Britannia antiqua illustrata, or, The antiquities of ancient Britain derived from the Phœenicians, wherein the original trade of this island is discovered, the names of places, offices, dignities, as likewise the idolatry, language and customs of the p by Aylett Sammes ...

THE PREFACE TO THE READER.

HAving for some years past wholly employed my self in the diligent searching into the Histories of our Na∣tion, I found by experience, that the words of Li∣vy in his Preface to his Roman Decades were most true, where he writeth, That the Beginnings of Nations, and the times next succeeding those Begin∣nings, as yielding least pleasure both to Writer and Reader, were generally neglected, and Men natu∣rally hastned to those Ages, which being not so far removed, yielded a plea∣santer prospect, and seemed more closely to concern their knowledge. For how few are there who have taken the pains faithfully to collect, and in a distinct Method to order rightly the scattered Records of Ancient BRITAIN, which are only here and there to be pickt out of divers Authors, and not to be found, much less well disposed with an ordinary diligence or superficial enquiry? Most of our Modern Chronicles content themselves with beginning from the Conquest, few go beyond it, as if with the general sort of Readers they were impatient until they came to the Battels of Cressy and Agencourt, the differences of the Houses of York and Lancaster, the Insurrections in Kent, or something of that nature, which being of a later Date, hath yet left an uncertain sound in our ears, and is expected to be sett off with no small flourishes or vulgar elocution. And indeed the design of such Writers is not to be discommended, who following the general stream of Mankind consult their own advantages; For in subjects of

this nature, as the Antiquity and Original of Kingdoms, the question of the Poet may perhaps be easily asked, and as soon resolved in the same verse, Quis legit haec? nemo hercule nemo, Vel duo, vel nemo. Few there are who will trouble their heads to enquire by what means their first An∣cestors possest themselves of those pleasant Lands, in the fruitfulness whereof they at present rejoyce, but content themselves to derive their knowledg as high as their own Families only, and discourse the Chronicles to the Beginning of their Pedigrees, as if there Nature and the World was at a stop, and all knowledg beyond that was mere Chaos and Confusion; But notwithstanding whatever might be objected of this like nature against this present undertaking, I have not been discouraged in going through with it; For if the Grecians, who had the best Historians in the World, were nevertheless called Children by their own Neigh∣bours, because they knew not, or neglected their own Original; will it not be a shame for us also to be ignorant in the Antiquites of our own Nation, a Nation great in its Infancy, and like Hercules (one of its first Discoverers) deserving an History even in its Cradle?

But because there have been some who have already handled this Subject, and that not without great Commendation, I shall not insist farther upon the use∣fulness of the design in general, but only inform the Reader in short what he is to expect in this present work, which hath not been already fully discussed by others, lest perhaps it may be thought, that I have only trod in the steps of other men, and like those idle Imitators, whom Horace calls a servile sort of Cattel, have only jog'd on in the long beaten road of former Antiquities.

I confess, I might with greater security, and much more ease in the deli∣vering of the Antiquities of the British Nation have followed Mr. Cambden, out of whom merely to collect hath been counted praise-worthy, and whom to imi∣tate is esteemed not only safe, but honourable. As his Learning was great, so is his Authority, and his very Name carrieth a certain veneration along with it, so that it may be questioned, whether his Antiquities add more lustre to him, or he to his Antiquities. His opinions have been long received, and therefore sit deep in the mind, and by some it is thought a piece of weakness only to dissent from him; however it be, I have chose rather to follow that which seems to the best of my judgment to be Truth, though never so naked and destitute of all advantages, then by taking in with the Common opinion, to run on further in a plausible Mistake, and to help to guild deeper what to me appeareth at best but a glorious Errour. Neither can the followers of Mr. Cambden be displeased with me, if they will but inmate his Candour and Ingenuity, whose performances they so worthily admire; who, when he had treated of this Subject, concludes in these words, which may serve for an Apology for me also:

Thus you have (saith he) as touching the Original and Name of * 1.1 BRITAIN, mine Error or Conjecture, whether you will, which if it

swerve from the truth, I wish it were by the truth it self reformed. In this intricate and obscure study of Antiquity, it is thought praise-worthy somewhat to erre; and remember we should withal, that such things as at the first sight being slightly thought upon are deemed false, after a better review, and further consideration, oftentimes seem true. Now, if any man should summon me to appear before the Tribunal of Verity, I have no other answer at all to make; And as for our Country-men the Britains, such as be of the Learneder sort, I do most earnestly beseech and desire them to employ all their labour, industry, wit, and under∣standing in the searching out hereof, so long, until at last the Truth with her own clear bright beams may scatter and dissolve all mists of Con∣jectures whatsoever.

