He first says, “that the Pretensions of the Welsh to the Discovery of America, seem not to rest on a foundation much more solid, (than the Discovery of it by Behaim) because that Powel, on whose Testimony the authenticity of the Story rests, published his History above four Centuries from the Date of the Event which he relates.”  It is granted that Humphry Llwyd, and Dr. Powel, lived some Centuries after Madog’s Emigration; but Dr. Robertson must also grant that there are several Events, mentioned in History, now commonly believed, even by the learned, which have no memorials for as long a Period.  Where shall we find any Evidence for the Originality of Ossian and Fingal, from the Time in which they are said to have been written, till their publication, a few Years ago by Mr. Macpherson?  Whether these Poems are of Scots or Irish Origin I know not; but they were not known to the World till very lately.  If Dr. Robertson says that they always were, and now are known in the Highlands of Scotland; I say in Answer, so was the Expedition of Madog in the High Lands of Wales, as appears from the Poems of Sir Meredyth ab Rhy’s, and of other Bards.  This, by the Way, is an Evidence in which the Poems of Ossian and Fingal are deficient.  The silence of History for about 1400 Years is much more unfriendly to the Authenticity of these Poems, than that of about 400 to the Truth of Madog’s Voyages.  Ossian and Fingal are supposed to have flourished about the End of the 3d Century.  The Bards drew their Information, chiefly, from the 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.