Collections preserved in the Abbies of Conway and Strata Florida, and from the current Traditions of the Country. We have no regular History of the period in which this Prince emigrated, but this History of Caradoc, and of Llwyd's, and Dr. Powel's additions. I think that Dr. Robertson cannot produce better Authority for any Facts, equal in Antiquity; I am sure none, for Ossian and Fingal. The Manner in which Dr. Robertson mentions the Verses published, by Hakluyt and others, is rather observable. "Later Antiquarians, indeed, appealed to the Testimony of Meredith ab Rhees, a Welsh Bard, who died in 1477; but he cannot be considered of much more credit than Powel." This passage implies a severe Reflection on Dr. Powel. His Evidence is of no weight; it is not worthy of belief; and, indeed, Sir Meredith ab Rhys, is no better. However I must beg leave to differ very much, _indeed_, from the Doctor on this Head, though I much admire him as a Writer and Historian; because I think their Evidence is not only equal, but much superior to his, concerning an Event which took place between two and three hundred Years nearer to their Times than to his. I should be very sorry to suspect that Dr. Robertson took notice of Sir Meredyth ab Rhys, only because he could not well avoid it. However, as if he wanted to destroy his Authority, he speaks of him with great Indifference, with a formal, _indeed_. He adds, "But if we admit Powel's Story; (Humphry Llwyd's) it does not follow that the unknown Country which Madog discovered was any part of America: it is much more probable that it was Madeira, or some of the Western Isles." With submission, this is altogether improbable. It is very little farther from North Wales to some parts of America, than to the Madeiras; and, upon the whole, it is more secure to sail in an open Sea, than among Shelves and Shoals on an unknown Coast. But not to insist upon this Circumstance; if the Country Madog discovered was Madeira, or any of the Western Islands, he must have found them uninhabited, and entirely uncultivated, covered with Wood, and without any Traces of Human Beings; for as the Doctor himself says, this was the state of the Madeiras when discovered by the Portuguese in 1519. The other Western Isles were not, even, settled, for some Centuries after Madog's Voyages.[uu] [Footnote uu: Dr. Robertson. ubi supra. Vol. I. p. 64. If the Country on which Madog landed was uninhabited, how could he have found the Customs and Manners of the People different from those of Europe? Where there were no Inhabitants, there could be no Customs.] What the Doctor hath said, after Lord Lyttelton, concerning the Literature and Naval skill of the ancient Britons, hath been already animadverted upon. To add more on those particulars, is unnecessary.