But I do not arrogate to my self the first discovery of these Antiquities, neither would I, that the credit of so fair an hypothesis should depend upon so weak an Authority. Bochartus, a learned Frenchman in this last Age, having treated of the Phoenician Voyages through the whole World, and out of their Language plainly and easily derived the Names of most Countries and Places especially remarkable, at last bringeth them even to Britain and Gaul, and dis∣covers their Trade throughout all these Western Coasts. But as he is more par∣ticular in his own Native Country, which he would chiefly seem to illustrate; so have I been in mine, making use of the same method in laying open the Original and Commerce of the Primitive Inhabitants of this Island, as he hath done largely of Gaul; For when I considered what Leland writeth of the British or Welch Language, namely, that the main body of it consisteth of Hebrew and Greek words, I began to collect with my self, how it should come to pass that the Ancient Britains could have any Commerce with the Jews, who where never known to send out Colonies, and of all People in the World weremost fond of their own Country; Certainly I concluded, this could proceed from no other root but the Commerce of the Phoenicians with this Nation, who using the same Language with the Children of Israel in Canaan, even in those Primitive times were great Traders and skilful Mariners, and sent out their Colonies through the World; and this Mr. Cambden himself toucheth on, where he gives the derivation of the British Caer Eske, now Exeter. For Caer, to tell you * 1.2 once for all (saith he) with our Britains is as much to say, as a City, whereupon they use to name Jerusalem, Caer Salem, Lutetia or Paris, Caer Paris, Rome, Caer Russaine. Thus Carthage in the Punick tongue was cal∣led, as Solinus witnesseth, Cartheia, that is, the New City. I have heard likewise that Caer in the Syriack tongue signified a City. Now seeing that the Syrians, as all men confess, peopled the whole World with their Co∣lonies, it may seem probable that they left their Tongue also to their Po∣sterity, as the Mother of all future Languages.

What can be more plain than this? and yet this is but one example of ten thousand; but I hope that in the following discourse I have plainly made out, that not only the Name of Britain it self, but of most places therein of Ancient denomination are purely derived from the Phoenician Tongue, and that the Language it self for the most part, as well as the Customes, Religions, Idols, Offices, Dignities, of the Ancient Britains are all clearly Phoenician, as likewise their Instruments of War, as Slings, and other Weapons, their Sithed Chariots, and their different Names, and several Distinctions; Out of the same Tongue I have illustrated several Monuments of Antiquity sound out and still remaining in Britain, which can no other waies be interpreted, than in the Phoenician Tongue, where they have a plain, easie, and undeniable signi∣fication. And as to that Concordance which was between the Ancient Britains and Gauls in point of Language and some other Customes, I have shewn that it proceeded not from hence, that they were the same People, but from their joynt Commerce with the Phoenicians, and that in most probability Britain was first planted by a German Nation, and not by the Gauls.

Mr. Burton, in his Learned Commentary upon Antonine's Itinerary, treating of Rutupis now Richborough, asks the question how it came to pass, if the Modern derivation of that place be true, namely, from the Welch Rhyd Tufith, as Mr. Cambden conjectures, that on the Coast of Barbary there should be a Town and Harbour of the very same name mentioned by Pliny. Pudet, saith he, à Britannis Africae nomen mutuari, It is a shame to derive the name of a place in Africa from Britain; But they who shall seriously read and consider, that not only Rhutupis, but many other places in Britain have the same Names with others in Africa, and that the Phoenicians from Africa traded into Britain, they will unquestionably conclude, that to derive, on the other hand, Names in Britain from those in Africa, is not only rational but necessary, and that it is impossible that such vast and constant similitude could happen by chance or blind fortune; For it ever was, and will be a Cu∣stome in the World, and is constantly used in all our Colonies at this day, that places receive their Names according to the resemblance they have with other places of those Countries from which the Planters proceeded.

It is not to be expected, that I should have comprehended every thing that might have been produced to the perfection of these Antiquities; It is sufficient if there be enough to evidence the truth of them, and if any thing be omitted through want of Intelligence, or through over-hastiness neglected, as who is able at once to make a total discovery, It will be a spur for others, to make a further progress with greater felicity.

