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

THE BRITONS ASSERTED. 547
But it is ftill more remarkable, that the fe-
'cond argument direftly contradl6ls the third. In
that, Juverna and lerna, particularly, are in-
fifted upon to have been applied by the Greeks
and Romans to the weftem Highlands of Scot-
land. But, in this, the names are fuppofed to be
derived to the Romans from Strathern in the
county of Perth, and to have been applied to it
by Juvenal and Claudian. In p. 56 the author
affigns the names to Ireland. In p. 130 he fixes
them upon the weftern Highlands. And in
p. 131 he cedes them to a part of the eaflcrn.
We have been fo much accuftomed to contradic-
tions in Mr. Macpherfon, from the claQiing parts
of his ill-compofed fyftem, that we Ihall the lefs
wonder at the ftrangcnels of this laft ; and (hall
be lefs furprized to find, that in the progrefs
of his conclufive arguments, and within the com-
pafs of a few lines only, he fnould thus grofsly
oppofe his own fentiments, and wantonly over-
throw the edifice which he had been fo bufily
raifing.
Many notions in Mr. Macpherfon's Diflertation
are derived from the writers before him on the
fame fubjeft. And the fubftitutlon of Strathern
for the lerne of Claudian and the Juverna of
Juvenal, is particularly made by Sir George Mac-
H 4
kcnzie