being by his Infancy unable to govern , the Government should in that case be devolved upon the next , who was able to govern : which Law was so ancient , that it is said to be enacted immediately upon the Death of Fergus the First . And by Bergier , afterwards the King's Advocate of France , who in his learn'd History of the High-ways of Rome , * calls him Prince of the Caledonians , or the Scots . And to what better Judges can we appeal , in a matter concerning Roman Antiquities , and the sense of a Roman Author , than to those two , who are the most famous of all the Roman Antiquaries : the one having written a Book concerning the Roman Greatness , * and the other concerning the Magnificence of the Romans in their High-ways . Nor could he be an Irish King ; for what had an Irish King to do with an Army in the midst of Scotland , and against the Romans , with whom no Irish King ever fought . And that he was no Britain , is clear from the Speech he made to his Souldiers , telling them that they had never been conquer'd , servitutis expertes , & nullae ultra terrae . Nor can any thing agree better with our being still call'd one of the two unconquer'd Nations , by Gildas , Beda , and others . This is yet further clear'd by another Passage in this same Life of Agricola ; wherein * Tacitus says , The third Year of the War discovered new Nations , which Agricola conquer'd , even to the River Tay. And after this he adds , Agricola having beat Galgacus near to the Grampian Hills , brought back the Roman Army to the Borders of the Horesti ; and having received Hostages from them , he ordered the Commander of the Roman Fleet to sail about the Isle . From which I deduce , first , that Galgacus was no Britan : For Tacitus says , that the third Year opened new Nations : whereas Agricola knew the Britans before ; and these must have been the Scots and Picts : for they could not be any other , being beyond the River Tay. And Galgacus could be no Pictish King ; for we have a Manuscript , bearing all the Names of the Pictish Kings . 2. From this passage it is clear , that Cambden does err grosly , in making the Horesti to be a People in Eskdale , which is a Scotish Country on the Borders of England . For ( beside that all Authors agree , that they are known to be the Inhabitants of Angus , and Merns ) it is here demonstrated by Tacitus , that after the Romans past Forth , they came to Tay , ( which is known to be the Marches or Boundary of Angus ) and from thence they marched to the Grampian Hills , where they fought with Galgacus : And from which he return'd to the Borders of the Horesti , where finding the Fleet in the Frith of Tay , where he had left it , he Embarqu'd the Hostages , and sent the Fleet back to that part of Britain whence they came . And how could all this be in Eskdale ? That being very remote from the place of Battel ; and Eskdale an inland Country , very remote from all Sea. 3. Tacitus writing of us , under the name of Caledonians , mentions the Marishes of those who fought , which were appropriated to us by Eumenius and Pacatius , as I formerly observ'd . By all which we may observe , how little English Writers are to be credited , when they write upon design to lessen our Country , or magnify their own . And all this is confirm'd by the learned * Ferrarius a stranger . And to this I may add , that we have to this day , a Barony , call'd Galdgirth , or the Girth of Galdus ; and ten great Stones in Galloway , called King Galdus's Monument : Marks of Antiquity far preferable to any Manuscript ; as the testimony or consent of a whole Nation , is to that of one privat Person . Two of which Arguments are us'd by Chambers , in the Life of Galdus : and he had seen Verimund , and our old Manuscripts : And should he not then be our King Galdus , who reigned at that time , and who ( as all our Histories relate ) fought against the Romans , in this place , which was within the Scotish Territories ? The third Citation , shall be from Seneca ; and is a clear testimony for us in the judgment of the great * Scaliger . Ille Britannos ultra noti littora ponti , Et caeruleos Scoto-Brigantes dare Romuleis , Colla catenis jussit , & ipsum nova Romanae , Iura securis tremere oceanum . * To which Cambden answers , That for Scoto-Brigantes , we should read Scuta-Brigantes . But this is very ridiculous ; for we read , that the Picts were call'd Picti , for painting their Bodies ; but never for painting their Shields . I know likewise , that Hadrianus Iunius reads Cute-Brigantes ; but this would be ill verse : for the first syllable in Cute , is by it's own nature , short ; but according to this reading it would be long . I might to this add that Answer made by Florus , the Poet , to Adrian in Spartianus . Ego nolo Caesar esse , Ambulare per Britannos , Scoticas pati pruinas . For why should we read , Scythicas ? since Adrian was never in Scythia ; but did fight against the Scots : and caus'd make the vallum Adriani . 2. Why should not rather Scotia , than Scythia be joyn'd to Britannia ? as * Vsher argues most justly upon the like occasion . 3. the Pruinae Scoticae were famous about that time : for Claudian hath , * Ille Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruinis . And Claudian does so expresly and so frequently speak of the Scots as setled here , and describes them to be those People , who constantly fought against the Romans , with the Picts ; that the citing him against us , may convince the Reader , that our Adversaries are not serious . Which will appear when I have cited and illustrated him . In his Panegyrick , upon the third consulat . of Honorius , he complements him upon the victory of his Gandfather Theodosius , who behov'd to come into Britain long before the Year 382 , wherein Theodosius his Father was chosen Emperour . Facta tui numerabat avi , quem littus adusti Horrescit Lybii , ratibusque impervia Thule . Ille leves Mauros , nec falso nomine Pictos , Edomuit , Scotumque vago mucrone secutus . Fregit hyperboreas remis audacibus undas . And in the fourth Consulat of the same Honorius . Ille Caledoniis posuit qui castra pruinis . — maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades , incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule . Scotorū cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne . And de bello Getico , he speaks of the Roman Legion that return'd from fighting with the Picts , and us ; ( of which * Beda makes express mention . ) Venit & extremis legio praetenta Britannis , Quae Scoto dat fraena truci , ferroque notatas Perlegit exanimes Picto moriente figuras . That all this is applicable to us , is clear : because , 1. We had War with the Romans , and the Irish had not . And all these Verses in Claudian , are spoke to magnify the Roman man Conquest . 2. Since we have prov'd , by other Authors , that the Scots were setled here , it is proper and suitable to common sense , to apply the same to us only , as being the only Persons concern'd in those Battels ; and to the Isle , in which it is known that the same were fought . And these Passages are attributed to us by Selden , l. 2. c. 8. Mar. Claus. 3. Have the Irish made any mention of this War , in any of their Histories ? and consequently , though Scotia had been a common Name to Scotland and Ireland in those days ; yet the Circumstances of the Action , related by the Poet , determine which of the two is here meant . This is yet further clear from the Panegyrick of Sidonius Appollinaris . — Victricia Caesar Signa Caledonios transvexit adusque Britannos . Fuderit & quamquam Scotum , & cum Saxone Pictum . As to which , all that cambden ( much better acquainted with citing , than reasoning ) can answer ; is , 1. That the Poet here wrote a Complement according to the vulgar Opinion of his own Times , which cannot be true , ( as he says ) because the Saxons were not then come to Britain . But he should have considered , that , 1. If this was the Opinion in Sidonius's Age , who liv'd Anno 480 , * as Gesner affirms , which was very near to Claudian's Time , who liv'd in 497 , as the Bishop of * St. Asaph calculates : we must conclude , that it is the rather to be believ'd , that then the Scots liv'd here , for that is not inconsistent with History as the other is , and so should be believ'd , though the other be not . 2. There were Saxons living then in Zetland or Orknes , tho they were not setled in Britain ; as is clear by Claudian himself , who says — Maduerunt Saxone fuso Orcades . And whereas it is said , that — Flevit glacialis Ierne , Does make the same applicable to Ireland , since Ierna is call'd Ireland . To this it is answered , that , 1. It is clear , that there is a Country in Scotland , call'd Ierna , near to which the Romans had a noble Camp , and whereof the Vestiges are very remarkable to this day ; and in which , there are Stones found with Roman Inscriptions , designing the Stations of the Legions . And certainly it is more proper to say , the loss was lamented in that Country where the Battel was fought , than in that Kingdom where the Romans never fought any . And why did the Poet join Ierna in the same lamentation with Caledonia ? if he had not design'd by it , to express Ierna , as a part of our Scotland . And this is more proper , than to make the Poet join part of one , to another different , and remote Kingdom . As also Starthern in Scotland , is indeed a place , where the Frost is strong , and continues long , as being very near the Hills . But Ireland was known to be , and is yet a Country much freer from Storms and Ice ; and was believ'd by the Ancients to be so , as is most clear by * Beda . 2. Though the Poet had understood Ireland , by Ierne ; yet it does not follow , that because Ireland lamented the loss of the Scots who were kill'd here ; that therefore the Scots that were kill'd , were not the Scots that were planted in Scotland : since certainly , Ireland could not but have lamented even the death of Scots , who were setled here ; as Scotland , and as the Scots here did lament very much the death of the Scots who were kill'd in Ireland in the late Massacre . And as the Bishop himself argues in the Case of the Panegyrick above-cited , I may far more justly argue here , that this sense agrees better with the Poet 's noble flight , who makes the loss that the Scots sustained to be so great , that it was lamented even in Ireland . Selden also , l. 2. c. 8. Mar. Claus. applys this to us , and not to the Irish. And these Verses in the same Author , design'd likewise to the praise of the same Theodosius , — Pictos Edomuit , Scotumque vaga mucrone secutus , Fregit hyperboreas remis audacibus andas . Are only applicable to the Scotish Colony setled in Ireland . For he magnifies Theodosius , Grand-father to Honorius , for having pursued so far his Victory , that he beat the Northern Seas with his bold Oars . Now , beside all the other Arguments formerly us'd , can it be said , that Theodosius's Souldiers ever went to Ireland ? that Ireland lies North-west from Clyde , or Severus Wall ? Whereas it is certain they were in Scotland ; and it is very probable that they would follow the Scotish Colony into the North-west Isles , or over Clyde , where it 's formerly prov'd the Scotish Plantation first setled . The Third Testimony , shall be that of * Hegisippus , where he brings in Ben-gorion disswading the Iews to fight against the Romans , the Conquerors of all the Earth , whom the unsearchable Places of the Ocean , and the furthest places of India , obey . What shall I say of the Isles of Britain , divided from the rest of the World by Sea , and reduc'd by the Romans to be a part of the World ; who makes Scotland to tremble , which owes nothing to any part of the Earth ? To which Cambden answers , That this must be interpreted of Ireland , because the words , Quae terris nihil debet , must be interpreted , as if the Scotia here spoke of , were joyn'd to no other place ; and that is only applicable to Ireland , and not to Scotland . But what a hard shift is he here driven to : for none can interpret , Quae terris nihil debet , in that sense , there being nothing more different , than these two expressions , which is not joyn'd to the other Parts of the Earth , as Cambden would interpet it ; and , which owes nothing to any part of the Earth , as the Author expresses it . There is nothing more ordinary , than for one who thinks he depends not upon another , to say , I owe you nothing . And certainly it agrees much more with the Author's Intention , to interpret these words so , Scotland , which ow'd homage to no place , does tremble at the Roman Arms. 2. It cannot be said that ever the Romans did attack Ireland . And to clear this , beyond answer , in the same harangue , cited out of Ben-gorion himself by Vsher , * Ben gorion says to the Iews , that when the General of the Nations only came , these Nations resisted them ; but when the Roman Emperours themselves came , they submitted to them . And I desire to know , if ever Ireland was invaded by the Romans ? So that what is said in the harangue , is not applicable to the Scotia Hibernica , as they pretend ; but to that Country wherein we now live . As also , by the same Ben-gorion , it is clear , that Nero being discourag'd upon the rebellion of the Iews , and Vespasian comming to him , comforted him , by remembering him that some of his Captains had conquer'd all the Western World , France , Scotland , and the land of Tubal . And whereas , Vsher , to lessen this Authority , is forc'd to alledge , that Hegesippus's Works were spurious . This contradicts * Eusebius , who makes him to have liv'd , Anno Christi 160. And tho Vsher contends , that both these Authors must be late , because Hegesippus , who only cites Ben-gorion , names Constantinople , which chang'd not the name of Bizantium till about the beginning of the 4th Century . Yet the Answer is easie , viz. That this being a Translation from the Greek , the Translator has us'd the name that was best known in his own Time. And the English , and other Nations have acknowledg'd this to be the Work of Hegesippus , and translate it as such . Vsher himself indeed is inclin'd to think , that this was the Work of St. Ambrose : but even that is sufficient for us , for not only is St. Ambrose himself older than the 503 Year , and so proves that our Country was before that time called Scotland ; but St. Ambrose relating this Speech made in Vespasian's Time , must prove , that this Country was call'd Scotland in Vespasian's Time , who was elected Emperour 72 Years after Christ. * Tertullian , who died in the Year 202 , and so must have written some time before that , and could not have written of us as Christians , and a Nation , if we had not been so , for a considerable time : for Informations did spread slowly in that Age , when there was so little Commerce , and at so great a distance , This great Doctor of the Primitive Church , writing against the Jews , who he knew would examine the truth of the matter of Fact alledg'd against them , says , * for the honour of the Christian Religion , which he was defending , That those Inhabitants of Britain , which could not be subdu'd by the Romans , yet willingly yielded to the Yoke of Christ. From which it is urg'd , that in Tertullian's Time , there were Nations in Britain which had never submitted to the Roman Yoke , but yet submitted to the Yoke of Christ. But so it is that could not be meant of the Britains , for all the World knows , and the Bishop confesses , that long before that Time , they had submitted to the Romans . And therefore it is plain , that there were other Nations in the Isle ; and that could not be true , except the Scots , as well as the Picts , had been setled in the Isle at that Time. For a vagrant Company of Robbers , could not be call'd a Nation , or esteem'd a Church : And this Author writes of British Nations ; we must therefore have been a Nation and Church , as the rest were ; and therefore , since they were setled , so must we have been . Nor can this be meant of the North and South Picts , though it were prov'd , that the Picts were distinguish'd into Northern and Southern . For these could no more be consider'd as different People , than the Northern and Southern English can now be said to be different Nations . 2. That sense was not so much for the honour and extent of the Christian Religion : And the Jews might have lookt upon Tertullian as a Jugler , for making one Nation appear two . 3. Our sense agrees better with Beda , who asserts positively , that from Reudas's Time , the Scots made a third Nation in the Isle of Britain , with the Britans and Picts . 