As for the other Antiquities, namely of the Greeks and Romans, though at first sight they may not seem proper for a Treatise of Britain, and I may ap∣pear to some to have neglected the Counsel of Pliny, who adviseth to have

often recourse to the Title of ones Book, yet they that shall consider that few things are therein touched, which concern not either, Monuments, Altars, Gods and Customes, used by those Nations in Britain, and many other things which serve for the explication of divers Usages in this Island, though there for bre∣vity sake omitted, will charitably conclude that they also were not written with∣out some consideration. This I think may be sufficient to advise the Reader before-hand concerning the Method and design of these Antiquities. It will be needless to add, that the Map of the Ancient World was designed only at one view to set before the eye the Progress of the Phoenicians, and the Names of Countries as by them called, and not to shew the exactness of Longitude or Latitude, much less to represent Cities or Nations as they are known by their Names at this day.

As for the Historical part, I have only this to say, that it is faithfully col∣lected out of the most approved Authors, and digested into the plainest and easiest Method; Neither have I been so Nice as to refuse all before the Ro∣mans time, for seeing that the Names of our Celtick Kings, Samothes, Bar∣dus, &c. are mentioned, not by Mr. Selden only, but other learned Antiqua∣ries, I thought that the story of them was not to be neglected, if it were only to inform the World of the cheat and forgery of Annius in his pretended Be∣rosus; As for Brute and his Successours, seeing their Names are made use of in Laws and Statutes of this Realm, in Titles relating to the Crown since the Conquest, and seeing upon the Trojan pretence in general descents of Ancestry, and other Exploits, are yet continued, and will not easily be quitted, I have taken the pains to rehearse them also. Some perhaps will censure me for needless curiosity in observing Chronology through the fabulous part of this Work, scarce allowing the recital, much less the nice timeing of their Actions to be tolerable; But seeing it is necessary we should know the story of Brute and other Kings, for the reasons above-mentioned, so likewise it is very convenient, that the Ages in which they are supposed to have lived should be marked out with certain stops and periods; For in continued discourses, not distinguished by suc∣cessive and distinct Calculations, the head is apt after reading to confound the whole, and by strange Parachronisms to run one story into another, and misplace the actions of Ages very absurdly; For what though the History of the British Kings were allowed a fable, yet how ridiculous does it appear to hear the Tale of Brute told in the daies of the Saxons, or to see K. Arthur placed above Ju∣lius Caesar? It is fitting in Fables, as well as true Relations, to understand their times, which make to the detecting of deceit, as well as the declaring of truth.

In the manner of Composing I have not used any jingling of words and Phrases in ostentation of writing, but have fitted my words to the matter, and not the matter to them, having an eye more to the benefit of the Reader, than his extravagant delight. It is the miserable fate of an History to be turned

into Romance, for it never reacheth to the delight of the one, and loses the use∣fulness of the other. It is an easie matter to frame the Idea's of Princes as it best pleaseth ones self, or best suiteth the present Humour, and then to descant politickly on their Actions, and praise or censure their proceedings; I have all along followed the footsteps of my Authors, and though I have not burthened the Margent with every quotation of them, yet they who shall examine into the con∣texture of the whole shall find, that throughout I have carefully observed their very words and sense, and kept my self close to their meaning; And though in some places the History may seem short and abrupt, it is the fault of Time, which hath eaten in and left unsightly gaps in the body of it; for I have not Epi∣tomized any thing worth the relating, but endeavoured to draw the lines of Ages so far distant after the largest proportions I could possible. In writing the Lives of the Roman Emperours that possest this Island, I have purposely a∣voided the relating of their forraign Actions, as not desiring to write an History of Rome, but Britain, and where there is little to be found of the particular proceedings, I have studiously sought for some Monument or Inscription whereon his Name hath been preserved among us, and such found, have faithfully in∣serted. I will not omit that I have taken notice all along of the foundations of Cities, Castels, &c. and the reasons of their Names, and times of their build∣ings, and such other things remarkable, so that along with the History you will meet with the most memorable Antiquities of the whole Nation. What pains and study it hath cost me in the compiling I will not stand to commemorate; I shall count my Labours sufficiently recompenced, if it be received with as much Candour, as it was written with sincere endeavour for the use and benefit of my Country. And I doubt not but my mistakes will be pardoned, and the smaller faults passed over both in writing and printing, especially when I con∣sider, that I fall into the hands of the most Ingenuous part of the Nation, the Nobility and Gentry, for whose use it was principally intended.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Cambden.
• * 1.2

  Cambden.