The genuine history of the Britons asserted against Mr. Macpherson ...

ti4 THE GENUINE HISTORY OF
*' fore Bede's own time. If Bede therefore was
" in an error with refpec^ to the origin of a
*' people, whofe hiftory, on account of their
" conneflion with the Romans, was known, it
*' is much more probable that he knew nothing
*' certain concerning the antiquities of a nation,
*' who had not among them the means of pre-
** ferving, v/ith any certainty, the memory of
*' events."
This is the third argument againft Bede. And
it is, I think, of as little avail as the other
two.—Bede has committed no miftake, even upon
Mr. Macphcrfon's own ftatc of the cafe. He
derives the original Britons from Armorica : but
he derives them very dubioufiy. In primis,
fays he, hsec infula Britones foliim, a quibus
nomen accepit, incolas habuit, qui dc traftu Armoricano,
ut fertur, Bricanniam advedli '. And
his derivation of the original Britons from Ar-
morica, even if pofitively afferted, does not fu-
perfede, as Mr. Macpherfon imagines, the re-
migration of Britons into that country afterwards,
becaufe it is not contrary to it.
The name of Armorica feems, from the (liifting
application of it by antient authors, and from
the full import of the word, which fignifies the
people upon the fca, to have once extended
* L. i. c. I.
along