4. Selden , l. 2. c. 8. confesses , that the Scoti Pictique , were the Gentes non subjacentes Romano Imperio . * Ammianus Marcellinus , who wrote about the Year 360 , tells us , That the Scots and Picts harrased the Country . But the Bishop unjustly adds , that then they first harrassed it . But this cannot be , for Ammianus speaks of their Fear , as occasion'd by a Tract of bygon Defeats ; and this he elegantly expresses by the words , congerie praeteritarum Cladium ; which shews , that these he speaks of in the 360 , were not the first of many overthrows that the Brittains had got from the Scots and Picts . And so our being here , must be much ancienter than the 360 ; which agrees well with the word assueti in Eumenius . And our having fix'd and known Limits , demonstrates to all who understand the Roman Antiquities , that we were then a fix'd and setled Nation , in the same Island with the Roman Provinces of the Britans ; the Sea , or any part of it , being never signified by their word Limes . * St. Ierome , in his Epistle to Iovian , cites Porphire , who liv'd in the third Century , under Dioclesian , and so above 200 Years before the 503. His words are , Neither Britain a Province fertil of Tyrants , and the Scotish Nation , and all the Barbarous Nations , dwelling around the Ocean , knew Moses , and the Prophets . By the Scotish Nations * Vsher understands not the Scythians , but the Scots , because they are in this place joyn'd to Britain : but tho both he , and the Bishop of St. Asaph would apply this citation to Ireland , yet this Gloss is most absurd ; for by the former Argument , the word Scots should be apply'd to us , for we are join'd to Britain ; but Ireland is no more join'd to Britain , than Scythia . And the same Ierome , in the next Citation , calls the Scots a Nation of Britain ; where he says , * That when he was young , he saw the Scots , a Nation of Britain , feed upon Mans Flesh. From which it is clear , that the Scots at that time dwelt in Britain , which agrees very well with Beda , who calls the Scots the third Britannick Nation . † And Selden calls the Scots and Picts , Gentes Britannicas , l. 2. c. 8. And this is further clear'd , by his asserting , that Pelagius was of a Scotish Race , in the Neighbour-head of Britain ; which proves clearly , as the learn'd * Baronius observes , that there were Scots then in Britain , who were Christians , else how could they have been Pelagians ? Nor can this eating Man's Flesh , be thought any just reflection on the Nation ; for certainly these had been some Rogues , who had fled out of the Nation , because they knew they would have been punish'd for this Crime . Nor can their eating Man's Flesh in France be charg'd on us , but on the French , where this is said to be so publickly done , that St. Ierome could have seen it ; and there is no Historian that ever charg'd this on our Nation , nor any part of the Isle , even in our most barbarous Times . And if it had been any ways common , there would have been a Law made against it . And Boethius relates , that there was one mean Man guilty of it , who was thereupon executed examplarly . And in what Nation are there not some Monsters ? Another of the Reverend * Fathers of the Primitive Church , enumerating the Nations , which were descended from Iaphet , mentions the Britons and Scots , whose Isle is Britain . This shews , that there were Scots living in Britain in Epiphanius's Time , and so he proves not only our Antiquity , by his own Authority , but confirms and explains what was formerly urg'd from Ierome , in whose Time he liv'd , and to whom he wrote Letters . * Orosius , who in Anno 417 , says , That Severus thought fit to secure that part of the Isle which he had , by a Wall , from the other unconquered Nations . And that We , and the Picts were these unconquered Nations , appears from * Beda , wherein he describes those very Actions , in those very words . And all these Authors agreeing with Beda , and writing of the Times wherein themselves liv'd , are sufficient Testimonies , according to the Bishop's own strictest Rules . And they prove how unkind the Bishop is in lessening Beda's Testimony , when it makes for us ; by saying , he spoke then according to the Times wherein these Actions happn'd : for we see , that they who wrote , and liv'd in the Time of those Actions , agree fully with him , as they speak clearly for us . Having thus made plain the Antiquity of our Kings and Nation from the Historians both within and without the Isle . I now proceed to clear these from the Principles of sound Reason : As to which , let us consider , That it being acknowledg'd by Vsher , and the Authors he cites , that Ireland was peopl'd by the Scots , before Iulius Caesar's Time ; and by their own Authors , whom that Bishop cites , they are said to have been so anciently there , that we do not know how many Ages they possess'd that Isle before Iulius Caesar. And they being a very broody People , as all Northen Nations , and particularly they , and we are , could not but have multiply'd so exceedingly , as to need relief , and evacuation by Colonies . And it can never be pretended , that the Irish did settle any other Colony save in Britain : though it be undenyable , that all those Northen Nations were very desirous and concern'd to extend , by Colonies , the Empire of their whole Nation , and thereby the Possession and Property of every particular Man in it . Nor do we ever read , that the Irish had any Wars with Strangers , whereby they might have either wanted Men to send into Foreign Colonies , or have been forc'd to keep them at home , for their own defence . Whether then are our Histories more probable , which make this Colony to have come over before Iulius Caesar ? or the Bishop of St. Asaph's account , who makes us not to have settl'd here , till 503 Years after Christ. And tho I esteem the Irish , yet I must remark , that our humour differs so much from theirs , that it may from thence appear , that we stay'd not long amongst them , but that we came from thence very early . 2. By all the tract of the Roman Histories , as well as by Beda's , Gildas's and ours , it is clear , that the Scots and Picts fought joyntly against the Romans in this Country which we now possess : That the Walls built by Adrian , and Severus , were built here , to defend them against them : That Complaints were made to the Romans by the Britons of them , and that Succours were crav'd against them : That the Saxons were call'd in , to defend the Britons , from the Scotish and Pictish Incursions : That they were call'd jointly , unconquer'd Nations . All which points prove , that they were equal in every thing ; and why not then in their being equally settl'd here ? And therefore , except it were clearly prov'd that the Scots were not settl'd and fix'd here , as the Picts were ; and that there were Authors produc'd , who living in these Times , declar'd , that in the Year 503 , the Scots were first call'd to defend the Picts , as the Saxons are clearly prov'd to have been call'd in , against the Scots , and Picts , in the Year 449 , very near to the Year 503 ; which is said by the Bishop to be our Entry : It must be necessarily concluded , that the Scots were here at the time , wherein all these things are told of them joyntly , with the Picts . The third Argument shall be , that it 's undeniable , that the Scots and Picts were such constant and formidable Enemies , that the Romans , and Britans , who then possest the Southern part of this Isle , were forc'd to build two Fences against them : The first betwixt Tyne and Solloway , which was call'd Adrian's Wall : And the second , by Severus , who having enlarg'd the Roman Conquest , built a second , betwixt Forth and Clyde , and called it by his own name . How then can it be imagin'd , that the Scots did not live on the other side of that Wall ? for if they had liv'd in Ireland , the Wall had not been necessary , or useful , against them . This common sense would declare to a Stranger , upon first reading the Story ; and much more ought it to be believ'd , if we consider , that if the Scots came from Ireland , in Corroughs , as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges , from Gildas ; then they might have landed upon the Britons side of the Wall ; nay , and which is more , they could not conveniently have landed on the other side , except they had gone too far about , and cross'd a very broad and dangerous Sea. 4. Tho People come once , or twice , from a Foreign Nation , by Sea , to rob and pillage , yet it is against sense to think , that for many hundreds of Years , the Irish would have come over , to make War against such powerful Enemies , and return once a Year . And it appers clearly , that this was a constant War , from before Iulius Caesar's Time , for above 600 Years : and in those Ages , it is known , that there were not very convenient means fall'n upon , for transporting Men , much lesse Armies ; they having only Corroughs , as the Bishop of St. Asaph himself acknowledges : And these are a miserable little kind of shapeless Boats , made of Leather , streatch upon Timber , as we find them , and the Irish Sea , describ'd by * Solinus , who liv'd near those Times , and writes , that Mare quod Iuvernam & Britanniam interfluit , undosum & inquietum toto in anno , nisi aestivis pauculis diebus , est navigabile : navigant autem viminiis alviis , quos circumdant ambitu tergorum bubulorum . And how these could transport an Army every Year to fight against such powerful Enemies as the Romans and Britons ? And how they could carry back in them the great Booty worthy to be fought for ? especially over such broken Seas , that are yet terrible in the best Season , to the best of our Boats , and the stoutest of Seamen , is left to be considered by Men judicious , or disinterested in any measure : Especially , seeing they behov'd to return in the Winter-time , for it 's presum'd , they fought all Summer ; and even then , they had not the chusing of their own fair Weather , but had just reason to be afraid that they would be chas'd away , as Robbers usually are ; and as the Bishop of St. Asaph asserts they often-times were . But as all this is absurd , and incredible , according to the Bishop of St. Asaph's Hypothesis ; so it is most consistent with ours ; in which we assert , that the Scots setled on the other side of Clyde , from which they might come every Year ; which agrees also well with Beda's saying , That the Scots setled ad partem septentrionalem sinus Acluith , or Dumbriton ; a narrow Sea , and call'd one part of the Mare Scoticum by the English Authors , and particularly by * Holinshed , and † Polidore , as by our ‖ Major ; and was so design'd in the forms of holding Circuits , as is clear by the 4 Chap. of the Laws of King Malcom 2. and by 5th . Act P. 3. I. 2d . And since in the said Laws of Malcom 2. who reign'd Anno 1004. The Frith of Forth is call'd Mare Scotiae , the Sea of Scotland , and that is mention'd as a Law in old observance ; it must be concluded , that this Country where we live , was call'd Scotland , long before the Year 1000 , as Bishop Vsher asserts . For since Tacitus and Beda say , That we were inclos'd by that Sea , and the Wall , as in an Isle ; it seems that this was call'd the Sea of Scotland then , it being our March at that time . Nor are these Friths improperly call'd Seas , being 40 miles broad in some places . And this also agrees with our being transmarini , or on the other side of the Sea , ( which are the words us'd in the said Statute ) but not out of the Isle ; and it is strange , that the Visigoths should have setled in France and Spain ; the Ostrogoths in Italy , shortly after they had made their inroads ; and yet we should have return'd yearly for above 600 Years , notwithstanding of the former difficulty . 4ly , The Scots coming over to this Isle , could not but know , that the southern Parts of it were very rich , and the People there very cowardly , even to admiration ; as the Bishop of St. Asaph himself relates , from all their Historians : and there was place enough for a Colony of them in this Isle , or else how could they have planted themselves after , when the Picts became more numerous ; and both the Scots and the Picts had good reason to expect every Year new additions of Land : and it is probable , that our Ancestors , being a Colony of a more southern Nation , strangers in Ireland , and but lately setled there , left their confinement in the Irish Isle as soon as they could , to inlarge their Victories and Possessions in this larger one , which afforded greater Glory . How then can it be imagin'd , that they would not have setled a Colony here , which was far less dangerous , and more noble and advantageous , than to be constantly robbing for small Booty , to the danger of their Lives ? But that they fought for Land , and not for Booty , is very clear ; not only from the practice of others , but from Sabellicus , * gliscere indies id malum augebatur duarum gentium audaciâ : apparebatque brevi totam insulam alienatam iri , nisi ejusmodi conatibus maturé iretur obviam . 5. How it is imaginable , that the Picts ( finding themselves in so great danger from the Romans and Britons , the one very considerable for their Valour , and the other for their great Numbers ) would not have intreated the Scots to stay constantly with them ? for tho they had been equal to their Enemies , when the Scots and they were together , yet they could not be but much more inferiour to them , when the Scots left them once every Year . 6. If the Irish had constantly sent in Auxiliaries to assist against the Romans , it is not to be believ'd but the Romans would have resentted this Injury against the Kingdom of Ireland ; which they never did , except once , * when the Irish gave the Scots Supplies , endeavouring to re-establish themselves after the expulsion of Eugenius . And if this War had been carried on by the Kingdom of Ireland , and not by the Scots in Scotland ; we had certainly heard , that the Kings of Ireland had been mention'd , both in the Roman , English , and our Histories : for it is not to be imagin'd , that so long , and so great Wars could have been carried on by the Subjects , without the consent of the King and Kingdom . 7. If they never had been call'd in by the Picts , to stay as a Colony , till the Saxons had beat the Britons , who had lately call'd them in to their Assistance : How is it imaginable to think , that the Picts would have call'd them in as Auxiliaries at that time ? having so lately seen , how dangerous Auxiliaries might prove , especially considering , that the Scots had been us'd many hundred Years to robbing , as the Bishop of St. Asaph would have us believe ; and that they were part of a numerous near Nation , from whom they might expect suddenly great Supply : or that they would have not only run this risque , but have divided with them their little Country ; and yet not have employ'd their Assistance for the Ends for which they call'd them in . For the Bishop * tells us , that the Scots did nothing for 100 Years after they were call'd in . 8. It cannot be deny'd , but that about the Year 792 , * there was a League entred into betwixt Charles the Great , call'd Charle-Maigne King of France , and Emperor of the West , and Achaius King of Scotland , call'd by all the French Historians , the Famous Alliance . In which the King of Scotland did send over 4000 Men to the assistance of Charles the Great . And this is testified by * Aeginardus who wrote the History of those Times , and was Secretary to Charles the Great ; and who is cited by Vsher , at which time the King of Scotland sent over very many famous learn'd Men , who founded the incomparable University of Paris . All which is clear by † Favin , in his Theatre of Honour ; and ‖ Paulus Aemilius in that King's Life . From which I raise two Arguments ; 1. How can it be imagin'd , that if the Scots had not setled in a Colony till the 503 , that their King could have been so famous , that in about 280 Years time , this small Colony , which the Bishop of St. Asaph represents to have been but pilfering barbarous Robbers , would have become so famous , that Charles the Great , then Emperor of all the Western World , would have entred into a League with them , especially since they had not for 100 Years after their settlement , done any memorable Action , * as the Bishop of St. Asaph alledges ? 2. If our Kings , and Nation , had only then Dalrieda , or the Kingdom of Argile , as the Bishop contends , how could this Prince of Argile ( which is , after all improvement but an Earldom ) have been worthy , not only of the Alliance of the great Emperor of the West , but to be able to send 4000 Men , especially having such dangerous Enemies at Home , and being himself but a Stranger , newly entred into a Foreign Island , and living in a small part of the Isle , with the Picts , the more powerful and ancient possessors . And that there were 4000 Men sent by virtue of that League , is clear , not only from Verimundus , out of whose 2d Book Chambers cites the whole League ; but by Sansovin an Italian , who writes the History of the Douglassii , or Scoti , whom he derives from William Douglas , who was Lieutenant at that Time to Prince William , Brother to Achaius . For which Sansovin cites another , viz. Vmberto Locato , more ancient than himself . * And this is so far acknowledg'd by the French Kings , that upon it we got very great Privileges in France , and all the Heraulds in Europe acknowledg , that the double Tressure , was the Badg of that Alliance . 