EVENTS TO BE REMEMBERED

IN THE

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRITAIN

Geoffrey, of Monmouth, a Benedictine monk, who lived in the twelfth century, penned, in Latin, a history of Britain, and dedicated it to Robert, Earl of Gloucester, a natural son of Henry I., King of England. In this pretended history Britain is said to receive her name from Brutus, the first of her kings. What the historian relates is as follows:-Brutus, son of Sylvius, grandson of Æneas, had the misfortune to kill his father as he was shooting at a deer. As he could not, or would not, after this fatal accident, stay any longer in Italy, he retires into Greece, where, gathering together the descendants of the Trojans that were put thither after the destruction of their city, he puts to sea with them, and, after long wandering on the Mediterranean, enters the Atlantic ocean, and performs wonders in several places, particularly at Gaul, against Goffarius, King of Aquitain. At length, guided by an oracle, he comes and lands on the island of Albion, at a place where Totnes now stands, in the county of Devon.* The island was at that

*The very stone upon which Brutus, the nephew of Eneas, landed at Totnes still remains! It is inserted in the footway, nearly opposite the Mayoralty House, in the Fore-street. "From Totnes, the neighbouring shore was heretofore called Totnese. And the British History' tells us that Brutus, the founder of the British nation, arrived here." And Havillances (John de Alvilla, or Hauteville, according to Mr. Wright), as a poet, following the same authority, writes thus:

"Inde dato cursa, Brutus comitatus Achate
Gallorum spoliis cumulatis navibus æquor
Exarat, et superis auraque faventibus usus
Littora felices entrat Totnesia portus."
"From hence, great brute, with his Achates steered,

Full fraught with Gallic spoils their ships they appear'd

The winds and gods were all at their command,

And happy Totnes shew'd them grateful land."-Gibson's Camden.
Notes and Queries, vol. i., page 233,—J. Milner Barry, M.D.

time inhabited by giants, of the race of Cham, whose chief, or king, was Gog-Magog.

Brutus and his companions, though few in number, not only keep their ground, but root out the giants, and get possession of the island, which Brutus, from his own name, called Britain. Before his death he divided his kingdom among his three sons; Locrin, or Loegrin, had for his share Loegria, so called from him; the same with England now, exclusive of Wales, which was the share of Camber, Brutus's second son, and from him called Cambria. Albanact, the youngest, had the country since called Scotland, to which he gave the name of Albania. Having laid these foundations, the author continues his history, giving an account of the various revolutions that happened in the island under the kings, successors of Brutus, whose names he relates, with some of their actions. But as to the time of their reigns he is not so exact, setting down neither when they began nor how long they lasted. He is contented with saying, "Brutus's arrival in Albion was twelve hundred years after the flood, and sixty-six after the destruction of Troy."

This history, published in so dark an age, was greedily received, particularly by the Welsh, the posterity of the Ancient Britons; but it brings with it so many marks of forgery that it is looked upon by all that have examined it with any attention as a fiction of Geoffrey himself, or some other author, whom he has too implicitly followed.

After rejecting this fable, I wish it were in my power to give a satisfactory account of the origin of the Britons; but that is impossible-we must be satisfied with the conjectures of Cæsar, Tacitus, and some more modern authors. The most probable account seems to be this-that Great Britain was peopled by the Celtæ, or Gauls, descended from Gomer, son of Japhet. Of this the name Cumri, by which the Welsh call themselves still in their language, and several other reasons, will not suffer us to doubt. Besides, the numerous swarms of Gauls that over-ran so great a part of Europe and Asia, make it credible they neglected not to send colonies into Great Britain, which lay so near them. The affinity, taken notice of by antiquaries, between the Gauls and Britains, with respect to religion, is a further confirmation of this opinion. It is true, indeed, the Belge are said by some writers to settle in the eastern, the Spaniards in the western, and the Hibernians, or Irish, in the northern parts of Great Britain; but this is inconsistent with the common opinion. The Belge were no other than Gauls, and the Spaniards, as well as the Irish or Scots, were, according to some writers, colonies of the Celtiberian-Gauls, that inhabited along the western coasts of Spain. But supposing it were not very certain that these Spaniards were not Celtiberians, it can't be denied that the southern part, now called England, was peopled by the Gauls. This is the most probable account of the origin of Britain.

Ravin, Introduction, p. á.