9. How can it be conceiv'd , that the Scots could in so short a time , after their Settlement , have been able , without any help , to extirpate the Picts , who must be presum'd to have been very strong , having been so long setled in this Isle ; and having possest in effect all that we have now , benorth Forth , except the Shire of Argyle , if we believe the Bishop of St. Asaph . Our Tradition is fortified , and the former Authorities cited by us , are clear'd , from the receiv'd Laws of our Nation ; for first , all our Histories bear , * That after King Fergus ' s death , the Nobility finding his Son too young , and the Wars in which they were engaged very dangerous ; they declared , that the Vncle should govern . Which Custom continu'd , till it occasion'd many bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and Nephews : and therefore * was justly abrogated by a Parliament holden by Kenneth the Third , which Kenneth the Third reign'd , Anno 970. And it were very ridiculous to think , that since these Matters of Fact are true , viz. That there were bloody Civil Wars betwixt the Uncles and the Nephews ; and that all this hath been much debated in posterior Parliaments , betwixt such as were for the Crown , and such as were for popular Elections ; without ever controverting the Truth of the Matter of Fact ; and long before we could have any apprehension of such a debate as this , and so that all this was a meer fiction , calculated for maintaining an Antiquity , which was never controverted . It can as little be deny'd , that there were Laws relating to the merchetae mulierum ; since many of our old Charters relate to them , and discharges of them are incorporated in our Charters ; and which Styles are a part of our old and Traditional Law : These merchetae mulierum were thereafter abrogated by King Malcom Canmor's Laws , many hundred Years before the starting of this Debate : And that there were such Laws , is also acknowledged , not only by Baker , and others within the Isle , but even by Solinus and Ierome , &c. * And that these Laws were made by Evenus the Third , who liv'd twelve Years before Christ , is a part of the same Tradition ; and so cannot but be believ'd , since Laws are one of the probablest Means imaginable , * for preserving Tradition . By the Laws likewise of Malcom the 2d , who reign'd in the Year 1004. The Frith of Forth is call'd Mare Scotiae , or the Sea of Scotland ; which demonstrates , that before the Year 1000 , our Country was call'd Scotia , or Scotland : and confirms and clears all that is said out of Beda ; and as this designation of the Scotish Sea is look'd upon there , as a thing very old and acknowledg'd ; so it is continu'd in our Laws for many Ages , as is evident by K. I. 2d , his Laws above-cited . I had resolved not to mention the Bishop's Objections , against our early Conversion : But I find it so clear , that we were converted to the Christian Faith before the Year 503 , that there results this concluding Argument from it , to prove that we were setled before that time . For if we were a Christian Nation converted here , before that time ; it follows necessarily , that we were a Nation setled here before that Time : Since a Nation is said no where to be converted , but where it is setled , albeit some Persons of that Nation may be said to be converted abroad . And that this part of the Isle which we now inhabit , and that people from which we are descended , were Christians before that time ; seems to me very evident , from the former testimony of Tertullian , who wrote in the end of the second Century , to which I refer my Reader : And tho Tertullian liv'd a little before King Donald , yet the Answer is apparent , viz. that the Nations were ordinarily converted before the Kings or Magistrates . And it 's indeed very probable that the Christians who were persecuted in the Southern Nations , would flee from their Persecutors , the Roman Emperours : And where could they seek refuge so reasonably , as in that Country , and amongst that People which had never submitted to the Roman Empire ? And it being acknowledg'd by the learn'd Vsher , and my Lord St. Asaph , that Britain was converted in the first Century ; it is very reasonable to think , that the Christians , who had fled to this Isle , from the persecution of the Romans , would have very probably shelter'd themselves here , where the Romans had no power : for though it be not prov'd , that the Roman Persecution reach'd to Britain so early ; yet certainly they who fled so far from the Persecution , would not think themselves very secure within the Dominions of the Persecutors , and would have secured themselves by a few more Miles from so dreaded a danger . As also , it seems very improbable , that since the Christian Religion spread from Ierusalem to Britain in less than 100 Years , that it would have taken above 300 Years more , to reach so few Miles , as are betwixt the British part of the Isle , and Scotland . It is also presumable that the Druids having been so prepared to receive Christianity , by their excellent Principles of Philosophy , and their severity of Life formerly mentioned , which did not contradict , but illuminate the Christian Doctrine , they would have both been easie to be converted themselves , and ready to have converted their former Disciples , and the People who admir'd them . I might here cite many Authors ; but I fix upon * Beda , who asserts positively , That Palladius was sent in the 8th Year of Theodosius junior ; that is to say , in the 431 ad Scotos in Christum credentes , by Pope Caelestine , as their first Bishop : And that Beda wrote of us , as the Scots , is formerly prov'd ; and this Mission of Palladius falling in the Tract and Series of the Actions ascrib'd by Beda to us only , it is inconsistent with common Reason , that the things before and after , and the things related in the very Chapter , should be only applicable to us , and yet only this should not : albeit our own and Foreign Histories apply the same to us . As to Foreign Histories , I shall only cite Baronius , who , because he made Ecclesiastick History more his business than my Lord St. Asaph , and was more disinterested , is therefore more to be believ'd as to this point . This great Antiquary * tells , That the Scots who had first receiv'd the Christian Faith from Pope Victor , and their first Bishop from Pope Caelestine , were become the chief of all Christians , from being amongst the most barbarous of all Nations , having formerly said , † That all consent that Palladius was their first Bishop ; and for which he cites Prosper , as he does Tertullian , Ierome , Sedulius , and others , for our being Christians under Pope Victor , saying , That ‖ they are not to be refuted who assert our conversion under Pope Victor : but is most positive as to Palladius . And whereas it is * pretended that Prosper's words are not applicable to us , since he says , that Palladius made the barbarous Island Christian ; and our Scotland is not an Island . To this it is answer'd , That our part of Britain was by Tacitus , and Beda , said to be reduc'd into an Island , by the Roman Wall from Sea to Sea : and * Beda in other places of his History calls us therefore Islanders . Baronius also applies this to us , and so this gloss is to be preferr'd , to that unwarrantable gloss or reading cited by the Bishop of St. Asaph , from the copy of a Manuscript of Nenius , Missus est Palladius Episcopus , primitus à Caelestino ad Scotos in Christum convertendos : for that not only differs from Beda , the far more learn'd , ancient , and credible Author : But it is improbable to say , that a Bishop was sent to those , which were to be converted , seeing Conversion useth to be by Presbyters , and Missionars ; and when the Church is gather'd , the Bishop is sent : and this gloss contradicts not only common sense , but * Ado Viennen , and * Marian , who both use Beda's own words , Ad Scotos in Christum credentes : and what is said of the conversion of the Scots and Picts by St. Ninian , Palladius , and Columba , to make our conversion to be later than Tertullian made it , viz. in the 2d Century , must be interpreted of our fuller and sounder conversion from Paganism , and Pelagianism ; and of our being conform'd to the Romish Church , and Rites , which the Authors of those Times considered as the only true conversion . But to make this our first conversion , were to contradict Tertullian , Ierome , the learn'd Baronius , as well as all our Histores . And the * Magdeburgian Centuriators do positively agree with Baronius , and our History , in this our Antiquity : and so having for us the greatest Ecclesiastick Antiquaries , both Protestant and Papist , we need not condescend upon particular Authors : these being the Standards of Ecclesiastick History to the Professors of both Religions : and it is strange after all this , that a Church-man should so positively contradict , what the Antiquaries of both Churches have so positively asserted ; tho if there had been any thing , wherein they could have contradicted one another , they would certainly have differ'd . That Donald then was our first Christian King , in Anno 203 , and Palladius our first Bishop , in Anno 431 , seems most fully prov'd : for these being Matters of Fact , may be prov'd by Witnesses ; and who are better Witnesses , than the many Historians of the Country where the things were transacted ; especially since these were Matters of great importance , and Notoriety ; which the Monasteries , whose Faith is followed by our Historians , could not but know best of all others , and in which they durst not cheat or forge , because the Annals of other Churches would have contradicted them , whereas they are confirm'd by them ; and these things fell out , when we had the help of Letters , and are agreeable to the sound Reasons above-related : Tho the conversion of a Kingdom be a matter that could not be unknown , and no other King but Donald was ever recorded to have been the first Christian King here . That Palladius was sent to the Scots in Britain , and not to the Scots in Ireland , appears further from these undeniable matters of Fact ; viz. That Pope Caelestine did ordain , and send Palladius , in Anno 431 : That the same Pope Caelestine sent St. Patrick to Ireland : That St. Patrick's Mission must have been before the 6th of April 432 , is also clear , because Prosper tells , that Caelestine died that Year . And the Roman Pontifical tells , it was on the 6th of April that Year . From all which , the Bishop did see that Palladius's mission must have been to the Scots in Scotland ; else Palladius had been first Bishop of Ireland , and St. Patrick needed not have been sent into Ireland , since Palladius was sent there but the Year before . To reconcile which real Contradictions , the Bp of St. Asaph makes up a laborious Hypothesis , and say's , that Palladius was indeed in Ireland , but finding he could not succeed , he was upon his return to Rome , but died in , or near the bounds of the Picts , the 15th of December , 431. So that St. Patrick , who liv'd in Britain , could not but have known his death , and had time enough to go to Rome , and be ordain'd Bishop for Ireland , and go to that Kingdom , and there finish their Conversion , which Palladius had only begun : and so St. Patrick was call'd the first Bishop . All this Hypothesis is almost impossible , though good Palladius had sooner , and deeplier despair'd , than a Saint should have done , especially in the Conversion of a whole Nation : and though both had posted faster for a Benefice , than Holy-Church-men did in those Primitive Times . Yet all this is founded upon Palladius's having died Decemb. 15. 431. And the only proofs produc'd for this by my Lord St. Asaph , is Baleus de 14. scrip . 6. near the end ; and yet in that same Citation it is positively said , that Palladius was sent to Scotland , and the particular Scotish King is nam'd ; and Baleus adds , That Palladius claruit Anno virginei partus , 434 ; he flourish'd in the Year 434 , and so he died not in the 431. And not content with this , Baleus goes on , telling , that post multos pios tandem sudores & religiosa exercitia in Fordono vico Merniae foelicem hujus vitae sortius est exitum . Which is in our Scotland , and in the North part thereof , very far out of the Road from Ireland to Rome ; and where we have St. Padies Church and Fair ; and with us he is nam'd our first Bishop to this day : but was never nam'd an Irish Bishop , until the Bishop of St. Asaph made him by a strange word first , in omination of success , as he says , tho not he , but St. Patrick had this success . If then he died not so soon , and if the time of his death is not prov'd , why might he not have baptiz'd Tarvanus ? And why should our Boethius be hector'd for saying , that Palladius baptiz'd Tarvan ? Yet I impute not this to my Lord St. Asaph's mistake or ignorance ; but it is an elaborate contrivance , to divert all the unanswerable Authorities , proving that Palladius was sent to us in Scotland , in the Year 431 , and so before the Year 503 ; in which my Lord St. Asaph says we setled first in Britain . I shall conclude this concerning Palladius , with the suffrage of Dr. Hammond , a learn'd and Episcopal English Divine , * who in his vindication of the dissertations concerning Episcopacy , reconciling the seeming Differences between Beda , who asserts , that Palladius was sent to the Scots believing in Christ : And Prosper , who speaking of the same Mission , says , That Palladius made also the Barbarous Island Christian ; lays down these three Conclusions ; 1. That Christianity was planted in Scotland , before Caelestine's Time , deriv'd to them most probably from their Neighbour Britons here , with whom they are known to have agreed in the keeping of Easter , contrary to the Custom of the Roman Church , as * Beda says . 2. That this Plantation was very imperfect , differing little from Barbarism , and so reputed by Prosper , till the coming of Bishop Palladius among them . 3. That even after that , they retain'd the use of Easter , contrary to the Roman custome , which still refers to some rude conversion of theirs before Palladius ; and so it is evident , that in the learn'd Doctor 's opinion , the Scotland to which Palladius was sent , was ours ; and that we were Christians before his coming , tho rude and barbarous . The Bishop of St. Asaph having thus spirited from us , into Ireland , Palladius our first Bishop , he proceeds to translate Amphibalus our first Churchman upon Record , unto a Shag-Cloak ; designing likewise thereby to prove , that Boethius our Historian is not to be credited , because he follow'd their fabulous Ieffrey : Who finding that St. Alban had , to save his pious Guest , taken the holy Man's Habit , to the end he might be martyr'd for him ; and as Beda expresses it , Caracalla ejus indutus ; Ieffrey concludes , as my Lord St. Asaph alledges , that the Vestiment was Amphibalus ; and Ieffrey having made the Cloak a Man , Boetius made him a Bishop of the Isle of Man : and so this Cloak was fitly ordain'd to be a proper Bishop for the Chapter of the Culdees : But this is ludere in sacris , and to expose Episcopacy it self upon the Stage . In answer to which , I shall only offer these few thoughts , First , What Interest had Ieffrey ( who was a Briton ) to oblige the Scots , or the Isle of Man , in making so horrid a lye ? 2. It is against sense , to think that any Man , much less a Scholar , could have been so gross , as to take a Shag Cloak for a Bishop . 3. If the Shag Cloak had been mistaken for the name of a Man , he should have been call'd Caracalla , and not Amphibalus ; for the Legend being written in Latin , Ieffrey had certainly chosen the word Caracalla , because that was the Latin word , and was the word used by Beda , and because there was a Roman Emperor truly of that name , before Beda and Ieffrey's Time. 4. Beda relating to that passage , tells us , that in the Dioclesian Persecution , St. Alban , Aron , Iulius , and many others suffer'd : And why might not Amphibalus be one of these many that suffer'd ? And why ought Boethius to have been tax'd , for mentioning Amphibalus , since this was done long before him , by a multitude of English Writers , cited by Bishop Vsher , who deriv'd his birth from Greece , and describes the particular Actions of his Life , and his Martyrdom ; with which also the modern English Writers agree , as * Baleus , Holinshed , Speed , all which English , and thousands of other Testimonies do far weigh down Bishop Vsher's Conjectures , that Amphibalus was not a Man , but a Vestiment , from the silence of Gildas , Beda , the Martyrologies and Breviaries of Salisbury , and Ieffrey , who do not mention him : for Gildas could not mention him , writing concerning the Conquest , and Destruction of Britain ; Beda tells the Passage relative to St. Alban ; and albeit he names him not in the Dioclesian Persecution , yet he tells , that many more suffer'd than the three he names . We have not seen the Martyrologies , and Breviaries , nor does it import whether they mention him or not ; and it is not so much to be wondered at , that some English Writers do not mention him , as that he is mention'd by so many , seeing he was a Greek , and a Bishop in the remote Isles of Britain , and in all likelihood would have been buried under silence , had it not been for that Passage with St. Alban . My last Argument for confirming our History , shall be , that the best Critiques , Historians , and Antiquaries of other Nations , who had occasion to mention our Histories , and particularly the great Baronius , Scaliger , Salmasius , Lipsius , Carolus Sigonius , Favinus , Selden , and others of the first Rank , ( too many to be nam'd ) have passionately defended our Antiquity , and not only sustain'd , but prais'd our Histories : and so the Arguments and Grounds whereupon I have proceeded , are already asserted by the best Judges , and that too after Luddus publish'd his Objections against the same , and almost the very same Objections which are now urg'd , and which are treated with great contempt by * Scaliger . Since then there is nothing now urg'd , that could have escaped the observation of these learn'd and curious Authors , who could not but have discover'd , as soon as the Bishop of St. Asaph , that our Historians did not mention any Warrants which were written in the Time , or did contradict the Roman History or one another . I admire why now these our Histories should be controverted . And tho something might be pretended , if my Lord St. Asaph did in this Book , produce Manuscripts unknown to those learn'd Criticks ; yet could they have been so blind and ignorant ( especially in that subtile and laborious Age , wherein all Men were by a noble emulation contending , who should discover most ) as not to have seen defects ? which if they had been real , they had been obvious . It is also very remarkable , that since all Nations are emulous of one another in Matters of Antiquity ; yet they , by yielding to ours , have thereby acknowledg'd , that ours was beyond all debate ; and to this day , none controvert it , ( notwithstanding of all the pains taken by Luddus , Cambden , and Vsher ) further than to gratify their own Country . And therefore , as Cicero argues , that the Romans were the bravest , because every Nation commended them next to their own : I may contend , that we are the most ancient , because every Nation confesses us to be next to themselves in Antiquity . I shall cite , for confirming this , some few Instances . Saxo Gram. Swaningius , Albertus Krantzius , own our Name and Nation to have been before Christ , though after the Danes . Mezeray shortly after Pharamond : and my Lord St. Asaph himself , who brings us in but 50 Years after the English. Since it is probable that the Bishop of St. Asaph and I will not agree well in the decision of this Debate ; were it not just that we should both rest in the decision of learn'd Strangers , who understood Antiquities exactly , these being the subject Matter of our Controversy ? And where can we find more qualified Judges than those great Antiquaries whom I have named ? But yet to shew how much I trust to the strength of that Truth which I assert , I dare appeal to Selden , that English-man , who was so affectionate to his Country , and that Antiquary who understood best of all Mankind the Antiquities of his own Nation , and even to him also in his Mare Clausum , written for the Defence and Glory of his Country ; who , lib. 2. cap. 8. Maris Clausi , has these words , speaking of those famous Lines in Claudian , to the praise of Stilicho , Inde Caledonio velata Britannia monstro — Totam cum Scotus Jernam Movit & infesto spumavit remige Tethys . As the Palmes , and the River Tagus were peculiar to Spain , as the Ears of Corn and Ivory to Africa ; so he would have it understood , that the Province of Britain had the Sea of the same name peculiar thereto . But yet it is to be conceiv'd , that the Dominion of the Romans was so limited in this Sea , according to their possession of the Shore , that they had little power in that part of the British Sea , which bordered upon the Shores of those British Nations who were not under their Obedience . This is to be taken chiefly of the Irish Sea , and the rest that lies North-west ; for when the Roman Empire began to decline , not only in Ireland , but in the Isle of Man also , and the other Isles of the Western Sea , and a great portion of the more Northerly parts of Britain was possess'd by the Scots and Picts , so that we have sufficient ground to conceive , that they also had an ancient Dominion of their own in the neighbouring Sea. From which Passage I argue thus , 1. That Selden consider'd the Scots and Picts , as Nations not subject to the Romans ; Gentes iis ( viz. Romanis ) minime subjacentes , No manner of way subject to the Romans ; and looks on us as the most considerable of these two Nations : for the words run , A Scotis , tenebatur Pictisque ; and very justly , for we were able to defend them while they were just to us , and to extirpate them when they became Enemies . 2. This great Antiquary asserts , that the Scots and Picts possest not only in Stilicho's Time , who was Guardian to Honorius , and so liv'd about Anno 400 , a great portion of the Northern part of Britain , as well as the Isle of Man , and the rest of the Western Isles ; and consequently if we possest them then , it cannot be said that we were only here by way of incursion , till the Year 500 ; or were confin'd to Argile , till after the Year 500 , as my Lord St. Asaph contends . 3. That we were not only possest then , but that we had avitum Dominium , ancient Dominion , and had right prisco jure ; and nothing is so inconsistent with the being Proprietors , as to be Robbers , coming only by way of Incursion ; and if we had the Dominion of our Seas , jure prisco , and per Dominium avitum ; we were certainly ancient Possessors before the Year 400 , and so must have been not only far older than the Year 500 , but even to have been prisci incolae , as Beda ( l. 1. c. 1. ) says , before the Romans entred this Isle , and so before Christ. Selden also , in the transition from that 2d to the 3d Chapter , tells , after that he had spoke of the Scots Dominion of their own Sea , that he will treat of the succeeding Ages , and so proceeds to the Saxons , which demonstrates , that we were setled here before the Saxons , though my Lord St. Asaph makes their settlement here more ancient than ours . And in this Beda agrees with Selden , but both contradict the Bishop . And lastly , this passage clears , that the Testimonies , not only of Claudian concerning Ierna , but even of Tertullian , when speaking of the Inhabitants of Britain not conquer'd by the Romans , and of Ierom speaking of the Britannick Nations , are only applicable to us : And therefore I hope my Lord St. Asaph will not take it ill , if we , in a Matter of Antiquity , prefer an impartial Antiquary , to an interested Divine , as I would not be offended , if the Bishop of St. Asaph were preferr'd to me in a Theological Controversy . The first general Objection against our Histories , is , that they were not written by those who lived in the Time , but more than 1400 Years after the things happened , of which they wrote . And it were strange , that if Gild●s , who liv'd 500 Years before the eldest of them , could find no sufficient Instructions , save from Foreigners , that our Historians should have found sufficient Warrants for a History after so long a time . To which my Answer is , That our Histories giving only an account of one Nation , it was easier to find the true and sincere Tradition as to us , than it was in other Nations , where the Conquerors were not concern'd to preserve the Traditions and Records : and though I have made it very probable , that this Isle had the use of Letters before , or at least soon after we settl'd in it , and so might have preserv'd the Story . Yet albeit our History were only founded on Tradition , until about 600 Years after Christ , before which the Monastery of Iona or Icolm-kill was founded , that Tradition might have been sufficiently preserv'd , for so few Generations , by the means and methods that I have formerly condescended upon . Nor can I see , how the Origin of a Nation could not have been preserv'd by those who were of it , or how , being established it could have vanished when People became more polite and curious . And after the Year 600 , I have prov'd , that our Historians might have been , and were sufficiently warranted in what they have said , by old Manuscripts , and Records : nor is there any thing urg'd in this Objection against us , but what might as unanswerably be urg'd against the Greek and Latin Historians . A receiv'd History cannot be overturn'd , from what I have formerly represented , without Arguments , which necessarily conclude that the History impugn'd must be false ; which cannot be alledg'd here , where the Warrants of the History controverted , not only might have been , but probably were true ; and are so far from contradicting other Histories , that they are confirm'd by them . I desire also to know , what old Manuscripts and Records Luddus , the Antiquary so far preferr'd to ours , had for proving , that much elder Succession of History from Brutus to his own Time : And whereas St. Asaph says , that Buchannan should not have tax'd Luddus for deriving the Britons from Brutus , since he own'd a Succession of our Kings from Fergus , there being as few Documents to support the one , as the other . To this my Answer is , That there have been very solid grounds brought for sustaining the one , which cannot be alledg'd for the other : and ours are adminiculated by the Roman History , whereas theirs is inconsistent with it : for it is palpably inconsistent with the Roman History , to say , that Brutus was the Son of Ascanius whom he kill'd , for which being banish'd from Italy , he came over to Britain : and that Britain was govern'd by Consuls : which should rather be laugh'd at , than confuted . The Bishop is most unjust to us , in asserting , that we have no Author of our own before Fordon ; and that no Author mentions our Antiquity , but such as have follow'd Fordon , who wrote about 300 Years ago . For Fordon cites his Vouchers , many of which are extant , and those who are lost , are prov'd to have been extant . Within the Isle we could have no Authors till there were Writers , and Gildas and Beda , the eldest in the Isle , prove our Antiquity . Without the Isle none could know us , being so remote , but either by the Wars they had with us , or the Christianity that was common to them and us . As to our Wars , all the Roman Authors above-related speak of us ; Orosius about the Year 417. Claudian 397. Ammianus before the Year 360. Beda and Eumenius speak of us , as before Iulius Caesar , as hath been prov'd . All which we have collaterally supported , by a gradation of Ecclesiastick Historians abroad , and all our own Historians at home . Beda brings us to Reutherus , who was the 6th King from Fergus the first : and he living within 150 Years of Fergus , this short step may be trusted to Tradition , though we had wanted the help of the Druids , and Phaenician Letters : for a Father might have inform'd his Son of so near a Time ; nor was this worthy of a fiction . And I may modestly say of the foregoing Citations from forraign Authors , that if they be not strong enough to overturn the Bishop's Hypothesis , yet they are at least as strong as those produc'd by Iosephus in defence of the Jewish History ; and yet all the learn'd World has acquiesc'd in them . Nor is there any thing to be concluded from the silence of Adamnanus , and Marianus , the eldest of our Historians : though , as the Bishop alleadges , they had certainly mention'd our Antiquitiy , if they had known it . For Adamnanus wrote no History save of Columba ; and Marianus going to Germany , when he was very young , could know little of us , and mentions only the three Kings of Scotland , in whose time he liv'd : and so if this Argument prov'd any thing , it would prove too much . For certainly we had Kings before those three , whom he mentions ; and these negative Arguments are of no moment in Matters of History , and are justly reprobated by the learned Scaliger , in his Notes on Eusebius , and by * Vossius . The second Objection is , That our Historians contradict one another concerning the Origin of the Picts ; which ought to lessen their credit . But to this it is answered , That our Historians were not concern'd to consider the Origin of the Picts as they were to consider their own . And this Objection subsumes not what is true in Matter of Fact. For our Historians generally agree in the Origin of the Picts , whom all of them make to be Scythians : and though Fordon relates three different accounts of them , yet he does not settle upon any thing that is different from our other Historians * as is fully to be seen . The third Objection is , That our Historians are contradicted by our own Antecessors ; for our Historians assert that King Donald the first was our first Christian King ; whereas in our Apology against Edward the first of England , about the Year 1300 , we assert the Tradition of a wonderful Victory obtain'd by our King Hungus , against the Saxons , by the Relicts of St. Andrew the Apostle , by virtue whereof the Scots first receiv'd the Faith of Christ. To which it is shortly answer'd , that every Contradiction does not overturn the Truth of a whole History ; otherwise we need not be troubled to give any other answer to the Bishop's own Book : nor is this pretended to be a Contradiction amongst our Historians , for they all agree , that King Donald was our first Christian King ; but in that Apology , which is alledg'd to contradict our Histories , our Predecessors design'd , as most Pleaders do ( and this Eloquent Author does in his Book ) to gain their Point at any rate . For understanding whereof , it is fit to know , that King Edward the first , having upon the Competition betwixt Bruce and Baliol , interpos'd with design to make himself Lord Paramount of Scotland ; he caus'd his Parliament write to the Pope , to whom afterwards he wrote himself ; in which Letter of his , it is pretended , that we were Vassals to England , as descended from Albanactus the second Son to Brutus . 2. Because several of our Kings had become Vassals to his Predecessors , in the Times of the British , Saxon , and Norman Kings . To which we answer in our Apology , That without debating , whether the first Inhabitants of the Isle were descended from Albanactus , or his Albanians , it is asserted , that we came from Spain by Ireland , and conquer'd the first Inhabitans ( for which we cite * Beda ) and so , tho they had been Vassals , we were free ; not being lyable to the Conditions of the People we conquer'd ; and as such , fought constantly against the Britons , who were forc'd to build Severus's Wall against us . And as to any homage made by our Kings , it was either for the Three Northen Countries of Cumberland , Westmoreland , and Northumberland , confirm'd to us by the Britons , to defend them against the Saxons ; and thereafter again * confirm'd by both Saxons and Britons to assist them against the Danes . Or was extorted by force , from one or two young Captive Kings ; upon which heads the Popes had declar'd us free : which Bulls , Edward himself had robb'd unjustly out of our Treasure , with other Records , which he could not deny : but to cajole the Pope their Judg , they insinuate , that though they were not Tributaries to his Holiness , as England was ; yet they ought to be protected by the Pope , because they had been converted by St. Andrew his Predecessors Brother-german : St. Andrew having in Hungus's reign obtain'd for them a Victory over the Saxons ; and so became subject , and subservient to the Pope , in having converted the Saxons by Aidan , Finan , and Colman . From this Matter of Fact , I observe , 1. That we own'd the same origination there , that our Historians do to this day : and so our Ancestors differ'd not from our Historians , much less are they irreconcilable , as St. Asaph alleadges . 2. That the English acknowledg'd us to be as ancient as the Britons , they and we being descended from two Brothers . 3. That what we said of St. Andrew , must needs be upon design , to have oblidg'd the Pope , meaning certainly , either that we were then first effectually converted to the Church of Rome , from the Oriental Observations , in which we were very long very obstinate , and that Rome consider'd that , as the true Conversion ; or that after that time we first became subject , tho not feudatary to the Pope , as these forecited words subjoyn'd do insinuate . But that our conversion from Paganism , was more than 400 Years before the Saxons , is positively asserted in that same Apology . Nor can this have another meaning , for it is undeniable , that we were Christians long before the reign of Hungus , who reign'd 800 Years after Christ : and Colman , &c. liv'd long before that King. Nor was Hungus our King , we being only Auxiliaries to him then , as King of the Picts : after which Apology , King Robert the 1st being crown'd , and having defeated King Edward at Banock-burn , where he gain'd a most signal Victory over the English , they then being low , made application to the Pope ; and he having discharg'd us , by a formal Interdiction , to pursue the Victory into England ; the Nobility , to pacify that Pope , and to remove the Interdiction , at the desire of the King , wrote Letter , wherein they own the Antiquity of our Nation , and Religion , and Royal-Line , mentioning when we came from Spain , as our Historians do , with whom they agree exactly , Vt ex antiquorum gestis , & libris , collegimus , says the Letter : which being prior to Fordon , proves that all this was not Fordon's Dream , and that our History is well founded on old Records , prior to Fordon . And lastly , it appears , that our Kings were not Vassals to England for their Crown , but only for these Provinces , as * my Lord St. Asaph confesses , and as I have prov'd in my Treatise of Precedency ; albeit our Independency was as much controverted of old , as our Antiquity is now : and I hope that the one will shortly appear as unjust a Pretence , as the other is already confest to be . From this it appears , that there is rather a Harmony than real Contradiction here , and that any seeming Contradiction is far less , than the real ones , betwixt Beda , and the Bishop of St. Asaph , and the following Contradictions , wherein he differs from himself . For clearing whereof , observe , That the Bishop says * he questions not the truth of any thing that is said to have been within 800 , nay within 1400 Years ; but so it is , that this would bring us to be setled here , before the Year 300 after Christ : for substract 1400 out of 1684 , ( which is the Year in which the Bishop prints his Book ) his Lordship can controvert nothing except what was done within 284 Years after Christ : And yet he decryes our Historians , for saying , that we were settl'd here before the Year 503 ; and denies our being Christians for many Years after the Year 300 ; and to improve this learn'd Bishop's just Concession , I must remark , that all our Historians agree , that Gregory the great King of Scotland , who died Anno , 892 , added Northumberland to the Merse ; and having defeated the Britons at Lochmaben , he forc'd them to renew their ancient League , and to confirm to him the former Right , his Predecessors got from them to Cumberland , and Westmorland , for assisting them against the Picts and Saxons ; which shews also , what great things we could do , not only alone without , but even against the Picts . All which being said by our Historians , not only within the 1400 Years , but the 800 , are not controvertible by the Bishop's concession : and therefore I understand not why he asserts * that we had nothing but the Kingdom of Argyle before the beating and extirpating of the Picts , who gave us their possession beyond Drumalbain . Nor can I reconcile , how the Bishop asserts all alongst , and particularly , * that the Picts had nothing besouth Grahams-dyke , or the Frith of Forth and Clyde : and yet he confesses * that amongst the South-Picts , there was a Monastery of St. Martin at Whit-horn founded by St. Ninian , in honour of that Saint ; and Whit-horn is in Galloway , in the furthest south point of our Scotland , near eighty miles besouth Forth ; and himself also confesses * Whit-horn to be in Galloway . The fourth Objection being , that our Historians have followed Ieffrey of Monmoth , in many rediculous inventions , which were purely his own ; and particularly in the History of Bassianus , who being Emperour , is by him pretended to have been kill'd in Britain , by Fulgentius ; which , tho Buchannan does not exactly follow , yet he still makes Bassianus to have been a Roman Lieutenant , and to have been kill'd in Britain ; whereas it appears not from any Roman Authors , that there was any Roman Lieutenant here . To this it is answered , That no Man comparing our Histories with Ieffrey of Monmouth , can think so : for we bring not our Nation from Brutus , as he does against common sense ; and tho Ieffrey tells a story of Bassianus the Emperour being kill'd in Britain , which contradicts the Roman Story ; yet Fordon does expresly say * it was not that Bassianus who was Emperour , but a Captain sent here : and so does not follow , but contradict Ieffrey . And Buchannan , to shew that he does not follow him ( and he understood too well the Roman Story to do so ) only relates that there was a Bassianus kill'd , which no Roman History contradicts ; and which is not to be presum'd Buchannan would have made , since there is nothing in it for the advantage of his Nation : and as it is probable , the Emperour would not have suffer'd Carausius to make such great preparations , without sending a considerable Captain ; especially since Eutropius tells , that after many Wars attempted with Carausius , he at last concluded to send a Captain against him , without naming who that Captain was . It were a hard thing therefore to conclude so great Authors were forgers , because they condescend not upon an Author for every indifferent Circumstance ; and the * Notitia Imperii is so far from having taken notice of every Lieutenant in a Legion , that I can prove by many Texts of the Civil Law , that even Consuls themselves have been forgot , when they were only chosen to succeed to those , who died during their Consulship . But the great Objection used by the Bishop , against our Antiquity , lyes in the 4th § of the Bishop's first Chapter , wherein he asserts , That Ireland was peopled by the Scots , and was the only Scotland before these times , viz. before the Year 503 : And in the 5th § , That there were no Scots in Britain before the said Year 300. And in the 6th and 8th § ; That the Scots , betwixt the 300 and 500 Years , were indeed here , but not setled , and only by way of Incursion . And in the 9th § , he asserts , That about the Year 500 they first setled here , and erected the Kingdom of Argile . And in the 12th and 13th § , he asserts , That after the Year 900 , we got the rest of the Country , and then only it came to be called Scotland . For clearing all these Mistakes , without partiality or humour , I shall sum up my Answers in these distinct Propositions . First , It is undeniable in it self , and acknowledged by our Adversaries , that the first special Names , under which Ireland was known , were Ierna among the * Greeks , and Hibernia among the Latins : both of which are , as I said , acknowledg'd by † Bishop Vsher himself . My second Position is , That before the Year 300 , there is no Foreign Author produced by either Nation , that mentions Scotia , Scoti , or Scoticae gentes , except Seneca , who mentions the Scoto-brigantes : and Florus the Scoticae pruinae : and Hegisippus , who mentions Scotia : and Porphyrie , who mentions Scoticae gentes . And tho I have prov'd formerly all these Authors and Passages to be genuine , and applicable to us alone : yet , tho they were only spurious Authors , or the conjectural Readings of new Criticks , as Bishop * Vsher ( whom my Lord St. Asaph follows ) alledges , † Porphyrie only excepted , whose Testimony is admitted by him to be in the third Century . It clearly follows , that my Lord St. Asaph has , without sufficient Warrant , asserted in the forementioned place , that Ireland was called Scotland before the Year 300 : he admitting no Author for this , save Porphyrie , whose Book he acknowledges not to be extant , but to be only cited by Ierom , who liv'd long after the Year 300. 3. My chief Design in this Book , is not to debate the Antiquity of the Names of Scotia , or Scoti , but only when we first setled under Kings in this Isle . And consequently though Arch-bishop Vsher , and the Bishop of St. Asaph could prove , that the words Scotia , and Scoti , were not known the first 300 Years , except in Porphyrie ; yet that cannot prove that we were not setled here before that Time. For it is undeniable , that many Nations have had peculiar Names , before those Names can be found in History , as Scaliger very well proves : and they could not be known in Histories , till other Nations had commerce with them , and wrote of them , which was a thing very accidental . And Foreigners do oft-times design Nations by Appellatives , which they themselves invent . And it is asserted by Bp Vsher , that the Scots inhabited Ireland long before the Year 300 , tho till then he cannot give an Author for that word . And who can deny that the Picts liv'd long here before Eumenius , who first mention'd them , and liv'd long after Porphyrie who mentions the Scots ? And it is very observable that to this day , neither the Irish nor we are call'd Scots in the true Irish Language ; for they call their own Country-men Erenach , from the word Ierna , or Ibernia , and us Albanach , from Albion , and Albania : Which also clears , that we got that name long before Iulius Caesar's Time ; since before that time , the word Albian was run into desuetude , and was succeeded to by the more known name of Britannia : And these Originations are the more confirm'd , that to this day the same Irish , and our Highlanders , know no other names to the English , save Sassanach , because of Saxony from which they came ; as they call'd us Albanach ( to distinguish us from themselves ) from the Country to which we came . Which may give us likewise a hint , how by Names , without Histories , most ancient Monuments of Antiquity may be preserv'd : And it is fully prov'd before that time , we were known in this Country , under the name of * Dalreudini , and † Caledonii . 4. All those uncontroverted Testimonies , that make first mention of the Scots , and of Scotland , are only applicable to us : such as Claudian , Pacatius , Ammianus , &c. as has formerly been fully prov'd . And since Hegesippus is the first Author produc'd by the Bp of St. Asaph , who mentions Scotia ; and that it has been formerly prov'd , that these Passages relate to Us , and not to Ireland ; it follows clearly , that the name Scotia was given to Us , before it was given to Ireland , or that the Irish were call'd Scoti : Albeit it were admitted that the Works ascribed to Hegesippus , were really St. Ambroses , who flourished before the Year 400. And Cambden acknowledges that the Name of Scotland came over with the Scots to Britain , cap. 1. Hibernia . And therefore since I have prov'd , that the Scots came over before Iulius Caesar's Time ; it follows from Cambden , that the name of Scotland was ascribed to us before them . 5. Tho it be true , and acknowledg'd on all hands , that Ireland was inhabited by the Nation of the Scots , as is written by Orosius in the Year 417 ; and that it be true that our Colony came from Ireland , as Beda and our Historians commonly assert , and that thence it may be said , that Hibernia est proprie Scotorum Patria . It will not follow that either We , or the Irish were called Scots before that Time ; or that because We have deriv'd our Colony from the Irish , that therefore We have deriv'd the Name of Scoti from them . But on the contrary , supposing with Vsher , that the Nomen Scoticum had been first given in the third Century , then the Name behov'd to have been ours originally , who were more known and consider'd in the World than they , because of the honour we had in the Roman Wars ( whose Authors do first mention Scoti , and Scotia ) and our early conversion to the Christian Faith : And by our frequent intercourse of Colonies with the Irish ( as about the time of Fergus the second ) . It is probable we did communicate the Name of Scoti to these Inhabitants in Ireland , from whose Ancestors we were descended , and among whom our Colonies , that were returned , setled ; as at this day , the Scots in the North of Ireland do retain the Name , and as we had the name of Hibernia communicated to us from them ; which is abundantly clear'd from what is said out of Eumenius and Gildas . So that these names of Hiberni and Scoti have become common to both People ; but with this difference , that as the Irish were originally called Hiberni ; so our Scots were originally Scoti . For of all the Passages produced by Archbishop Vsher , or Bishop of St. Asaph , to prove the Irish to be called Scoti , that of Orosius is the first that is applicable to them : for those from Claudian , Ammianus , Pacatius , and Hegisippus do not at all agree with them ; nor yet that Passage from Prosper , as has been proved ; nor these from Gildas : for tho he calls those People , who are said to return home , Hiberni , or Irish ; yet * he calls the same People who return'd home , Scots , and not Irish. And the Actions to which these Passages cited against us relate , are uncontrovertedly by Beda , Gildas , and all the Roman Authors , applicable to Us , and not to the Irish : being the three Vastations made by the Picts , and Vs in the British Territories . And Marianus ( whom the Bishop likewise cites against us ) * does expressly apply this to the Scots ; for he uses the word Scoti , in speaking of all the three Vastations . And whereas Gildas useth the word Scoti , speaking of the first two Vastations , and says , Hiberni revertuntur domum , speaking of the last : Marianus , repeating the same passage , says , Scoti revertuntur domum . By which also I infer by a far better Consequence , that the Scots must be said to return to the place where they were formerly settled ; but so it is , that the place where the Scots were formerly setled was the West of Scotland , and therefore when they return'd home , they return'd not to Ireland , as the Bp of St. Asaph alledges , but to our North-west Country , as we contend : for the word in Gildas , is à Gircio , which signifies North-West ; and Ireland lies South-West from Grahams-Dyke , near which these Actions were done : But Argile , and those Isles which We possessed , lies indeed North-West from it . And if they had return'd to Ireland , they had been Trans-marine , as living in another Isle , contrary to Gildas's own express assertion , as it is interpreted by Beda , cap. 12. lib. 2. 2. Why should the Picts and Scots ( being spoke of as to their going home together , the one to the North , and the other to the West ) not be thought to have gone home to the same Isle , since different Isles are not mentioned ? and if I said , I were going to the West , that in common sense could only be understood , of the West of that Kingdom or Island where I then were ; and not of any other Kingdom lying to the West thereof . And both the Picts and Scots being equally called Trans-marine Nations , if the Scots went out of the Isle , it must follow that the Picts left it also , which never any was so ridiculous as to alledge . By all which it clearly follows , that the words Scoti & Hiberni were , before these Times , promiscuously ascribed to us . And tho Beda may speak of the Scots coming from Ireland , and setling a third Colony in Britain long before Iulius Caesar's time , yet that doth only prove the Antiquity of the Settlement of the People that are call'd Scoti , but not the Antiquity of their Name , concerning which Beda was not treating : for he rather seems to insinuate the contrary , when * he says , Aquo ( viz. duce Reuda ) usque hodie Dalreudini vocantur . 6. The Passages produced by the Bp of St. Asaph & Vsher , for proving that Ireland was called Scotia , after the Age that Hegisippus or Ambrose liv'd in , and within the 1000 Years , are very few : and many of them from Legendary Writers . But I shall glance at the most material . The first is Isidor Hispalensis , who liv'd in the 7th Century , and who says * Scotia eadem & Hibernia , proxima Britanniae Insula , spatio terrarum angustior , sed situ faecundior . The same words are used by Orosius , whom he follows , except that Orosius calls the Inhabitans Scoti , but does not call the Country Scotia , but Hibernia : so that Orosius having first call'd the Inhabitants of Ireland , Scoti , in the Year 417 ; Isidor by an ordinary derivation calls their Country Scotia , and is the first that Arch-bishop Vsher , or the Bishop of Saint Asaph , does produce to prove Hibernia to be call'd Scotia ? and is in the Year 620 , and so is too late to prove their Design , since it is clearly prov'd that our Country was called Scotia in St. Ambrose's Time , even by their own concession . And whereas the same Isidor , speaking of Ireland says , haec est proprie Scotorum patria ; beside what has been formerly urged , it is observable that the word proprie does imply as if it might have been justly doubted , and that it was not true in all senses : especially since * Beda uses the very same expression , after that he has fully cleared that we were settled here long before that time : and therefore it doth necessarly follow that these words are consistent with our being settled here ; and consequently that they must not be so interpreted , as to infer that Ireland was the place where We then liv'd but only the place from which We came : And such as understand the Civil Law , ( the best Standard of the Latine Language ) must acknowled , that there is , * Patria Originis , as well as Incolatûs & domicilii : And it may be justly said of those of Virgina and other English Plantations , that , Anglia est proprie illorum patria : And generally it is observable , that the Authors relating both to us and them , do first call the People Scoti , and then the Country Scotia : but still the more ancient Authors call us Scoti before them , and our Country Scotia before theirs . As to the Citations out of Adamnanus in vita Columbae , and Beda : It is certain that Adamnanus is lately publish'd by an Irish Hand , as appears by the Marginal Notes , the Publisher still adding Hibernia in the Magin , where Scotia is in the Text. But however it is certain that Adamnanus was Abbot of Hy , which is Ikolmkil among the Scotish West Islands : so that in dubio he is presum'd to be a Scots-man , and not an Irish ; and Balaeus and others positively assert him to be a Scots-man . Nor is there any reason for their calling him an Irish-man ; but because all Authors who speak of him , call him Scotus ; and to assert a Man to be an Irish-man , because he is called Scots-man , is rather a Bull than a Reason . But because he is mention'd by Beda , who liv'd shortly after him , and is an Author of far greater Authority . What I shall observe from Beda , will serve to clear the Citations out of both . And first , Beda * relates , That Ecgfrid King of Northumberland , having sent an Army into Ireland under Bertus , he wasted the Country , and the innocent People . And the next Year , having sent an Army to waste the Province of the Picts , contrary to the advice of his Friends , and of St. Cuthbert , God suffered that Army to be destroy'd , because the former Year he had rejected their Advice ; * That he should not invade Scotland , which did not wrong him . And to clear that the Scotia here express'd was not Ireland , he adds , † The English and Scots who abide in Britain . This Passage ( as well as the others which I have cited , and shall cite ) proves , 1. That Scotland then was promiscuously express'd by the names of Hibernia and Scotia : For the same thing is said first to have been done in Hibernia , and thereafter it is said to have been done in Scotia : And this answers the Objection , Hiberni revertuntur domum ; and where could their Home be but in Ireland ? 2. It proves that this our Country was call'd Scotia in Beda's Time ; and so long before the Year 1000 , which the Bishop denies . Nor can it be prov'd that the King of Northumberland went to make War in Ireland ; nor speaks Beda of any War with Ireland . The next Passage from Beda is , where he says , * That Columbanus an Abbot and Presbyter , came in the year 565 , from Ireland to Britain , to preach the Word of God to the Provinces of the North-picts : and converted them ; and got from them possession of the former Island for founding a Monastery , where he was buried . Out of which Monastery ( meaning Hy ) many other Monasteries were propagated in Ireland and Britain ; in all which the same Island-Monastery was the chief . And he takes notice , that the Successors of this Abbot differed in the Observation of Easter from the Church of Rome , till the Year 716. And thereafter he says , That * Aidan was sent from this Island for instructing the Province of the English. Now he had said before , † Aidan who was sent from the Isle which is called Hy , which is the chief of the Scotish and Pictish Monasteries , and belongs to Britain . And thereafter he * says , That Colman seeing his Doctrine slighted , and his Adherents despised , returned to Scotland . So that we see , that that which at the first is called * Ireland ; afterward is called † the said Island , and the Monastery in it , the * Island-Monastery ; and thereafter it is † called the Isle of Hy ; and thereafter it is * called Scotland . I shall cite a third Passage from Beda , where speaking of a great Plague in Britain , he adds , * This Plague also wasted Ireland with the same destruction ; at which time there were there many of the Nobility and Commons of England , who in the time of the Bishops , Finan and Colman having left their own Native Island for the greater convenience , either of Divine Studies , or a more strict Life , had retired thither . — All whom the Scots kindly entertain'd , and furnished with all things necessary , and gave them freely Meat , and Books to read , and Learning , And thereafter speaking of Egbert , who was among them , he adds , † That he was a good Example to his own Nation , and to the Nations of the Picts and Scots among whom he liv'd retiredly ; by which passages it is evident , that that which is here called Ireland , is really our Scotland ; first , because it is said , they came from England upon the occasion of Finan and Colman , who were our Countrymen , and whose chief residence was the Isle of Hy , or Icolm-kill , ( from which they came ) which did then , and does still belong to us only , and which the Bishop of St. Asaph also * confesses : and then because in their Monastick Life , it is said , they resided among the Scots and Picts , and † it is said before that the Island where the Monastery was , belonged to Britain . But for further clearing the former Citations , from Beda I shall offer these following Considerations . 1. That Beda treats only the Actions of these five Nations that did inhabite Britain : and if he do speak of France or Ireland , it is but upon occasion of them ; as of the situation of Ireland from whence the Scots came , or of some Monasteries depending upon Icolm-kill , which perhaps were situated near us , in the North of Ireland : and therefore unless all these passages were clearly applicable to Ireland , they must be understood of Scotland . 2. It being certain , that Beda , in the beginning of his Book , treats concerning the Scots in Britain , the Roman Wars with them , and Palladius's being sent to them , it necessarily follows , that the rest of the Book mentioning the Scots , or that part of the Isle possess'd by them , is to be understood of us , whether the Country be called Hibernia or Scotia , or We Hiberni or Scoti : especially since Beda mentions a King call'd Aidan ; and * we had a King of that Name in that time , which the Irish cannot pretend . Beda treats also concerning the Abbots of Hy , which is Icolm-kill , as is clear by that passage , * where he says , Columba , Founder of the Monastery in the Isle of Hy , venerable to the Scots and Picts , which by a compounded name from Columba and Cell is called Icolm-kill . And that the Monks sent from this Monastery , or Island , were the Converters of the North-Saxons , and the first Bishops of Lindasfern or Holy-Island ? Predecessors of the Bishop of Durham . 3. He makes frequent mention of little Islands , which never did belong to Ireland , but to Sotland , and are still called Hebrides ; And so as the chief of these Isles where the Abbot resided the Records were kept , and the Kings were buried , might probably be called Insula Hiberniae , or Hibernia , and that Scotia might be the Ordinary name to all that part of the Isle of Britain benorth the River of Clyde : so that the going from Hiberniâ , or Scotiâ , in Britanniam , is nothing but the going to the other side of Clyde , * by which , and Graham's-Dyke , that part of the Isle was distinguished from the rest , as if it had been a distinct Island . 4. The great Controversy at that Time being about the keeping of Easter , Laurentius Mellitus , and Iustus , Bishops , did write a Letter to us of the following Tenor. * Laurentius Mellitus , and Justus , Bishops , Servants of all the Servants of God , To our dearest Brethren , the Bishops and Abbots through all Scotland . Whileas the Apostolick Sea , according to the custom it hath observ'd in the rest of the World , did send us to preach the Gospel unto the Heathens in these Western Parts ; and that it happened to us to come into this Isle which is called Britain ; we held in religious reverence both the Scots and Britons , believing that they did walk after the Custom of the Universal Church . But after we had known the Britons , we judg'd the Scots to be the better minded : Yet now we perceive by Dagamus , the Bishop who is come hither , and by Columbanus the Abbot in France , that the Scots differ nothing in their Observations from the Britons ; for Dagamus being here , refused not only to eat with us , but even to stay in the same Inn or Lodging . Now that this is only applicable to us , and not to the Scots in Ireland , the Subject doth prove , being Exhortatory Letters , to conform in the Observation of Easter , wherein the British Scots , who follow'd Columba , differ'd from the Roman Church . 2. The Letter is written to the Scots , and relates to other Letters written to the Britons in the same Isle ; and who needed the same Exhortation . And it is to be remembred , That Vsher generally concludes , that where the Scots and Britons are mention'd in Conjunction , by Scots there , are to be understood the British Scots . 3. * Camerarius cites Georgius Newton , who about the Year 1500 , being then Arch-deacon of Dumblain , did write the Acts of that Church ; and relates that he had seen the Antographum of that Letter among the Records of that Church ; and so it must necessarily have been written to the Scots in Britain , else it had not been in the custody of our Church-men , and at Dumblain . I could produce many other Citations to prove Scotland to have been call'd Hibernia in those Ages : but it is sufficient to add to these unanswerable Proofs already produced , the authority of the Roman Martyrology ; wherein Sanetus Beanus is design'd Episcopus Aberdoniae in Hibernia , at the 16 of December . To which Vardaeus an Irish-man in vita Rumoldi answers , That there might have been a place in Ireland call'd Aberdeen , because Aber is an Irish word , signifying a Marish , and there is a Town call'd Doun in Ireland , situated near a Marish . A pretty Witticism indeed ! especially as he proposes the Objection , and answers the same , as you may see upon the Margin . * But to take off all Debate , Beanus is nam'd in our Chartularies , as well as Histories , as the first Bishop of Aberdeen : and the Mortifications granted to him by our King Malcom 2d , in the Year 1010 , of the Lands of Murthlack , Cloveth , and Dounmeth , are yet extant : and his Tomb is yet to be seen in the Cathedral of Aberdeen , at the Postern Door of the Church . To the former Passages I must also add , That albeit our Country was promiscuously call'd Scotia , and Hibernia , as has been prov'd , yet Scotia , even in that Time , was the more frequent Name of our Country : and which , to keep close to Beda , appears ; for when he speaks of the Isle Hy , ( to which the former Citations chiefly relate , and which was the place of our Country , in which his History being Ecclesiastick , is chiefly concern'd , as being then one of ( if not ) the most famous Monastery in the Western World ) he expresses it to be in Scotia : as where he tells , That * Ceollach , of the Nation of the Scots , leaving his Bishoprick in England , returned to Hy , where the Scots had their chief Monastery : And thereafter he tells , That † the same Ceollach having left his ▪ Bishoprick , return'd to Scotland . And the same * Beda , writing of Adamnanus , calls him Abbot and Presbyter of the Monks that are in the Monastery of Hy. And mentioning the same Adamnanus , † he tells , that he returned to Scotland , after his Embassy in England . And how can it be denied that Hy is in Scotland ? since Beda calls it Scotland , and says , That it belong'd to Britain : and is by all Geographers nam'd one of our Hebrides , and lies locally within our Country ; and was one of the first places which we planted , and far remoter from Ireland , than Kintire and others of our Islands ; and in which our Kings were buried , and our Records kept . To conclude this Proposition , I shall add these Reflections . 1. That it is not so easy for the Bishop of St. Asaph to explicate himself as to these Passages concerning Scotia and Scoti , and to make them signifie Ireland and Irish , since the 500 Year , as before : for admitting that the Terms were anciently applicable to Ireland , and that the Scots when mention'd here , were but by Invasion from Ireland ; Yet it being acknowledg'd , that after the Year 500 we were settled here ; It follows , that when Scotia and Scoti are mention'd in relation to British affairs , and in conjuction with the Inhabitans of Britain , they must be understood of us , and our Country . 2. Beda mentioning our Country to be call'd Scotia , as well as Hibernia , from Columba's Time to his own , it is not only an evidence , that it was so call'd in that Time , but that the Name had not been then first given , otherwise he could not have been ignorant of the Change , nor would he have failed to remark it : so that we may reasonably conclude in his sense , the Name of Scotia is as ancient in Britain , as the Time he mentions the Settlement , Wars , and Religion of the Scots there . 3. It is evident , That the Bp of St. Asaph's * Proposition is faulty , viz. That , when we settled here after the Year 500 , our Kingdom was call'd Argyle , or Dalrieda : for if this had been true , this name being so recent , could not but have been noticed and used by Gildas and Beda , and yet it is never so much as once mention'd by either of them ; tho Beda , upon the occasion of the Monastery of Hy , or Icolm-kill , and of the Bishops sent thence to England , doth frequently mention the Names Hibernia and Scotia , and that St. Asaph * doth not controvert , but that these Bishops were sent from our Isle of Icolm-kill to England . 4. We may observe how warrantable * Arch-bishop Vsher's Position ( repeated by the Bishop of St. Asaph ) is , That no Author mentions our Country by the name of Scotia for the first 1000 years ; whereas most of all the former Authors , both within and without the Isle , prove Scotia to have been the name of our Country : and the whole Tract of Beda's History proves , that since the year 560 , this Country was generally so called : Whereas neither Gildas , nor Beda , who lived near that Time , and wrote whole Books of us , do once call it Dalrieda , or Argyle : and consequently ( as I observ'd before ) the Bishop of St. Asaph's whole Sect. 9. of the first Chapter , wherein he asserts , that about the Year 500 , the Scots erected the Kingdom of Argile , or Dalrieda , is most unwarrantable ; for though Beda calls us once Dalreudini , yet this is spoken of us by him , in the Time of our King Reuda , and so near 70 Years before the 503 after Christ. And from this also arises a clear confutation of what the Bishop of St. Asaph asserts , that no Author writing within the 1000 Years , and naming Scotia , means Us ; which is so far from being so , that no Author of Credit ( Isidore only excepted ) did then by Scotia mean Ireland . And the best Authority that Arch-bishop Vsher gives us for Dalrieda , is Iocelin ; which my Lord St. Asaph hath improved by a new authority out of a Manuscript of the Lord Burghlie's , where the Author thinks that Dalrieda , and the Kingdom of Argile , are the same . Authors not to be once mentioned with those whom we cite . 7. The distinction of Scotia Major , and Minor , is lately invented ; for either Ireland was called Scotia Major before the Year 1000 , or only since : if the first , then it necessarily implyeth , that at that Time our Country was also call'd Scotia Minor , there being no other place assignable . But this is contrary to Arch-bishop Vsher , and my Lord St. Asaph's Position , who deny our Country was called Scotia at all for the first 1000 Years . If it be asserted that this distinction was after the 1000 Years , then there was little or no use for it : For * Vsher tells us , that Nubiensis Geographus , about the Year 1150 , describes Ireland by the name of Hibernia , and describes our Country by the name of Scotia : and so it seems at that time Ireland had lost the name in our favour ; and it is not to be imagin'd that Nubiensis remarked the first Periods of the change of the Name ; and Geographers do describe Countries by their ordinary Names . Nor does Vsher * produce any other Testimony , save a Letter of Dovenaldus Oneil Prince of Vlster to Pope Iohn 22d , wherein there is this passage , * Beside the Kings of lesser Scotland , who all came originally from our greater Scotland . And a Patent of Sigismund the Emperor , † To the Convent of the Scots and Irish of Greater Scotland of a Monastery in Ratisbone . Now Vsher acknowledgeth the eldest of these two Citations , were in the 14th or 15th Century ; when I hope no body will assert , that Ireland was called Scotia Major , or that ever the Kings of England , who were Lords of Ireland , were ever called Lords Majoris Scotiae ; and it is probable they would have very much affected that Title ( if the Country had had that name ) altho they could never make themselves Masters Scotiae Minoris . But it is no wonder , that the Irish should be glad to tell Foreigners , that they were our Chief , and so their Country ought to be called Scotia Major ; notwithstanding that our Nation was then become great and glorious : and that Vsher can find no better authority for his distinction of Scotia Major and Minor , than these borrowed and magnifying Names , used long after he himself acknowledgeth that Ireland had lost the name of Scotia , and that We were only in possession of it . 8. The mistaking of the Names of Scotia and Hibernia , and of that assertion , Scotia eadem & Hibernia , and applying these Names still to Ireland , and not to our Country , hath been the Ground whereupon we have been injured , as to the antiquity of our Kings and Country , Saints and learned Men , Monasteries , and greatness Abroad . For admitting it to be true , that we were not setled here till the Year 500 , yet we have been so happy , as to have such excellent Men , and to have done so considerable Actions , as have been sufficient to tempt our Neighbours , and particularly the Irish , to take great pains to have both pass for their own . In order to which the Irish have lately invented the distinction of Scotia Major and Minor , to the end , that when any considerable Person is called a Scots-man in History , they might claim him as descended from the Greater Scotland . But besides , that this distinction is too new to be extended to ancient Writers , How can it be imagined that our Country , only having passed under the Name of Scotland before the 300 , and after the 1100 , as has been proved , Ireland should have assumed the Name of Scotland in that Interval ? Is it not more reasonable to think that our Country , which alone was design'd by that Name , before the 300 , and after 1100 , bore it likewise only , or at least chiefly , during that interval . But to assert that , during that space , another Country had our old and present designation in a more peculiar manner than we ; and that in dubious Cases it must be appropriated to them , is a piece of confidence which even eminent Wit and Learning cannot support . And yet we find , in Malcom the Second's Time , ( as was formerly observ'd ) who began to Reign in the Year 1004 , That the Frith of Forth ( in his Laws , in the Book of Regiam Majestatem ) is call'd Mare Scotiae : And it is said there , that the same King did distribute , omnem Terram Scotiae hominibus suis : and it is not to be concluded , that this was the first time that our Country was so call'd . And about that time Ireland was expressed only by the name of Hibernia ; for King Henry the 2d of England , who began to Reign in the Year 1154 , is stiled Lord of Ireland . And to clear further that Scotia about those times was the ordinary name for Scotland , and Hebernia for Ireland , I shall only add some few Passages out of Marianus Scotus , who was born in the Year 1028 , and died in the Year 1086 , * who sayes , that about the Year 1016 , Brianus , King of Ireland , was killed ; and a little thereafter , † at the Year 1034. Malcolm King of Scotland died , and Duncan the Son of his Daughter succeeded him . And after that he sayes , at the Year 1040 , * Duncan King of Scotland , was killed , and the son of Finlay succeeded in his Kingdom , whom afterward † he calls * Machetad King of Scotland . All which passages agree exactly with our History , and the summary of our Kings Lives , as they are recorded in our Acts of Parliament , and prove that Marianus treats of Scotland , and Ireland , as different Kingdoms in his Time. In the last place , I shall make some Remarks upon the most palpable of these Mistakes , and of the chief Authors thereof : wherein I shall vindicate the Right and Dignity of our Country , and assert these worthy Persons controverted to be ours . I shall not insist much against Stanihurst , he being solidly confuted by * Camerarius , and with that severity by Dempster , that his Nephew Bishop Vsher ( as the Duke of Lauderdail remarked in some Judicious Reflections of his upon this occasion ) did highly resent it , and in this Matter hath exceeded his usual Temperament and Moderation . And yet Stanihurst never speaks injuriously of our Nation ; for though he mistakes many things , and applys them to his own Country ; yet it appears to be , rather of Design to magnifie it , than injure ours : for he acknowledeth ingenuously , * That he doth not clearly see from what time the Name of Scotland commenced . And though thereafter he taxeth Boethius upon the Subject of Gathelus and Scota , and that he mixeth Fables and Vain glory with his History ; yet he neither disapproves of Buchannan , nor follows he Luddus , both of whom he cites , and who were immediatly before him ; his Book being printed at Antwerp , in the Year 1584. In his Appendix also , Commenting upon Giraldus Cambrensis ( a Welsh-man , and Scretary to King Henry 2d of England , and flourished before the end of the 12th Century ) He translates Cambrensis , who describes Ireland by the name of Hibernia , and makes frequent mention of our Country under the name of Scotia ; as when he speaks of the extent of Ireland , he says ( as Stanihurst interprets it ) that * it is equal in largeness to Wales and Scotland . And elsewhere he says , that † Scotland is called the North part of the Isle of Britain . And afterwards he tells the Story of Moreds six Sons , and that from them the Inhabitants of the North part of Britain , * by a specifick word , were called the Scotish Nation . And Stanihurst in his Annotations on these two Chapters contends , that before St. Patrick's time our Country was called Scotia ; and brings for proofs St. Ierome , who asserts that the Scots were Gens Britannica ; but with great concern he vindicates us from the calumny of eating Mens Flesh : and for our Antiquity he cites Beda , who says , that Sub duce Rendâ we made a third Nation in Britain . So that we see that neither the Welsh in Giraldus's time , nor the Irish in Stanihurst's time , had the Opinion of our late Settlement , and that our Country was not call'd Scotia for 1000 Years after Christ ; which their Successors Luddus , Cambden , Vsher and St. Asaph have had . And the Irish in those days took a far better way for advancing their own interest in doing us justice ; since from all the considerable Actions we did , there did arise a measure of that Honour to them , from whose Country we came as a Colony : Whereas since they were influenc'd by Strangers , they have suffer'd themselves to be impos'd upon , so as to lessen our true Merit , in appropriating immediatly to themselves those devout persons , who were really our Country-men : not considering that the material unjustice was much greater than the imaginary honour : And this Plagiarism and Man-stealing became easie to them since our Reformation from Popery , because after that time we became too careless of those eminent Persons both at home and abroad , who had liv'd in the Roman Communion , or before that time . But I will not insist on this , for I hope their native kindness will incline them to return to their first just methods . If I had leisure , I would make larger Reflections , to prove how unconsequential Arch Bp Vsher is , in making Sedulus and Marianus Irish : since by all Writers they are both call'd Scots , and Balaeus an Englishman tells us , that † Sedulius flourish'd under Fergus 2d . and * Marianus under Macbeth , both our Kings ; and Baronius asserts also this positively . And Sedulius having liv'd before St. Patrick's Time ( who was the first Apostle of Ireland ) and being Disciple to Hildebert an acknowledg'd Scot , and who liv'd in the 390 , must be prior to the Irish Christianity ; which Giraldus and Stanihurst acknowledge to have been first planted by St. Patrick in the Year 432. Nor can * Vsher in all his vast reading , find any Christians in Ireland betwixt the Year 400 , and 432 , which was St. Patrick's Time , but Kiaranus , Ailbeus , Declanus , Ibarus : Tho if Sedulius had been an Irish , he had been certainly mention'd and employ'd , before those obscure Persons ; and certainly he would have employed himself before St. Patrick's Time in the Conversion of his own native Country , if he had been truly Irish. And as to Marianus Scotus , it is a wonder how it can be controverted that he was a Scots-man ; since our Country was then called Scotland by the Bp of St. Asaph's own confession ; and Ireland was just then losing that name ; and Marianus in his whole Book distinguishes betwixt Scoti and Hiberni , and mentions the forementioned three Kings of Scotland about whose Time he liv'd ; and also makes mention of one King of Ireland about that time : as has been observed already ; and particularly , speaking of the Conversions * by Palladius and St. Patrick , he expresly distinguishes betwixt Scoti , and Hibernenses . But passing these , I confess it is pretty ridiculous to see a whole Book written by the above-mentioned Vardaeus , and glossed by Sirin , and published at Louvain 1662 , to prove that Rumoldus Arch-Bishop of Mechlin was an Irish-man : since the Arms of Scotland ( which are , Or , a Lion Rampant Gules , within a doubles Tressure flowred and counterflowred with Flower de lis of the same ) are plac'd upon every Window of the Catherdral Church built by him , and are to this day a part of the Arms of that Archi-Episcopal See , Rumoldus himself being a younger Brother of the Royal-Family of Scotland : And in which witty Book , the Author , to confute this , * is forced to maintain that the Scotish Lion is born by several Irish Familes ; And the double Tressure , tho anciently born by Scotland , and which is Blazon'd in that Archi-Episcopal Coat of Arms , might have been born by the Irish , because that famous League betwixt the Scots and Charlemaigne , was made with the Kings of Ireland , and not with the Kings of Scotland ; and that our Kings had never any Leagues with the French , till the reign of Charles 7th who was contemporary with our King Iames 1st : Whereas the whole French Histories , as well as ours ; and all Foreign Historians , as well as either , the Leagues yet extant ; the Priviledges granted thereupon to us , recorded in the French Registers , and ours ; many Decisions in Parliaments , and other Courts ; and the universal consent of all the French who ever liv'd since that Time , do in all Humility seem to be sufficient Warrants for laughing at this monstruous Assertion ; as I do at him and others , who pretend that the Scotish Monasteries in Germany , are Irish : since they were founded in Charle-Maigne's Time , by William Brother to our King Achaius , and others that went there with him ; and they are to this day govern'd by Abbots and Priors of our Country : Nor can it be understood , how the French and Germans could mistake their own Records and Foundations for so many hundreds of Years togeder , and by this I leave my Reader to measure the other unjust pretensions of such Authors . I hope it now at last appears , that I have detected those ingenious Artifices , which this learn'd Bishop was forc'd to use , to supply his want of solid and just grounds in this his undertaking . As , 1. That , to conciliate respect to this Undertaking , as well as to excuse it , he pretends that it was necessary for the defence of Episcopacy . 2. He makes a great muster of old Authors in the beginning of his Book , as if all these were Men of great credit , and did concur with him to refute our History ; and adorns his Margins with formidable numbers of Citations . 3. Knowing that it could be prov'd , both by British and Foreign Historians , that we were here very anciently , he confesses this ; but by a new and strange Invention , he asserts that we were not here as settled Inhabitants , but only by way of Incursion . 4. He defers our Setling here , till the Year 503 , and so longer than the first Inventors of this new Story did ; upon design to make our Settlement here , later then that of the Anglo-Saxons , who settl'd here in Anno 449. 5. He lessens the reputation of all our Historians , and endeavours also to make them pass but for one ; as if the succeeding Historian had seen no other Warrants , but the preceeding Histories . 6. He treats in ridicule Ieffrey , and some other Historians of his own Country , whom he knew could not be sustain'd however ; and this he does upon design , to shew his impartiality , and that he spares not his own more than ours . 7. For the same reason he decrys the British descent from Brutus : in which he loses nothing , because no sober Man could have defended it ; and he denies the Conversion of their own King Lucius , to strike thereby with the greater authority at the Antiquity of our Royal-Line and Nation , treating King Donald's Conversion also as a Fable : and thus according to our Proverb , He is content to let a Friend go with a Foe . 8. He complements our Nation in latter Times , to excuse the Injury he does our Kings and Antiquity . 9. He uses the Foreign Authors that should be urg'd for us , to prevent our using of them as proving Arguments against him . 10. Finding that Ireland has been call'd Scotia , he transplants our old Saints thither , and applies to it , all that is said of our Country : nor did ever any Author improve better a pitiful Clinch . 11. He concurs in another design like to this : for , because it could not be deny'd that Fergus was our first King ; all the Citations for proving this , are therefore apply'd to Fergus the Second , and not to Fergus the First . Lastly ; Whereas Cambden and Arch-bishop Vsher speak doubtingly of their own Arguments ; the Bishop of St. Asaph fearing that his Reader could not be convinc'd , of what himself was not , he therefore proposesall these Arguments , with a confidence , which would seem to argue that full conviction in himself , which he wishes in others . If any Person then would know how that Scotland , which was but a small Colony , grew up to a Kingdom that deserv'd so well : my thoughts of this are , that , 1. The constant defence that we were oblig'd to make against the Romans and Britons at first , and English thereafter , Nations wise , brave , and polish'd , living in the same Isle with us , and the Picts within us , did force us to think and fight ; and the observing the Actions & Conduct of such Enemies could not leave the observers rude or ignorant : and it 's like that the Glory of such Noble Adversaries , rais'd our Wit and Courage above the pitch of a Northen and confin'd Nation . 2. Our Country having had the happiness to stop the Roman Conquest , this gave Strangers a value for us ; and therefore when any of the gallant Britons scorn'd to submit to the slavery and drudgery of a Conquest , they fled unto us from the Romans , Saxons , Danes , and Normans ; and being passionate lovers of Liberty , they animated us by their Assistance and Example . This likewise brought in brave Strangers amongst us , as all gallant Spirits did lately run to Holland in its first rise : and ( as our Historians probably relate ) very many of those return'd with Fergus the Second from the Wars in Italy , whither that generous young Prince went to assist Alarick against the Romans , in a just resentment of the injury done by them to his Predecessors , and with whom he was present at the sacking of Rome . 3. We have been very happy in so Heroick and Wife a Race of Kings , whose Blood being refin'd by a long Royal Descent , hath been thereby purifiy'd from all meanness , and elevated to that Love for glory , which is ordinary in those , who never knew what it was to obey . 4. Our Country having entered early into a remarkable League with France , in the Reign of Charle-Maigne ; our Country-men got excellent Breeding , under so Wise and Valiant a Prince ; and have ever since , by being constantly employed in the French , and other Wars , attain'd to a degree of Merit , beyond what was to be expected in this Climate . 5. Our Country having neither Bogs nor Fogs , our Ground being Rocky and Gravelly , and our Air fann'd by Winds ; this preserves us from the dulness and phlegm of the Northern Climats ; and the want of that superfluous Plenty , and bewitching Pleasure , which softned even Hannibal when he came to Capua , preserves us against the Delicacy and Effeminateness of Southern Nations . And whereas ( Heroick Virtue being still attended by Envy ) some in railery pretend , that we were unconquer'd , because we deserv'd not the pains and trouble of a War. I need not seriously answer , what no Historian can urge : For it is ridiculous to think , that the Romans would not have rather conquer'd us , than built two strong and expensive Walls against us , which bounded their Fame , as well as their Conquest . And England hath taken too much pains to gain us , either by Conquest or Alliance , to have undervalued us . And though when we were divided by the differences betwixt the Bruce and Barliol of old , and betwixt the Royalists and Covenanters of late ; the half of our Country having only defended its Liberties , whilst the other half joyn'd with its Enemies ; we were rather betray'd than overcome : And yet we soon recovered our former Liberty . Albeit , to be overcome by England had been no great affront to us : England being a greater and richer Nation than we are . And therefore I hope , all honest Men will , with Judicious Samuel Daniel in his History , at the Year 1296 , confess , that it had been a pity , we had not had a better Country , to be the Theatre of so many worthy and heroick Actions . Having thus clear'd how our Nation arriv'd at its present consistence , I am to finish this Discourse , with a representation of the many Rights which our Kings have to the Imperial Throne of these Kingdoms ; and to show how they succeed to all who ever pretended to Monarchy in any of them . As to the British part of the Isle , Aurelius Ambrosius was , by common consent , chosen sole Prince of all the Britons : And he had no other Succession , save two Daughters , Anna married to the King of the Picts , and Ada married to the King of the Scots . Mordredus King of the Picts , Grand-child to the foresaid Aurelius , finding himself debarr'd from the Succession of the British Crown , employ'd the Scots , who fought for him against the Britons . But the Britons having called in the Saxons , after a bloody Battel , both Parties were forced to withdraw ; and the King of the Picts was induc'd to desist from his Pretentions at that time . But thereafter Hungus , King of the Picts , and the direct Heir of the same Mordredus , and consequently of Ambrosius King of the Britons , gave his Sister Fergusiana to Achaius King of the Scots ; and in her Right , Alpin King of Scotland succeeded both to the British and Pictish Crowns ; Hungus having died without any Children , Kenneth the 2d , Son to Alpin , was forc'd to conquer the Picts , who refus'd unjustly to receive him as their lawful King. Our Kings are likewise Lineal Heirs of the Danish-Race , who were Kings of England for 27 , or as others say , 29 Years ; they being the only Lineal Successors of Canutus King of the Danes in Britain : for Margaret , Wife to King Malcolm the 3d , was Sister to Edgar , which Edgar was Grand-child to St. Edward , who was Brother to Hardiknut , Son to Canutus . After this the Kingdom of England return'd to the old Stock in King Edward's Time ; to whom succeeded Edgar , whose Sister the pious Queen Margaret married King Malcolm the 3d of Scotland , by whom he came to have right to the Crown of England ; there being none extant of the old Royal-Saxon-Line besides her self : And with her came very many of the Nobility , who fled from William the Conquerour , after he conquer'd England , and with whom King Malcolm would not make Peace , till such of them as resolved to return were restored to their Estates . The next Royal-Race which flourished in England , was the Norman : and to that Race our Kings succeeded thus . The Line of William the Conqueror was branch'd out in the Houses of Lancaster and York . To the House of Lancaster , they succeed as Heirs by the marriage betwixt Ioan Daughter to the Duke of Somerset , and undoubted Successor of the Family of Lancaster . And to both Lancaster and York they succeed , by being Heirs to Henry the 7th ; in whom these Successions were again happily reconcil'd ; he having married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the 4th , who had transferred the Succession of the Crown from the House of Lancaster , to that of York , or at least had united the two in one . For clearing whereof , it is fit to know , that Henry the 7th had only four Children , Arthur , Henry , Margaret , and Mary . Arthur , and Henry dying without Succession , the Right of the Crown was certainly devolv'd upon the Children of Margaret the Daughter ; who did bear King Iames the 5th , in a first Marriage with King Iames the 4th ; and Margaret Dowglas , by a second Marriage with the Earl of Angus : which Margaret being married to Matthew Earl of Lenox , had two Sons ; the eldest whereof was Henry , who thereafter married Queen Mary Daughter to King Iames the 5th ; and begot upon her King Iames the 6th : and thus King Iames the 6th was upon all sides Heir to William the Conquerour , and to Henry the 7th . The Histories also of both Nations confess , that our King is the undoubted Successor of the Blood-Royal of Wales : for Walter Stuart , from whom our Kings are descended , was Grand-Child to the King of Wales , by his Daughter , * who married Fleanchus Son to † Banqhuo : and Henry the 7th ( to whom King Iames the 6th was the true Successor ) was also the righteous Heir of Cadwallader the last Prince of Wales . The Histories both of Scotland and Ireland do acknowledg , that our Kings are undoubtedly descended from the Royal Race of the Kings of Ireland ; and all the debate that can be , is only whether they be desended from King Ferquhard , Father to King Fergus the first , or from Eeric Father to King Fergus the second ; or from some other Irish Kings , as Vsher pretends . 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Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A50493-e140 V. The last four pages of the Book . * His own word . Notes for div A50493-e480 * Ja. 6. Par. 20. c. 9. * Pag. 169 , 170. 171. * See his late Book , entituled , Les pretendus reformees convanious du Schism , p. 547. 548 , 549 , 550. * Pag. 89. † Pag. 72 , 73. * Pag. 2. * Acts 24. 12. Notes for div A50493-e2040 SECT . 1. What Proofs are necessary in History . * Rarae per eadem tempora literae f●ere una custodia fidelis memoriae rerum g●starum : & quod etiamsi quae in commentariis Pontificum , aliisque publicis privatisque erant Monumentis , incensa urbe pleraque periere . Liv. I●it . lib. 6. † Vossius de Hist. Lat. lib. 1. cap. 44. & lib. 2. * Lib. 1. against Appion . * Brittann . cap. Scoti passim , but especially Pag. 242. These are the Points , I say , which I would wish the Scotish Men diligently to think upon ; but let them remember , that in the mean time , I have affirm'd nothing , but only given an inkling of certain things , which may seem in some sort material , whence if the Original of the Scots have received no Light , let them seek it elsewhere ; and I have in vain searched , but with that circumspect care , that I hope I have not given the least offence to any whatsoever . † Praefat. de primord . Eccl. Brit. In nostra autem ex omni Scriptorum genere promiscue congesta farragine , siquis obscuriorum Authorum citata mirabitur testimonia ; Cogitare illum velim , aliud esse Historiam scribere aliud materiam hinc inde conve●ere , unde delectu adhibito , &c. SECT . 2. What Proofs we can adduce for our History , and first of our Tradition . * Disciplina in Britannia Reperta , atque inde in Galliam translata esse existimatur : Caes. Bell. Gall. Lib. 6. multa de ex eorum motu , de mundi ac terrarum magnitudine de rerum natura , de Deorum immortalium vi & potestate disputant & juventute tradunt . Ibid. Cum in publicis rationibus & privivatis , Graecis literis utantur . Ibid. By publicae rationes , are probably meant their Histories , at least it is most reasonable to think , that since they had the use of Letters , they would have written Histories , or some short Memorials . * Pag. 96. Edit . Casaubon . * Pag. 71. SECT . 3. Proofs from Manuscripts and Records . * Beda passim . † Lib. 4. cap. 26. * Pag. 229. * Pag. 13. * Pag. 24. † Pag. 94. * Pag. 95 , & 96. * Part Post. † Pag. 100 , & pag. 460. * Et Lib. 7. * Asservantur in arcanis templi armariis vetustissimorum Annalium Codices atque item latae membranae , ipsorum Regum subscriptae manibus aureisque vel cereis sigillorum imaginibus obsignatae ; quibus antiquae leges edictaque & finium ac Civitatum Iura publica continentur . * Pag. 38. Pref. † Lib. 7. * Pag. 26. Pref. * Vicfort memoirs des Ambassadeurs . * Pref. new Translat . of Plutarch's Lives . * Pag. 30. Pref. * Ia quibus scribendis ne Historia lex violaretur , illae quae prius scripta sunt , non solum exegimus ad veritatem annalium , qui in publico Regni nostri archivo , aliisque antiquissimis codicibus quos majores nostri Pasleti , Sconae , ac in aliis Monasteriis religiose servarunt , continebantur . Lesl. paraen . ad nobil . populumque Scot. Pag. 29. * Pag. 153. * De Hist. Lat. pag. 4. SECT . 4. The other Historians of this Isle cited against us , examined . * Orig. Sac. p. 114. Sect. 5. * Pag. 16. * Cap. 3. as cited by S. Asaph , pag. 14. Pref. * Pag. 2. * Pag. 16. * Bal. Pref. part post . † De excid . Brit. * Cap. 1. Beda . * St. Asaph , p. 10. * Lib. 2. Descript . Britan. cap. 8. & 9. * Girald . Camb. Distinct. 3. cap. 7. * Vita St. Pat. Cap. 5. † Vita Columb . Adamn . lib. 3. c. 16. * De Eccl. Brit. primord . p. 587. * Cap. 137. * Pag. 160. * De Primord . pag. 611. * Pag. 62. † Cap. Scoti . * Cap. 1. * Camb. Cap. Pict . * De Primord . cap. 11. init . * Cap. 1. † Cap. 1. Sect. 12 , & 13. ‖ Cap. Pict . * Quinque gentium linguis unam eandemque summoe veritatis , & verae sublimitatis scientiam scrutatur , confitetur Anglorum , viz. Britonum , Scotorum , &c. Bed. l. 1. cap. 1. Eccl. Hist. * Verum eadem Britannia Romanis usque ad Caium Jul. Caes. inaccessa atque in cognita fuit Beda Hist. Eccles. l. 1. cap. 2. * Verum eadem Britannia Romanis usque ad Caium Julius Caes. inaccessa atque incognita fuit . Beda Eccles . Hist. l. 1. cap. 2. * Bed. lib. 1. cap. 5. Eccl. Hist. Itaque Severus magnam fossam firmissimumque vallum crebris in super turribus communitum a mari ad mare duxit . † Bed. lib. 1. cap. 12. Eccl. Hist. Denique subito duabus gentibus transmarinis vehementer saevis , Scotorum a circio , Pictorum ab Aquilone multos stupet gemitque per annos . ‖ Transmarinas autem diicimus ●as gentes , non quod exraa Britanniam essent positae , sed quia a parte Britonum erant remotae , duobus finibus marl interjacentibus , quorum unus ab orientali mari , alter ab occidentali , Britanniae terras longe lateque irrumpit quamvis ad se invicem pertinere possunt . * Cap. 1. * Pag. 120. ●um . edit . Heidelberg . SECT . 5. Proofs from Foreign Authors . Eumenius . * Pag. 258. * Pag. 11. * In not . in lib. 4. Tibull . * Pag. 11. * Pag. 37. * Pag. 12. * Pag. ibia . * Sect. 5 , 6. cap. 1. * Guidus pancirollus coment . ad notitiam imperii occident . p. 159. where he cites for this Dion . Eusebius & Spartianus , and says that Caledonia apud eos nunc Scotia dicitur Dion . in vita Severi Imp. Anno 207 , Berg●●r l. 1. c. 10. * Pag. 248. Edit . Plantin . Redactum ad paludes suas Scotum . * Lib. 10. Epig. 44. * Comment . ad vitam Agricolae . * Lib. 1. cap. 10. numb . 9. Prince des Caledoniens . ou Escossois . * Petruccio Vbaldini , also in descritt . dela Scotia , p. 4. & 5. asserts the Scots to be Caledonians . * Tit. vit . Agric . c. 22. Tertius expeditionis annus novas gentes aperuit : vastatis usque ad Tuam ( aestuarit nomen est ) nationibus Agricola in fines Horestorum exercitum deducit : ibi acceptis obsidibus praefecto Classis 〈◊〉 Britanniam praecepit , &c. * Lex . Geograph . verb. Horresti . SENEC A. * Scalig. ad lib. 4. Tibul. ad . Messal . And in his Notes on Eusebius ad Annum MMLX , Where there is a most learned and full proof of our Antiquity , too long to be inserted here , and too learn'd to be answered by any Adversary . * Ovid. Salmas● in Solin . * Cap. p. 723. de primord . * C. 16. p. 728. * Bed. Eccles. Hist. l. 1. c. 12. * Gesner in verb. Sidonius . * Pag. 8. * Lib. 1. cap. 1. * Lib. 1. cap. 1. Hegesippus de excidio Hierosol . 5. Cap. 15. Quid vobis cum victoribus universae terrae ? quibus secreta Oceani , & extrema Indiae parent . Quid attexam Britannias interfuso mari toto orbe divisas , & à Romanis in orbem terrarum redactas . Tremit hos Scotia qua terris nihil debet . * P. 726 , & 727. Ad quos cum venisses dua exercitus Romani , opposuerant se il●i , nec voluerunt ei subditi esse : Cum autem Reges Romanorum venerunt , subegerunt eos ut servirent ipsis . * Vid. cap. 27. l. 4. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. * Tertullian . * Tertul. l. advers . Iudeos , c. 7. Et Britannorum Romanis in accessa loca , Christo vero subdita : which Baronius applys to us , Tom. 5. p. 537. St. Asaph . Pres. pag. 2. * Ammianus l. 20 Consulatu vero Constantii decies terque Juliani in Britanniis cum Scotorum Pictorumque Gentium ferarum excursu rupta quiete condicta loca limitibus vicina vastarentur , & implicaret formido provincias praeteritarum cladium congerie fessas . * Lib. 2. ad Jovian . * C. 16. p. 728. de Primord . * Quid loquar de caeteris nationibus , cum ipse adolescentulis in Gallia , Scotos Gentem Britannicam humanis vesci carnibus . Vidi l. 2. ad Jov. † Pref. L. in Iren. * Tom. 5. p. 537. * Epiphanius in auchorato . P. 117. ad par . Britanni , Scoti , quorum insula est Britannia . * Receptam partem insulae à caeteris indomitis gentibus vallo distinguendam putavit . * Cap. 5 , & 12. SECT . 6. Proofs from Reason . * Pag. 352. * Pag. 16. desc . Brit. † In initio . ‖ Pag. 6. * Aeneid . l. 9. c. 1. * Buchan . p. 128. * Pag. 37. * Chambers particularly , p. 9 , & 96 ; also from p. 229 to the end of the Treatise . * Scotorum quoque reges sic habuit ad suam voluntatem , per suam munificentiam inclinatos , ut eum nunquam aliter quam dominum pronunciarent : extant epistolae ab iis ad eum missae , quibus hujusmodi affectus eorum erga illum judicatur . Aeginard . vita Caroli magni ad annum 791. † Lib. 5. pag. 80. Aeginard . Secretary to Charle-maigne , maketh an enumeration of strange Princes , who imbrac'd the Amity of that puissant Monarch . The Emperors of Constantinople , Persia ; the Kings of India and Gallicia , with the Kings of Scotland . Favin . l. 5. p. 8. The Scots joyful of this Alliance , as the most famous in Christendom , delegated for their Ambassours , William Brother to their King Achatus , assisted with the counsel of four Persons , renown'd for Learning , Clemens , Ioannes , Rabanus , and Alcuinus , with 4000 Men of War sent to the succour of Charle-maigne . The two worthy Doctors who staid with Charle-maign at Paris and Padua , were Iohn sirnam'd Scotus , a Scottish-man , both by Nation and Sirname , and Claudius Clemens . ‖ Paulus Aemilius in vita Caroli magni . Caeterum ut paulatim extingueret Saxonum nomen ; honores magistratusque gentibus aliegiuis & in primis Scotis mandabat , quorum egregia fide virtuteque utebatur . * Pag. 34 , & 38. Vid. Sansovino delle origine delle Case illustri d' Italici . p. 111. Edit . in 40. An. 1609. * Nella Cr●nica di piacenza . * Lesl. pag. 80 , Buchan . p. 97. * I●sl . p. 188. Buchan . p. 190. * Lib. 2. ad Iovianum , who seems to point at this , when he says , that Scoti nullas proprias habens uxoret . * Solin . cap. 25. de Britannia . * Lib. 1. c. 13. * Tom. 5. edit . col . p. 586 , & 589. num . 5. Qui igitur Evangelium primo à victore Pontifice maxim● accepere , & à Celestino Papa primum Episcopum , à quo sunt omnes pe●itus redditi Christiani , eate●us Christi gratia pro●ecere , qui oli● gentilitio ritu viventes , ob feriaos mores , ut portentum ostentui erant humano generi praestantissi●i eveneri●t Christiani , &c. † Num. 4. ‖ Quia Victore Romano Pontifice , Scotos evangelium accepisse , majorum traditione scripsere , haud sunt refellendi . * Usher . p. 79● de prim . * Lib. 1. c. 12. ac Tusculani , &c. L. 4. c. 26. Eccl. * Stat. 6. * Pag. 340. * Edit . Basil. 1624. 2d . Cent. p. 1. * Pag. 162. * Lib. 3. * Pag. 28 , & 58. * Pag. in Euseb . SECT . 7. Answers to the Bishop's Objections . * De Hist. La● . p. 4. * Cap. 30 , & 37. ● 1. * Bed. Ec. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 1. * St. Asaph , p. 45. * Pag. 46. * Pag. 8. * Pag. 42. * Cap. 1. Paragraph 2 , 3 , and 12. * Pag. 156. * Pag. 83. * 〈…〉 Bassianus Caracalla , qui 〈◊〉 non pa●cis 〈◊〉 Severo 〈…〉 l. 2. c. 45. * Vid. Instit. ad Senatus . Co● . Trebell . * Ptolom . Geog. lib. 2. cap. 2. † P. 722 , 723 , and particularly 724. Hanc insulam Britannidem olim à Julio Caesare vocatam Fabius Ethelwardus haud recte retulit : non alio enim quam Hiberniae nomine , à Caesare , uti post eum à Plinio , Solino , & Tacito illam invenimus . * P. 725 , 726 , 727 , 728. † Cap. 1. §. 4. * Beda l. 1. c. 1. † Tacit. in vita Agricol . * Pag. 117 , 118. inter Orthodoxogr . * Pag. 347. Edit . Basu . * Lib. 1. cap. 1. * Lib. 14. cap. d● insulis . * Cap. 1. lib. 1. * Cujac . lib. 14. Obs. 12. & ad legem 6. parag . gramatici ff . de excus . mum . * Ecgfridus Rex Nordanhumbrorum misso in Hiberniam cum exercitu duce Berto , vastavit misere gentem innoxiam & Anglorum genti semper amicissimam . Bed. Hist. Eccl. lib. 4. cap. 26. * Ne Scotiam nihil se Laedentem impugnaret . I id . † Angli & Scoti qui extant in Britannia . Ibid. * Columbanus qui anno incarnationis 565. Abbas & Presbyter venit de Hibernia in Britanniam praedicaturus Verbum Dei provinciis septentrionalium Pictorum . Et gentem illam convertit , Vnde & praefatam insulam ab eis in possessionem monasterii faciendi accepit ; ubi sepultus est . Ex quo Monasterio , & Monasterio de Daermach perplurima Monasteria propagata sunt in Hibernia & Britannia , in quibus omnibus idem Monasterium insulanum , principatum tenet . Bed. lib. 3. cap. 4. * Ab hac ergo insula , ad Provinciam Anglorum instituendam in Christo , missus est Aidanus . Lib. 3. c. 5. † Aidanus de insula quae vocatur Hy destinatus , quae arcem tenet monasteriorum Scotorum & Pictorum , & ad jus Britanniae pertinet . l. 3. c. 3. * Colman videns spretam suam doctrinam , sectamque esse despectam ; Scotiam regressus est . l. 3. c. 26. * Cap. 4. † Ibid. * Ibid. † Cap. 3. * Cap. 26. * Haec autem plaga Hiberniam insulam , pariclade premebat : Erant ibidem eodem tempore multi Nobilium simul & mediocrium de gente Anglorum , qui tempore Finani & Colmanni Episcoporum , relictâ insulâ patriâ , vel divinae lectionis , vel continentioris vitae gratiâ , illò secesserunt . — Quos omnes Scoti libentissime suspicientes victum eis quotidianum sine praetio , libros quoque ad legendum , & magisterium gratuitum praebere c●rabant . l. 3. c. 27. † Vnde & genti suae , & illis in quibus exulabat nationibus Scororum sive Pictorum exemplo fuit . Ibid. * Cap. 5. generally , and specially , p. 109. † Lib. 3. cap. 3. & ad jus Britanniae pertinet . * Buch. p. 152. * Columba fundator monasterii quod in Hy ins●la , venerabile Scotis & Pictis , & composito nomine à Cellà & Columbâ Collum-celli vocatur . lib. 5. c. 10. * Bed. l. 1. c. 12. * Dominis Charissimis fratribus Episcopis vel Abbatibus per universam Scotiam Laurentius Mellitus , & Justus , Episcopi servi servorum Dei. Dum nos Sedes Apostolica more suo , sicut in universo orbe terrarum , in his occiduis partibus ad predicandum gentibus Paganis dirigeret , atque in hanc insulā , qua Britannia nuncupatur , contigit introisse , antequam cognosceremus credentes , quod juxta morem universalis Ecclesiae ingrederentur , in magna reverentia sanctitatis tam Britones quam Scotos venerati sumus . Sed cognoscentes Britones , Scotos meliores putavimus . Scotos vero per Dagamum Episcopum in hanc quam superius memoravimus insulam , & Columbanum Abbatum in Galliis venientem , nihil discrepare à Britonibus in eorum conversatione didicimus . Nam Dagamus Episcopus ad nos veniens , non solum cibum nobiscum , sed nec in eodem hospitio quo vescebamur sumere voluit . Bed. lib. 2. cap. 14. * In Append. ad l. 3. p. 231. And it is observable that Marianus , p. 175 makes mention of other two Letters , in the Year 632. The one from Honorius , and the other from Pope Iohn , upon the same head : both which Marianus says , were sent to us , and not to the Irish . * Dices in Martyrologio Romano vulgari legi ad diem 16. Decembris , Aberdone in Hibernia S. Beani Episcopi : Abredonensis autem sedes Episcopalis est in Scotia Britannica : Ergo vel in hac est , vel hac aliquando fuit Hibernia . pag. 379. Ad nugatorium ergo Sophisma distinguo Minorem : Abredonensis , locus dequo Martyrologium agit , est in Britannia , Nego Minorem : alius ejusdem nominis , transeat . Vel absolute , Nego Consequentiam , ob fallaciam figurae dictionis ; ut h●nc , Omnis Canis est latrabilis ; sed sidus est canis ; Ergo sidus est latrabile , &c. pag. 380. * Ceollach de Natione Scotorum , qui non multo post Episcopatu● relicto reversus est ad insulam Hy , ubi plurimorum caput & arcem Scoti habuere caenobiorum . Bed. l. 3. c. 21. † Ceollach qui relicto Episcopatus officio vivens ad Scotiam rediit . Bed. l. 3. c. 24. * Adamnanus Presbyter & Abbas Monachiorum qui erant in insula Hy. Bed. l. 5. c. 16. † Adamnanus reversus ad Scotiam . Bed. l. 5. c. 22. * Cap. 1. §. 9 ▪ * Cap. 5. §. 4 ▪ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8. * Pag. 734. * Pag. 734. * Pag. 724 , & 737. * Quod praeter Reges minoris Scotiae , qui omnes de nostra majore Scotia originem sumpsero . † Conventus Scotorum & Hibernorum de majore Scotia Monasterii ia Ratisbona . * Brianus Rex Hiberniae necatur . pag. 423. † Moelcolium Rex Scotiae obiit , Donchad filius filiae ejus sibi successit . pag. 424. * Donchad Rex Scotiae occiditur & Mefinlaech successit in Regnum ejus . p. 425. † Pag. 427. * Mackbeth . * Appen . ad l. 3. * Lib. 1. p. 17. Verum à quo primum initio Scotiae nomen sit tractum , nondum plane perspectum video . * Quantae circumscriptis Wallia & Scotia potior insula Britannicae pars Regibusque antiquis appropriata . pag. 223. † Scotia quoque pars Insulae Britannic● dicitur Aquilonaris . p. 245. * Specificato vocabulo gens Scotica appellatur . cap. 19. Pag. 789. † Pag. 187. Cent. 14. * Pag. 210. Cent. 14. * Pag. 789. * Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatus à Papa Caelestino Palladius primus Episcopus missus est . Post ipsum Sanctus Patricius consecratus & ad Archiepiscopum Hibernensem mittitur , & totam insulam Hiberniam convertit ad fidem . pag. 340. * Artic. 4. & pag. 281. * Lesl. in vita Dav. 2. † Baker , p. 159. Edit . 1643.